Optimize collaboration through remote working

That was the message delivered by Harvard Law School’s Dr Heidi Gardner at the webinar, ‘Optimize collaboration through remote working’ jointly hosted by The Centre for Legal Leadership and Globe Law and Business on 9 April 2020.

Throughout the hour-long event on Zoom, Dr Gardner set out how in-house lawyers can develop their collaboration techniques through communication, trust, empathy and engagement.

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads and ‘WFH’ becomes the new normal, the seminar provided a well-received shot in the arm for the in-house legal community facing the challenges of remote working. So much so that a second event was added to accommodate high demand for places.

Throughout the first part of the webinar, Dr Gardner covered themes such as:

• Becoming an insider by clarifying expectations around how the GC’s work gets done, anticipating issues and making a positive contribution to the organisation as a whole;
• Triggering diversity and inclusion through awareness of bias, stereotyping and tunnel vision, all of which increase in times of crisis and affect our capacity to operate across silos; 
• Humanising your communications through empathy with the distractions that people have in a home working environment. Dr Gardner also suggested designating an ‘Airtime Sheriff’, a person to monitor contributions in meetings and ensure introverts get heard as well as extroverts; and 
• Maximising productivity, trust and empathy by helping internal clients and external counsel understand each other.

Participants were encouraged to submit questions via the Zoom’s chat facility.

In the second part, Dr Gardner fielded these questions, sharing her knowledge, insights and experiences to help with people’s specific challenges. 

Dr Gardner’s special report Smart Collaboration for In-house Legal Teams has just been released by Globe Law and Business Publishing.