Beyond the daily grind: a new productivity mindset for lawyers
I stumbled upon Seth Godin's recent post about two kinds of productivity. It really struck a chord with me.
The two hats of productivity are: chores and initiatives.
Chores
The chores, are those day-to-day tasks we're all too familiar with, like weekly meetings, clearing inboxes, responding to comments on a doc, or the endless cycle of contract reviews. They're necessary and often take up the majority (all?) of our jobs.
They're also comfortably predictable and we’re often really good at them. Improving how we handle these chores will undeniably lead to efficiency gains.
Initiatives
But then, there are the “initiatives”. This is where things get both exciting and a bit daunting. When it comes to initiatives, it's about stepping away from the routine and asking the hard questions.
Here are a few examples for in-house legal lawyers:
reworking how the legal team collaborates with the sales team;
reshaping the legal department;
innovating our approach to compliance and risk management: including deciding to no longer ‘care’ about certain classes of work;
testing whether an AI powered solution can change ‘who does what’.
It's the kind of work that doesn't always have a clear roadmap, but it's crucial. It’s also often where 10x improvements come from.
How to create time for initiatives
So if this stuff is both scary and hard, how do we force ourselves to do it?
Seth Godin mentions Neil Gaiman's approach to writer's block:
Neil Gaiman has a simple solution for writer’s block: He puts himself into a room where there are absolutely no chores to do. No sites to check, no emails to answer. Nothing productive is available except for initiative.
I find this particularly relevant. How often do we, as in-house lawyers, get bogged down by the 'chores' of our day-to-day, that we forget to take that step back and look at the bigger picture? To innovate, to question, to improve?
Again, it's not easy. The comfort of routine chores is seductive. They're measurable, tangible, and, let's face it, less risky. But if we only focus on these, are we really doing justice to our roles? Aren't we supposed to be the legal visionaries for our companies, the ones who can do more than just deal with the business-as-usual?
So, here's my takeaway, or more accurately, my challenge for myself in 2024: Let's dare to wear the hat of initiative more often.
Yes, we need to do our chores, they keep the ship steady. But let's also carve out time and mental space to take on initiatives, to be the legal innovators our companies need. It's not just about keeping the lights on; it's about lighting new paths!
Thanks for being here,
Daniel