May Edition: People, not just playbooks.
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Every organization has values they live and breathe, or the 'people and culture' department does, at least: accountability, loyalty, integrity, and teamwork being some of your standard corporate values.
There is an expectation that employees align themselves to value-based frameworks, and recognition is granted when they do. Yet the elephant in the room is that organizational values have surprisingly little weight with the people they are meant to unite. As Harvard Business Review (HBR) bluntly notes, "Most values statements are bland, toothless, or just plain dishonest. And far from being harmless, as some executives assume, they’re often highly destructive."
HBR likens corporate values to a wave of chickenpox, citing the 1994 publication Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras as patient zero. The book stated that visionary companies were built on core company values, leading to a sheeple-like wave of organizational value playbooks that still dominate corporate town hall agendas to this day.
I've worked in my fair share of organizations where people are expected to mould themselves to a rather vague set of organizational values. However, there is certainly something to be gained from establishing a framework for your desired corporate culture, aka creating camaraderie and giving your team something to rally around. Still, I'm not wholly convinced it is the only way to foster culture. What intrigues me is personal values.
Rather than giving people a rule book for how to behave, I want to know what they believe in. You can debate with me on this, but I think true collaboration and innovation occur when we understand one another, not when we all try to act in line with a corporate values playbook.
It's well known that when one's values align with their colleagues and organization, they perform better and naturally feel much more dedicated to the company.
Organizations are a melting pot of people, from culture to ethnicity, gender to sexual identity, boomer to Gen Z, and low-socioeconomic to the uber-privileged. There are so many societal barriers in place within our teams. Perhaps spending time on breaking those down could be a goal?
How would things look if we spent more time just getting to know one another, judging each other less and seeking to understand why people care about the things that they do? And perhaps we'd realize in a lot of cases that while we are different in a plethora of ways, are values often are the same.
Member story - a community approach to regulatory changes
"Trying to avoid getting bogged down in the weeds comes with the General Counsel territory," says Teresa A. n, Vice President, General Counsel & Ethics and Compliance Officer, Australia & New Zealand at Capgemini.
The issue with the heads-down mentality that comes with leading a legal team is that one can miss things. "As a GC, part of your role is to have a broader view about what is coming and where we ought to be positioning," elaborates Allan. Yet the constant pressure to do more with less combined with relentless BAU work means that many legal leaders are treading water.
Keeping abreast of new regulations and what this means for one's organisation becomes difficult when barely keeping afloat. Allan has a solution however, she believes a community approach to developing regulations is the answer.
"Imagine if we had working groups where in-house counsel could share their best practice and learnings on current hot topics (generative AI, cyber security, and privacy are a few that immediately spring to mind), in a company confidential way, of course," says Allan.
Her idea has some serious merit. The reality is that most legal leaders are in the same position as Allan - balancing the demands of their role whilst trying to horizon scan. Relying on external counsel is a typical approach to navigating how new laws will impact business, but this option comes with a hefty price tag. When there is so much pressure on legal teams to cut costs, coming up with another way to deal with this issue makes complete sense.
Taking a community approach to burgeoning legal changes would give people time back and reduce legal spend on external providers and as Allan says “it’s always energizing to connect and learn from your peers”. Perhaps we should watch this space?
Deep reads, best paired with a cup of coffee
It's easy to reduce people to dollar signs during a recession. Adam Wardel thinks it's a terrible idea. Tough times are even more reason to see the value of people and to put employees first. Wardel discusses the need for more intentional hiring strategies and ways to retain top talent.
Maximizing your career doesn't always mean climbing the corporate ladder. Instead, it could mean having a career that enables you to give more time to other areas of your life which you value highly. It doesn't mean you lack ambition.
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Community top of mind - Shaun Plant
Shaun Plant , LawVu's Chief Legal Evangelist, has a lot on his mind, particularly when it comes to advancing the in-house legal profession. He refers to InView's history of in-house counsel article when discussing what the legal function could be. There once was a 'golden era' for in-house counsel, from the end of the American Civil War to the 1930s, when counsel were revered and respected by businesses. Their ability to lean into strategic, entrepreneurial and problem-solving skills were strong reasons why.
Yet over time, as companies became more complex and management approaches became more professional, counsel failed to keep up. Coupled with the rise of private practice and the intricate relationship between law schools and Big Law firms, there was a monumental shift in legal culture. It became customary to rely on external providers for complex legal advice and leave the BAU to the in-house folk: Big Law was speaking the language modern management wanted to hear.
Plant believes that if we want to rebuild a new golden era for counsel, we need to shed the private practice culture still so entrenched in in-house working methods. Bluntly put, he thinks in-house culture could serve businesses better if it weren't shackled to a "private practice hangover".
"Private practice baggage might be holding us back," he says. "We know we must think and act like business legal advisors, but are we doing enough? Are practicing certificates and the constraints of law societies, which regulate how we act and behave, really empowering the in-house legal profession? Especially when businesses are crying out for a function that can combine legal, commercial, industry acumen and creative thinking.
"A similar issue is our use of 'client' to describe our colleagues. It's a carry-over from private practice and creates an us-vs-them power imbalance which limits how much we can be fully integrated and connected with the business."
If in-house counsel want to be a trusted business advisor, it is critical they see themselves as integrated with their organization. The 'client' terminology hinders this, and Plant's suggestion to do away with it is worth considering.
Fostering entrepreneurial, creative and non-legal skills among counsel is also on Plant's mind. "To be well equipped to sit at the top table, counsel need more than just a legal perspective. My concern is that we still consider ourselves lawyers in a private practice sense and are behaving in ways that aren't conducive to in-house, as private practice does not properly equip lawyers to advise businesses."
How are you really feeling?
.... buckle up ... ?? things are about to get interesting!
Recognition, finally! ??
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Trending InView articles this month
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May is an exciting month for our InView community. Expect to see a new magazine issue hot off the press very soon! ???
For many of our Northern Hemisphere InViewers, the chance to meet in person at our London Conference is just around the corner.??
Our community is ever-growing as we welcome more counsel into the InView world. For those who are new, welcome, and to our long-standing InViewers, thanks for your support!
See you next month,
Connor