Canadian Lawyer InHouse

By Ken Fredeen Strategic planning as part of governance strategy How to create a more engaged team of in-house lawyers. R ecently I had the good fortune to lead an Association of Corporate Counsel on strategic planning. I say good for- tune as by accepting, I was forced to do something I had been putting off — reviewing recent literature on strategic planning for law departments, but more importantly it gave me the opportunity to work with about 30 bright young lawyers, all new to corporate counsel positions. General counsel hold an enviable place Counsel Institute session Canadian counsel and our departments do and the discussion and answers to those questions leads to group ownership of the plan. But it also provides for group discussion around how they will man- age their own careers and help others with theirs, all in the context of a plan for a department. An interesting discussion ensued. What I learned from the group will help access to justice through pro bono work, being involved with diversity initiatives, or even their own kids' activities and schools. I think the ACC group I worked with is representative: serving the broader community matters to them. But here is the hitch: How to marry their inter- est, commitment, and involvement in broader community issues with build- ing their career? This is where strategic planning comes in. Building a "broader com- munity box" into your strategic plan provides an opportunity to discuss, cel- — we govern. But how do we govern? Is it participatory, dynamic, or static? Does it create an environment of information sharing, trust, engagement, ownership, and accountability? Or does each mem- ber of our team simply 'deliver the paper'? Strategic planning and how we engage our people in that process is governance in action. Competing with the post-lunch nap time was challenging, but by telling a group of talented young lawyers that they now reported to me and we were about to embark on a strategic plan- ning exercise on which their jobs and careers depended, helped focus their attention. Breaking them into groups, I proceeded to put them through a mock strategic planning exercise, exploring the fundamental questions of why (have a law department), what (does the client expect and need from us), how (are the legal services going to be provided) and who (should perform the legal work). These are fundamental questions which go to the core of what general 38 • JUNE/JULY 2012 I define employee engagement as having a team of lawyers who could work anywhere but have chosen to work for me. me with my own strategic planning, but I also thought that others might like to learn from my reflections. If you take one thing away from this column, you should know that if this group is representative of your lawyers, they want to play a role in your strategic planning and their ideas will be very helpful to you and make your plan a bet- ter one. Maybe more importantly, your client will be better served by a more engaged team. One idea generated from the ses- ebrate, and commit to specific goals which are then spun into individual plans. What is planned gets done, but it also provides profile in the law depart- ment to the importance of the broader community and becomes personalized in the individual plans that are built from the departmental plan. Thus, our lawyers are not only encouraged but rec- ognized and rewarded for the work they want to do in the broader community. I define employee engagement as sion came out when I was interested to know what the group felt the role of 'broader community interest' should play in our strategic plan. Should it have any part in our plan? I think there are more and more of us who feel that our departments and members of our group should be concerned with issues beyond taking home a cheque, issues such as serving our communities, providing INHOUSE Deloitte & Touche LLP in Toronto. He can be reached at kfredeen@deloitte.ca. having a team of lawyers who could work anywhere but have chosen to work for me. By using strategic planning in our governance strategy, which also includes planning in how we serve our broader community, it creates not only a better legal department, but also a more engaged team of lawyers. IH Ken Fredeen is general counsel with

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