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In-House Legal Tip: Write down your Policies
1 min • 19 Apr 23
A formal policy is one that is written down. Anything less than that is just one person’s preferences.
Most people dislike the impact of excessive policies on their lives. However, in the in-house legal environment, a good “policy foundation” is a pre-requisite for optimal team performance.
All too often many in-house legal teams fail to commit essential tasks, processes and outcomes to a policy format i.e. “in writing that is available to those that need it”.
The results are less than ideal outcomes, including:
- Uncertainty: regarding positions, processes, outcomes, etc.
- Delegation: is impaired due to the inherent uncertainty as to who, what, where and how things are to be done.
- Informal: policies carried in one’s head are merely preferences.
- Tool Adoption: an inability to define the process rules required to deploy legal tech e.g. CLMS, automation, A.I. review tools.
- Productivity: is adversely impacted by the above.
- Compliance: is harmed by the above.
The in-house legal environment is one of the few domains where performance genuinely depends on the quality of your policy infrastructure.
Whilst we all might have a love/hate relationship with policies – if your legal team does not have the right policy foundation – it is simply wading in treacle.
Also, can you add this to the bottom of every Legal Ops Tip Blog
READY TO TRANSFORM YOUR LEGAL TEAM?
Please check out the GLS solutions and know-how resources listed on the right side of this page – they might assist your legal team with the issues explored in this Blog.
Of course, if you would like discuss your transformation needs – please book a 30 minute FREE CONSULT WITH GLS
In the interim, here are 7 resources and tools that may assist you as you transform the performance capabilities of your legal team:
1. GLS's Ultimate Guide to Legal Operations: download this HERE, and read it thoroughly and regularly. It is a wonderful transformation companion
2. GLS Transformation Boot Camp: for our free and hugely successful, 10 week long, email-based boot camp on how to effectively transform your legal team you can SIGN UP HERE
3. GLS Knowledge Centre: click HERE to access lots of informative and instructive white papers, blogs and training resources etc. - all focused on helping to improve your legal team's performance
4. GLS Legal Operations Community: join the GLS Legal Operations Community and collaborate with other in-house leaders as they seek to tackle many of the same performance issues that you face, click here to JOIN NOW
5. Visit GLS Connect: visit the GLS CONNECT PAGE and select the information you would like to receive from the GLS Legal Operations Community
6. GLS Legal Team Transformation Plans: mitigate the risks of transformation failure by taking a GLS TRANSFORMATION SUPPORT PLAN
7. Register: GLS Legal Operations Centre: REGISTER HERE to access the GLS Legal Operations Centre for free and to receive more than US$20,000 worth of legal team performance resources
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