How often do you meet with key internal stakeholders within the business to understand their priorities?

We all know that priorities shift and change and what may have been the path forward three months ago may no longer be the case, which is why it’s so important to make a point of regularly connecting with your internal customers. This is especially true for companies that are growing rapidly or in hyper-growth phase. If you are not physically embedded within the business, consider how a programmatic approach to staying in touch, such as an organized outreach program, could work.

Does your law department strategic plan reflect your organization's broader strategic plan/goals?

While it can be a challenge with the pressures of the day-to-day to take time to step back and think through your path forward, the strategic planning process provides the law department with the opportunity to underscore where Legal fits into the bigger picture. The process involves engaging with other business units about their priorities and how the legal team can be better positioned to support and, in turn, allows you to be more proactive, and coordinated with limited resources.

Have you considered whether your legal team’s skills align with the current and future needs of the business?

While substantive legal skills are important to ensure you can adequately support the direction of travel for the business, many law departments are focused on developing “soft” skills within their legal team, such as communication skills, leadership presence, commercial awareness, and emotional intelligence. This can also be an important engagement strategy to ensure your team feels supported and provided with the opportunities to develop different skills. If you haven’t already signed your team up, our Dentons Client Experience (CX) webinar program delivers helpful insights and perspectives on these topics.