Strategic Advisor and Coach A.B. Cruz III, former Senior Vice President & Divisional General Counsel of USAA, is joined by Jason Winmill, Managing Partner at Argopoint, to address the growing need for leaders of corporate legal functions to undertake a strategic planning process. The valuable advice provided by these seasoned legal executives will help overcome any hesitation and concern about engaging in this exercise. They give useful, practical “how-to” steps to get the strategic planning process underway in legal and compliance departments.
Below are highlights from the webinar. To learn more, the video recording and podcast are available on this page.
Strategic planning provides a framework for legal departments to address the legal, business, financial, organizational, management, and leadership challenges of a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world. Based on a well-thought-out plan, legal teams will be guided by a definitive strategy with specific underlying goals and objectives. This will clarify key areas of focus and outline a path to both short- and long-term success. Strategic plans ultimately help legal teams achieve optimum performance relative to, and in support of, the overall operations of the company.
Become a high performing legal department by developing a strategic plan.
“For nearly 20 years, I have been working with legal departments of all sizes to help them employ the proven management tools used to drive the business forward, and strategic planning is a key management tool. Legal teams have often been skeptical of, and maybe even a little resistant to, the traditional tools that have worked well across the business, but that is rapidly changing.”
Jason Winmill
Legal departments have traditionally been slow to engage in the strategic planning process as a best practice to drive high performance. However, the winds of change are driving more legal departments to overcome any disinterest or misconceptions and engage in developing strategic plans. There is a classic conceptual framework for creating a strategic plan that is useful in getting started. Start by analyzing the current state of the department and identify where you are now. Then think about the future state: where do you want to be and what does the future hold? The strategic plan is designed around assessing and bridging the critical gap between the current state and the future state.
Beware of misconceptions that can limit the effectiveness of a plan.
“A good strategic plan typically doesn’t sit on the shelf. It is a dynamic document that can be modified as necessary, keeps the team focused, and communicates the vision of legal leadership. Why do chief legal officers and chief compliance officers often hesitate to start the process? They have unfounded misconceptions that limit the effectiveness of legal department strategic plans.”
A.B. Cruz III
Many of the concerns of legal executives can be resolved with the facts:
Concern 1. Overestimating the amount of time it takes to create a plan.
Reality: Yes, there are 20- and 30-page strategic plans that work for some departments. Other plans, however, consist of two or three pages and can be just as effective. If the option is a two-page plan versus no plan, develop the shorter plan.
Concern 2. Thinking the investment can’t be scaled.
Reality: The first go-round of a strategic plan can be a lightweight plan, establishing a foundation for future rounds of the planning process. Once the initial plan is developed, it’s easy to refresh it or build upon it by adding new strategies and objectives.
Concern 3. Considering other plans to be a strategic plan.
Reality: Previous plans developed by the legal department are often misconstrued for strategic plans. For example, a response to the corporate finance team for a 12-month budget is a financial exercise. It can flow out of a strategic plan, but a financial plan does not replace a strategic plan because there is too much missing information.
Concern 4. Believing legal issues are too uncertain to be able to plan.
Reality: There are undoubtedly new and unexpected issues that arise, but legal departments also have consistent matters related to employees, commercial contracts, real estate, etc., which lend themselves to the planning process.
Use these best practices to get started.
The need to hunker down and focus on the day-to-day is often all-consuming for legal leaders. However, they have a responsibility to elevate their perspective, look at the current environment, and ask the tough questions that can lead to formulating an effective strategic plan. To get started, here are some best practices:
- Select a project leader other than the GC or Deputy GC when possible.
- Decide on a reasonable frequency for developing a strategic plan such as every two or three years.
- Review the corporate strategic plan to assess alignment and impact on the legal department.
A.B. Cruz III and our team of professionals are happy to help accelerate the initiatives you’re already pursuing or supplement your current strategic thinking to help you realize your vision. Please reach out if you or your organization may benefit from our recruiting, leadership development and coaching, or legal and compliance department consulting services. Let us help you build and optimize your legal and compliance departments.
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