Building the Plane While Flying It: How Court Administrators Lead Innovation
On August 13, IAALS hosted a virtual convening with innovative court administrators from across the country as part of IAALS' ongoing Judicial Leadership Summit & Webinar Series, focused on what it takes to lead innovation in courts.
Court administrators sit at a unique intersection where they are responsible for keeping essential court operations running every single day while also venturing to reimagine how those operations should work. Essentially, they are building the plane while flying it.
IAALS invited state and local administrators from across the country, representing large and small jurisdictions and unified and non-unified court systems. We wanted the conversation to reflect different systems and different scales. The goal of the convening was to gather insights from forward-thinking leaders about how court administrators lead innovation, including challenges they face innovating in the legal system, the resources needed for real reform, and how innovation actually takes hold in courts.
Roadblocks to Innovation
Court administrators face multiple barriers to successfully implementing innovations. Attendees discussed the fear of change that can plague court systems. The legal system is slow to change, and many professionals across the system will be resistant to new ways of doing things at first.
There also comes the issue of bandwidth and resources. Court administrators are tasked with so much to accomplish every day, leaving very little time to consider improvements or innovation to the system. Attendees also described a tension between larger urban courts and smaller rural courts that can make it difficult for states to allocate the correct resources to the correct place.
How to Overcome Barriers
Throughout the convening, a clear theme emerged: court leaders need to be willing to try and fail. While not all attempts at change will be successful, attendees largely agreed that even marginal improvements, approached thoughtfully, are still likely better than what was initially in place. Building a culture of iteration is an important step toward innovation.
Along with this culture, communication is crucial to overcoming potential barriers. Attendees emphasized how communicating with every stakeholder, from the public to judicial leaders, helps create buy-in early for initiatives.
Gathering feedback and data can strengthen an innovation’s case and provide leaders with the evidence they need to implement it. Court administrators can organize an initiative and give it a better chance at success by providing clear milestones to hit, ways to document progress, and preparation for any potential issues that may arise. It can be helpful to start with a small change and then build on that process and success.
What’s Next
The court administrators we met with found plenty of common ground, but also highlighted the varying needs, resources, and objectives of court systems nationwide. We are grateful to them for sharing their experiences with us.
This convening surfaced real-world barriers and practical, field-tested strategies court leaders face when pursuing reform. In addition to laying the groundwork for continued collaboration among national court leaders, the insights gathered here will help IAALS better understand what court administrators need to lead lasting change, positioning IAALS to provide more targeted resources and support.
For more on the role of court administrators in leading innovations, join us on September 29 for Innovating in Courts: Practical Strategies for Court Administrators, a free webinar with experienced court administrators who have led innovation in their own courts. The webinar will be a candid, how-to conversation to learn how to spot opportunities for reform, build genuine buy-in, work within institutional constraints, and keep momentum going.
