Nudge is a book about subtlety, designing situations where individuals are given options to choose based on preference, but given guidance which drives them in the direction best for them. The authors recognise how difficult it can be to “force” good behaviour, instead advocating an approach they feel is more effective. Nudge is interesting reading for those involved in legal KM where inertia and short-term thinking are rampant. Of particular interest for me was an example which showed how an electrical company reduced the energy use of its customers using smileys and frownies 
. Here’s how author Cass Sunstein described their approach:
Another example is when some electric companies informed customers that their neighbors were using far less energy. As a result the higher-consuming customers often reduced their consumption. The companies also printed a smiley face on bills sent to customers using less than average, and a sad face to those using more.
Once people are informed, they tend to do better, both economically and for the environment. It’s also true that if people learn that their energy use is lower than the average, there’s a risk they’ll actually increase their energy use. But that unfortunate effect was prevented if people were given a sign of social approval, such as the smiley face. That’s a good example of how social norms have a big influence on people
Now, it strikes me that a similar approach may be useful for eliciting better higher levels of contributions among lawyers. Lawyers are competitive and won’t like being “worse than their peers”. The approach can avoid being heavy handed by delivering results to individuals rather than the group. It explicitly tells the lawyer they are not doing a good enough job and that its being tracked. By being clever, the approach can then cascade (i.e. a partner whose team does not contribute knowledge gets a frowney face.
Anecdotaly, a colleague of mine tried the approach to encourage people filling out their personnel details and encountered great success. People were either pleased by their smiley faces (for complete profiles) or outraged by their frowny faces (incomplete profiles). Those with a frowny face demanded answers:
“How do I get a smiley face!”
Can you imagine a lawyer calling up to demand satisfaction via a smiley? 
