An element of providing quality legal advice timely is understanding the business objective.
In the movie Say Anything, the female lead
character, Diane Court, asks Lloyd Dobler a simple question – “So, what’s your
job this summer.” It’s a simple, direct
question. It generates a simple direct response. “Job? Being a great date.”
It is simple to ask the business partner and understand “What’s
your job this summer?” Or this
quarter. Or this year.
Lawyers often jump right into being a lawyer and forget to
look up, touch base with the business, and make sure they are aligned with the
businessperson’s job for the summer, the quarter, or the year. Sometimes, the lawyer assumes they know (and
we know what happens with assumptions).
Sometimes, the lawyer asked once but hasn’t asked often enough to
understand that the business strategy or objectives have changed.
How to get started? My team of in-house lawyers called their internal customers and ask six basic questions that we modified from Kimberly Janson book, Demystifying Talent Management (2015).
- What are your objectives in the next year in your job?
- What are you being held accountable for in the next year?
- How can I, as the lawyer working with you, help you meet these objectives mentioned in response to questions 1 and 2?
- What do you need more of from me as the lawyer working with you?
- What do you need less of from me as the lawyer working with you?
- If, at the end of the year, you were to rank me (a lawyer) as your most valuable partner in meeting your objectives, what would have happened during the year to justify that ranking?
Would you like help to discover ways to help your team to ask the right questions to help better understand the business they support? Let’s talk.