Canadian Lawyer InHouse

41 CANAdIANLAwyERMAG.COM/INhOUSE october 2014 "We started with modest service com- mitments," she explains. "For NDAs and consulting agreements, we have a worksheet that people fi ll out to make drafting easier. Our pledge is to turn those around within two days." She also set up a legal "inbox" to orga- nize all incoming requests for new proj- ects. Historically, people within business units contacted individual lawyers on her team directly when they needed LCR's involvement, but that made a challenging job of tracking assignments and creating metrics around effi ciency. "This is an es- sential repository for all incoming requests, and there's less likelihood of things falling through the cracks." Lawal encouraged her team to adopt more constructive approaches in dealing with requests from the business units, and cau- tioned them about jumping to conclusions with respect to the merit of those requests. "I tried to encourage the team to ap- proach things from a positive perspective, but when analyzing issues, we always have to ask ourselves, 'What could go wrong and how are we going to address that?'" "It's all of our responsibility to raise the profi le of the department and have people understand there's a reason why we do the things we do. At the same time, we need to recognize there are accommodations and adjustments we can make." Armed with a motivated team and a new "It's all of our responsibility to raise the profi le of the department and have people understand there's a reason why we do the L a w D e p a r t m e n t M a n a g e m e n t framework for working with the business, Lawal knew she was off to a good start, but she also recognized that the success of her initiative was predicated on how effectively she could communicate these ideas to the business units. Lawal came up with the idea of using a mind map — a diagram that visually organizes complex information — as a tool to communicate LCR's new mission state- ment and service commitments to Interac's business units. She enlisted Disa Kauk, a Toronto-based graphics facilitator who has created mind maps for companies such as: GE, Bell Canada, KPMG, and others, to help in the effort. Kauk created mind maps that detailed LCR's guiding principles as well as the department's service commitments. Lawal knew her success in the effort hinged on securing buy in, both from her team and from the leaders of the business units. "I wasn't just speaking to the executive team and asking them to drive the message down to everyone in the orga- nization," she says. In the spring of 2013, Lawal invited the entire Interac organization — employees and consultants — to an open house event where they could learn about LCR's rebranding effort and how it promised better service from the team. "Everyone attended, from the CEO down. We had snapshots of our internal web pages that we had updated out- lining the new approach. We ran videos and displayed Frequently Asked Questions, and best of all, we had the mind map drawn live." The feedback has been positive, says La- wal, and the results of the effort are starting to be measured in formal ways. She has cre- ated metrics — for turnaround times, busi- ness unit usage, and individual productivity of lawyers — that are measured on a month- ly basis. She has also seen an increase in both the number of requests processed through the legal inbox, and, more infor- mally, in the frequency of people "stopping by" the legal department. "We're not here to rap people on the wrists," she adds, speaking to another common misconception about lawyers. "We wanted to promote a better appreciation for the skills the team brings, and a better un- derstanding of each of us from a personal perspective." Mission accomplished. IH kEyS TO SUCCESS looking to rejig the dynamic of your legal department? follow Kikelomo lawal's three essential steps to ensure a successful undertaking. 1 secure buy in from all members of the legal department. 2 include everyone in the organization, not just the executive team. 3 find a creative and engaging way of communicating your message to the business.

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