Focus on Your Big Picture to Thrive, not Just Survive!

Focus:  a point upon which attention, activity, etc, is directed or concentrated;  to fix attention (on); concentrate. Dictionary.com

I often start a column with a definition because it helps me stay focused on the message I am trying to convey. I am reminded of the need to focus every time I walk into the office and see the pile of papers on my desk and the ever present reminders popping up on my calendar; when I experience the constant interruption of phone calls and walk-ins. What do I have to do today to stay focused on the tasks at hand? However, the concept of staying focused begs an even larger question – What is the goal upon which my efforts should be focused?

We can have no focus unless we have clearly defined goals. How can one define tasks upon which to focus when one does not have goals established that allow for a strategic setting of tasks to achieve those goals? In other words, how can we figure out how to get from Point A to Point B unless we understand the location of Point B. Once we know, we can map a route to get there.

I am sure that most of you have seen the SMART acronym.  Goals must be:

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Realistic

T = Timely

While the SMART method is useful, I am "focused" on goal setting at an even more basic level. I was vividly reminded of the need to have goals when I was recently in a meeting with a group of volunteers who assist in the leadership of a charitable organization. Many ideas on programming and how to improve the group were bantered about, all ideas were good, some were excellent! However, the unfamiliar observer might have noticed that the ideas, bright as they were, were also disparate and  non-cohesive in the sense that they did not seem to point to a common interest. One of the participants finally took a step back and interjected: What is the goal of [our organization]? We were flummoxed. All the brainstorming was taking place in a vacuum!

How does this relate to in-house counsel?  Many of us plod through life, day by day, hoping for better, thankful for what we have (as we should be), working hard at our jobs. We consider it a good day when we give some good advice, help a client out of a pickle, solve a problem, proactively manage the company away from trouble, help a friend, whatever. The next day is the same thing. You might call this “surviving” as opposed to thriving. Many of us are fine with just getting by, others need to thrive.

What do you want out of your career? Do you want to be a specialist in a particular area of the law? Are you looking to be the next general counsel of General Electric? Do you want to strike out on your own and use your in-house experience in the private firm setting? Are you looking to back down on the hours and spend more time with the family? Each of these goals demand specialized, differentiated strategies. The tasks required of one goal do not fit within the scheme of tasks required to achieve the other goals.

When goals are clearly identified, we can develop task-oriented strategies to achieve them. By knowing the big picture and focusing on the tasks required to get us there, we have purpose. With each task completed comes a sense of accomplishment, a sense of having done something concrete and worthwhile – because we have inched closer to our goal.

So while the pile of paper may not seem to get any shorter, you can thrive in your career as you accomplish tasks and move forward to your end game. By focusing on the smaller tasks necessary to the achievement of your longer term goals, you make progress. Progress in turn brings a sense of well-being. A cycle is created whereby your goals are affirmed through progress and satisfaction which brings forth more effort to accomplish the next set of tasks and so on and on. Now – stop reading and get back to that stack of paper…..

“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.“ Earl Nightingale

Emotional intelligence — don’t forget the human element*

A lawyer friend told me a story last week about a case she had been working on. Turns out that years ago, one of the employees at her company was severely injured in a tragic plant accident while on the job in South Carolina. The case settled long before her tenure at the company began. Because of a bookkeeping snafu, the company continued to make payments for medical coverage for the injured worker for years after the settlement, payments that it had no obligation to make. Recently, upon discovering its error, the company decided to discontinue making the payments. My friend, the company lawyer, was tasked with communicating the decision to the former employee.

The former employee was well respected and very well liked. Her injury impacted many of the people with whom she worked as well as those in the administrative offices who handled the subsequent lawsuit, human resources issues and workers’ compensation claims. The company bent over backwards and went far beyond its legal obligations in assisting the employee at the time of the injury and, as it turns out, after the matter should have concluded with the settlement. Even decades later, people at the company who worked with the former employee tear up when discussing the case.

You might guess that it was difficult for my friend to manage the case because of the emotional elements surrounding the injury and the impact it had on the injured worker’s life. However, lawyers deal with many “emotional” issues and must separate themselves from the personal aspects of cases such as this one. She handled the matter as she would any other personal injury case – in a very business-like and professional manner. No problem there.

 
However, the real challenge came from within the company – from those who worked closely with the former employee. Because she was so well-liked, the emotional scars that remained were aggravated after all the years. My attorney friend experienced pushback from some of the employees with whom she needed to work to resolve the cessation of the gratuitous medical benefit payments. To her, it was simply a part of her everyday business/legal work. But to those with whom she worked, the case tore open long since hidden wounds and emotional trauma that evoked very emotional responses.

As in-house lawyers, we often deal with emotional issues. To preserve our sanity, we disassociate from the emotional elements of the matter so that we can make an objective legal decision. However, once we have done that, we must invoke our emotional intelligence skills in order successfully implement the recommended action, especially when working with others who may not be used to doing that. A lawyer’s “business as usual” manner may well be off-putting to those unaccustomed to turning off their emotions in this way.

In a situation such as this, to help ensure that such an emotionally charged task goes smoothly, the first thing one should do is reach out to those involved in the original case to get a handle on how the company dealt with the emotional issues at the time of the accident and the emotional impact that it had on the work force, paying particular attention to the people who were directly involved and their feelings at the time. Then reach out to those still with the company, and who would be assisting in effectuating the change, to assess their current emotional state regarding the incident. Clearly, as it turns out, they were still very much impacted by what had happened to the former employee. According to my friend, there may have been undue feelings of guilt associated with the accident and a general feeling of “there but for the grace of God go I” mentality. This may have accounted for the generous manner in which the matter was resolved in the first place many years ago. Whether these resurrected feelings are appropriate or not, they exist and must be taken into consideration when formulating a plan.

If you are tasked with carrying out such a charged assignment and you take the time up front to assess the emotional environment, you will be that much better able to implement a plan that accounts for the feelings of those who would be needed to assist in getting the job done and help them handle it without so much additional upset. In other words, you would empathize with those with whom the former employee worked, acknowledge their feelings and address the resolution of the matter in a proper tone and manner, taking into consideration their feelings about the matter, rather than adopting a “business as usual” approach. The objective would be the same but by accommodating the current employees’ feelings, you will make the job much easier for all involved and likely minimize pushback.

The lesson of the day is to be aware of the emotional impact your legal recommendation may have on your client base and communicate your advice so that it is received not only with an appreciative intellect but with a welcoming heart.

* Originally posted December 8, 2011

Implicit Bias*

Implicit Bias (also known as “Unconscious Bias” or “Hidden Bias”) has been described as negative  associations that ordinary people are found to harbor in relation to various social groups – even while honestly reporting that they regard themselves as lacking these biases.   Stated another way – it is believing that one is impartial, but behaving as if one is not.

The information presented by those who advance the notion that implicit bias is real and present in our everyday lives suggests that an open mind and serious self examination is required in order for each of us to test our self awareness and assess our own implicit biases.  At the end of this column, you will have the opportunity to do just that by linking to a fascinating study being conducted by researchers at Harvard University.   If you take this short test, you will receive feedback informing you where you may harbor subconscious bias toward certain social groups.  I guarantee that you will be surprised at the delta between your conscious thinking and the way your brain actually responds to the test stimuli.

Implicit bias studies have shown that doctors are more likely to prescribe life-saving care to whites; that managers are more likely to hire and promote members of their own in-group; police are more likely to shoot a black man carrying a cell phone than a white man; and that referees in basketball are more likely to favor players with whom they share a racial identity.  If doctors, business people, police men and women, and presumably objective professional referees are subject to unconscious biases, it would seem unrealistic to believe that lawyers are immune.  The good news is that implicit bias can be overcome through awareness, acknowledgement and conscious effort.

Understanding implicit bias is important to lawyers because, once understood, it becomes an important tool for the way  we approach our day-to-day jobs.  The Harvard study shows that Implicit Biases vary from person to person and that implicit attitudes are modified by experience.  Once we understand that we may have a bias for a particular group or groups over another, we can attempt to manage it, check it at the door, when making decisions or giving advice that pertains to or affects that group or a person with that group, for example, providing HR counsel on a RIF or assessing the credibility of an accused manager during an investigation.  We can also use it to aid us in moving to a certain result, for example, in picking a jury that will be biased in favor of our client.

ALFA International, a global network of independent business focused law firms, together with ACC Chicago, sponsored an ethics seminar on implicit bias last week.  Because this is an intriguing topic, new to many lawyers, there was a full house.  People walked away talking about what they had just learned.
The featured speaker was U.S District Court Judge Mark Bennett, who has made the study of Implicit Bias the keystone of his unique approach to jury instructions.  He is the first judge in the country to instruct all of his juries on the role of implicit bias in decision making; the state of California just last week approved the use of his pattern jury instruction on implicit bias for use in California criminal trials.

Whether or not you accept the concept of implicit bias, one thing is for certain – the study of implicit bias is not pseudo-science or the advancement of the latest wacky social theory.  This is real grist for the mind’s mill and hundreds of social science studies are conducted on this topic each year.

Here is the link to the Project Implicit test site: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ .  I invite you to test your  self-awareness of bias against the actual bias shown by your behavior.  While not perfect or absolute, the test results should move one to serious self-reflection and to be open to the possibility that one’s thinking is not as objective as one might hope or believe.  I would love to see your comments posted after you have taken the test.

*Originally published October 26, 2011

Be a good egg – pay it forward

The unemployment rate for lawyers is 3.2 percent*.  This means there are 56,000 unemployed lawyers across the country.  However, 1.7 million of us are employed.  That is a pretty good ratio.  Only health-care practitioner and technical occupations fared better than lawyers.  Although for the unemployed lawyers out there, the favorable ratio  provides little solace.

Over the course of my 23 years of practice, I’ve worked for three different employers –  a small boutique general practice firm, a Fortune 500 retail, catalog and internet giant, and my current employer.  When I went in-house in 1996, I thought I would stay at my company for the rest of my career.  Bankruptcy put an end to that in late 2004.

Over the years I’ve learned some valuable lessons about being ready for the next stage of my  career.  One of them is the importance of “networking.”  As a young lawyer I believed I had neither the time nor the energy to network.  I believed that my skills and achievements would carry the day when the time came to look beyond my current position.  This was a huge mistake.

I am a smart person with excellent credentials having worked for top-notch companies and with outstanding executives – just like many of the other lawyers shooting for the positions that I want.  However, having some connection to the person making the hiring decision puts me a half or full step ahead of my competition.  I am a known quantity, less of a risk.  I might even find out about an opportunity before it is published.

The most important lesson I have learned about networking is that the best time to actively network is when one is comfortable and secure in one’s position.  In good times, one has credibility as a networker because nothing is needed, there is no apparent selfishness.  A good networker simply establishes and nurtures relationships.  She puts people with complimentary needs together.   Of course, it is difficult for human beings to act with complete selflessness and so when we network we cannot help but to think there will be some payback in the future.  This may be true.  However, successful networkers do not think selfishly.   This brings me to my point (finally!).

Most of us have been helped by someone in our network.  In turn, we have an obligation to help another in need, to return the kind act with a kind act to another -  to “pay it forward.”

Ben Franklin described the concept in  a letter to Benjamin Webb in 1784:

…I send you herewith … ten Louis d’ors (gold coins). I do not pretend to give such a sum; I only lend it to you. When you shall return to your country with a good character, you cannot fail of getting into some business, that will in time enable you to pay all your debts… When you meet with another honest man in similar distress, you must pay me by lending this sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro’ many hands, before it meets with a knave that will stop its progress…

Now is the time to pay forward the kind acts you have received from others.  This can be as simple as picking up the phone and offering an encouraging word or two, reviewing  and marking up a resume, arranging for an introduction or as involved as helping conduct a job search and making calls on behalf of your colleague.  The point is – there are many people out there looking for some kind of help in their career.  If you can, give back.  Pay it forward!  Do not be the knave of which Franklin writes.  Be a good egg.


*Originally published July 14, 2010