Smart Collaboration for In-house Legal Teams
Published: 2020
Pages: 144
eBook: 9781787423527
This Special Report combines the rigour of Harvard research with a pragmatic focus based on input from hundreds of General Counsels, in-house lawyers, CEOs and board members to show why and how legal teams work across silos – what we call ‘Smart Collaboration.’
1.Within legal: the full potential of legal and non-legal talent. Rethink hiring and onboarding. Collaborate across countries and cultures. Elevate leadership skills and engineer work to make time for collaboration.
2.With the business: create more innovative, strategic solutions by partnering with business leaders. Proactively engage with the board and c-suite to deliver value.
3.Across functions: integrate with other departments (Finance, R&D, HR, etc.) to create more holistic solutions that capture opportunities, lower risk, and improve the employee and customer experience.
4.Externally: co-develop solutions to shape regulatory agendas and inform public discourse. Maximise value with outside counsel and other third-party legal providers.
Vetted by dozens of General Counsel and in-house lawyers, this report will benefit all members of in-house legal teams and those who work with them (eg, executives, heads of other corporate functions, recruiters and consultants). Partners and leaders in law firms will also gain from a deeper understanding of their clients’ operations and aspirations.
Table of Contents
| Cover | Cover | |
|---|---|---|
| Halftitle Page | 1 | |
| Copyright Page | 2 | |
| Table of Contents | 3 | |
| Figures | 7 | |
| Tables | 7 | |
| I. Introduction | 9 | |
| 1. The four vectors | 10 | |
| 1.1 Across disciplines within the legal group | 10 | |
| 1.2 With the business, including front-line managers, executives and governing boards | 10 | |
| 1.3 Between the legal team and other corporate functions | 11 | |
| 1.4 With external parties beyond the organisation | 11 | |
| 2. Research methodology, confidentiality and terminology | 11 | |
| 3. In this Special Report | 12 | |
| II. The case for collaboration | 15 | |
| 1. Benefits of in-house legal teams’ collaboration across all four vectors | 16 | |
| 1.1 Higher-quality, lower-risk solutions | 16 | |
| 1.2 Innovative outcomes | 20 | |
| 1.3 Operational efficiency | 22 | |
| 1.4 Attract, engage and retain talent | 23 | |
| 1.5 Diversity and inclusion | 25 | |
| 1.6 Individual benefits: networking, recognition, legacy | 27 | |
| III. Real and perceived obstacles to collaboration | 31 | |
| 1. Barriers | 33 | |
| 1.1 Time pressures and the drive for efficiency (27%) | 33 | |
| 1.2 Interpersonal distrust and territoriality (22%) | 35 | |
| 1.3 Knowledge gap about your legal, business and functional colleagues’ expertise (17%) | 37 | |
| 1.4 Lack of skills and confidence to initiate and carry out collaboration (15%) | 38 | |
| 1.5 An unsupportive culture (11%) | 39 | |
| 1.6 Lack of trust in others’ competence (8%) | 40 | |
| 2. Closing thoughts on barriers | 42 | |
| IV. Building collaboration within the in-house legal team | 43 | |
| 1. From vision to strategy | 44 | |
| 2. Hiring collaborative talent | 47 | |
| 3. External hires – the three stages | 49 | |
| 3.1 Preparing to hire | 49 | |
| 3.2 Recruiting collaborators | 52 | |
| 3.3 Integrating those new hires | 53 | |
| 4. Collaborating across geographical divides | 55 | |
| 5. Building leadership skills | 60 | |
| 5.1 Tie actions and directives to the larger vision | 62 | |
| 5.2 Create an open, learning-centric environment | 62 | |
| 5.3 Build your team’s future-ready competencies | 63 | |
| 5.4 Create exposure opportunities for others | 63 | |
| 5.5 Offer timely ‘suggestions’ (instead of anxiety-producing feedback) | 65 | |
| 5.6 Celebrate success | 66 | |
| 6. Making time for collaboration | 68 | |
| 7. Closing thoughts on collaboration within the team | 70 | |
| V. Smart collaboration with business executives | 71 | |
| 1. Earn a seat at the strategy table | 73 | |
| 1.1 Be more than just a lawyer | 74 | |
| 1.2 Develop and share future-focused insights | 79 | |
| 2. Claim your seat at the strategy table and use it effectively | 81 | |
| 2.1 Overcoming imposter syndrome | 81 | |
| 2.2 Building and using authentic gravitas | 83 | |
| 2.3 Help shape the style and tone of interactions across the executive team | 83 | |
| 3. Build two kinds of trust | 83 | |
| 3.1 Building interpersonal trust | 84 | |
| 3.2 Building competence trust | 85 | |
| 3.3 Climbing the Trust Staircase | 87 | |
| 4. Concluding thoughts: collaborate by building relationships . | 92 | |
| VI. Smart collaboration between Legal and other corporate functions | 93 | |
| 1. Proactively build relationships – while the pressure is lower | 97 | |
| 2. Paths to building cross-functional relationships | 99 | |
| 2.1 Formal relationship-building | 99 | |
| 2.2 Informal relationship-building | 104 | |
| 3. Explore others’ perspectives | 105 | |
| 4. Building the bridge | 106 | |
| 4.1 Spend time consciously focused on the other person’s (or group’s) agenda | 106 | |
| 4.2 Develop and demonstrate genuine curiosity | 107 | |
| 4.3 Probe the politics (sensitively) | 107 | |
| 5. Lead collaborative efforts for higher performance | 110 | |
| 5.1 Employ disciplined project management to maximise use of time and other resources | 110 | |
| 5.2 Distinguish between task conflicts and relationship conflicts | 112 | |
| 5.3 Use your influencing skills rather than your authority | 113 | |
| 6. From responder to thought partner | 114 | |
| VII. Smart collaboration with external stakeholders | 115 | |
| 1. Degree of joint experience | 116 | |
| 1.1 Mature, deep (stakes: high; innovation need: high) | 117 | |
| 1.2 Familiar (stakes: low; innovation need: low) | 117 | |
| 1.3 New (stakes: low; innovation need: high) | 117 | |
| 1.4 Strong (stakes: high; innovation need: low) | 117 | |
| 2. Collaborating with outside counsel, including law firms and ALSPs | 118 | |
| 3. Collaborating with regulators | 123 | |
| 3.1 Establish trust and credibility with regulators through upstanding conduct and an effective compliance regime | 125 | |
| 3.2 Help shape the regulatory environment | 127 | |
| 3.3 Proactively participate in voluntary regulatory framework discussions | 128 | |
| 4. Collaborating with legal team counterparts in other organisations | 129 | |
| 5. Closing thoughts: collaborating outside the company | 131 | |
| VIII. Smart collaboration: the ongoing opportunity | 133 | |
| 1. The ‘dark side’ of collaboration: an over-committed organisation | 136 | |
| 1.1 The Four Ms | 137 | |
| 2. Final thoughts | 139 | |
| Notes | 140 | |
| About the author | 143 | |
| About Globe Law and Business | 144 |
Gardner’s new book Smart Collaboration for In-house Legal Teams is a must-read for any in-house lawyer who wants to become an effective business thought partner and claim a seat at the table in strategic discussions. Through extensive research and analysis, Gardner turns a complicated subject into simple guidance on how to overcome typical barriers to collaboration in global organizations and achieve real and long-lasting results.
Suzana Blades
Heidi K Gardner
Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession
[email protected]
Heidi K Gardner, PhD, is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and Faculty Chair of the school’s Accelerated Leadership Program and other executive education courses. Previously she was a professor at Harvard Business School. Dr Gardner’s book Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos was published in 2017 by Harvard Business Press, and became aWashington Post bestseller.
Dr Gardner’s research received the Academy of Management’s prize for Paper with Outstanding Practical Implications for Management, and has been selected three times for Harvard Business Review’s “Best of” collections. Altogether, she has authored or co-authored more than 60 books, book chapters, case studies and articles in scholarly and practitioner journals. Her first book, Leadership for Lawyers: Essential Strategies for Law Firm Success was published by Globe Law and Business in 2015, and the second edition was released in 2019. She has also been awarded an International Research Fellowship by Oxford University’s Said Business School. Dr Gardner has lived and worked on four continents, including as a Fulbright Fellow, and for McKinsey & Co and Procter & Gamble. She earned her BA in Japanese from the University of Pennsylvania (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and a second master’s and her PhD from London Business School. Named by Thinkers50 as a Next Generation Business Guru, Dr Gardner recently co-founded the research and advisory firm Gardner & Co.