Lessons in Team Energy

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Lessons in Team Energy

Leader at Company A

The Legal team is exhausted - it has been a hard few months. Key people have left for competitive roles, others have been the victim of layoffs. With no backfill on these roles, the volume of work is huge. Your team is feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and overworked. Every task that comes in the door is a fire drill; last-minute, poorly planned, and marked as “urgent”. Your team is trapped in a reactive cycle which is fueling burnout. You implemented legal tech a few weeks ago. But you did not have time to properly onboard the team - everyone is too busy to use it.?

Leader at Company B

It’s been a hard few months, there have been layoffs. But you saw this coming and invested in your team. You onboarded tech months ago and insulated your employees from work so they had time to learn it.? As a result, they are feeling seen and supported. Through tools and strategy you have developed in coaching, you carved out time each week for strategic and proactive (operations-centric) exercises. Workshops have elevated team trust and communication. Employee experience data shows energy, trust, and communication within the team are at an all-time high. There’s a feeling of alignment. Collaboration. You have clarity of vision and a strategy for the future. You’re a team. You're in it together.?

Which leader is most poised to succeed?

You guessed it - Leader B.?

Let’s explore why.

Was Leader B just luckier?

Did their success come by chance??

Leader B succeeded because they viewed success through a different lens.?

They understood that retention and mental well-being were key to avoiding burnout and building a proactive team that could ensure the ups and downs of the world together.

They actioned this by trading hours of productivity (a.k.a. “document production”) to put coaching and operations programs into place - building a strong emotional and operational foundation for their team.

Today - team health isn’t a “nice to have” - it is a necessity

Without it, your team will crack under external and internal pressures - meaning poor retention, unfinished projects, frayed internal relationships, and high operational costs.

Your people are the essential asset to creating a high-performing, successful team.?

Give Your Team A Competitive Advantage

Now more than ever is it crucial for General Counsel to be investing in the performance of their team.?

As of 2024, GCs can expect to:?

• Be operating with fewer team members (layoffs and resignations).?
• Experience a higher amount of leader and team member burnout - there’s the pressure to do more with fewer resources.
• Experience pressure to invest in legal ops and implement legal tech team-wide, to create agility and efficiencies.?
• Struggle to retain top talent - caused by dysfunctional team dynamics (i.e. poor communication or distrust).
• Struggle to maintain (or reach) high performance as a team.?

So How Do We Do More With Less?

How do we get the best out of our people –?to maximize performance, and create efficiencies??

• Growing your legal organization in accordance with the CLOC Core 12 principles - with a particular focus on Organizational Optimization and Health.?
• Rolling out top-down leadership coaching, team development, and growth programs.?
• Investing in the team’s well-being and energy - to build a foundation that can withstand challenging times, and change.?

GCs, CLOs, and/or Legal Ops Leaders –Here Are 5 Steps to Building a High-Performing Legal Team

Energy is Everything

You’ll hear us at L7 say this a lot. Energy really is everything.?

Vision - What Are Your Goals

Once you have decided to invest in building a strong foundation for yourself and your team, the next step is to solidify and align with your vision.?

Evaluate your Team’s Energy

Yes, we are back to energy!?

Remember There Are No Silver Bullets

Change management takes time, especially when the team is affected by burnout or a lack of trust (both commonplace in the legal profession).?

Get The Edge - Invest in Your People

As a leader (and a team), the events of today make some weeks seem insurmountable. Now more than ever, it is important to feel empowered and to be able to lead teams with empathy and foresight.