TLOMA Today

A Warm Welcome to our 2019 TLOMA President, Pamela Harris!  Pamela is a Director of Administration and Planning at Oatley Vigmond and can be reached at pharris@oatleyvigmond.com.

New Year, New Vision, New Goals…

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” – John Pierpont “JP” Morgan

I stumbled across this quote just before the holidays and thought it was worth sharing in my first President’s message.

This seems like such a simple concept, but to actually apply this to real life situations – to move forward, to change, to adapt, is not an easy feat. The reasons for this are different and will vary drastically with every person you are leading. As perfectly imperfect human beings we feel comfortable and safe in predictable environments.  Staying right where we are, doing the same thing we always have, in the exact same way, is easier than doing anything that makes us venture outside of our comfort zone.  So there we stay... even when it is the wrong thing to do and it is no longer serving us.

Change is inevitable and it comes at a faster pace now than ever before.  Dealing with those changes as leaders is one of our biggest and most important responsibilities.  If we do not change, we risk failure not only for ourselves but for our teams and our firms.  The tough part is getting others to accept this and allow us to move forward together.  It is a process; one with steps forward and backward.  The key is having the patience, perseverance, and techniques to listen, absorb, modify and move along.

As the New Year starts, take some time to really reflect on the past year, review what is still on your To Do list and make a plan to get things done. Consider what you are going to do first, how you are going to accomplish it, what resources you need, and what defines a win.  Anticipate what changes may be coming, both planned and possible, and have a plan on how to handle those changes.  By taking time to reflect and anticipate change, you will have a better understanding on where you are going and why. 

Being pulled off track to manage or address someone else’s priority is normal, and should be expected.  Investing the time to make a “big picture” plan and the steps to accomplish this, will allow you to switch gears and handle the unexpected situations that arise, and get back on track without losing sight on your ultimate goal for success. 

I would also highly recommend that you take time to think about what is no longer working for you personally.  Decide what is most important to you and focus your time and energy there. This may be the more important thing to do depending on your personal situation, the key to our success starts with US.

As we are inundated with New Year’s resolutions, it is difficult for us not to come up with a list of all the things we would like to improve or change about ourselves. When you look at that list, it can sometimes be daunting and suddenly feel unattainable. So, instead of setting myself up for failure, each year I make my list and pick one area of myself to focus on; active listening, carving out more planning time, changing my eating habits, spending more time with people who lift me up, taking time for self-care, etc.  This helps keep my goals realistic and achievable.  The icing on the cake is that I may actually achieve more than that one thing I chose to improve as they are still top of mind which makes me self-aware when I hear and read things that help grow my knowledge and experience.

The Board has started doing the same for TLOMA during our first Strategic Planning meeting last November which will be followed up by our second Strategic Planning meeting later this month.

We have also committed to ongoing strategic planning by setting aside time monthly to review our objectives, goals, and actions to ensure we are taking the necessary steps to achieve them.

We have already implemented a few small changes including a plan to test live video webcast for the upcoming Finance SIG meeting.

We have a number of other ideas that are not yet goals, more on that later.

I wish each and everyone one of you a fantastic 2019 and I look forward to my year as your President.  Please do not hesitate to reach out with your ideas and suggestions… I love brainstorming.

Best,
Pam

Episode 2(A) of our Leadership Series started a series of its own: communication. We talked about a maybe not so obvious communication tool which we sometimes forget to use, or maybe don’t make enough use of, out of our desire to communicate right away. We talked about listening.

In this episode, we'll talk about one of the tools we use – almost all the time – to express ourselves, our likes and dislikes, wants and needs: feedback. More specifically, giving feedback. We’ll talk about receiving feedback in our next episode. This time, let’s see how we express it.

Feedback is a powerful communication tool if it’s used regularly, on time and done properly. It encourages open communication within teams, increases accountability and trust among team members, and leads to good and healthy relationships.

"Let me give you some feedback," "I don’t like how they tackled this, but I can’t tell them that," "I’m afraid I’ll hurt their feelings if I give them negative feedback."

Situations of all sorts where we’d rather avoid telling the people around us how we stand for fear we’d hurt them,  jeopardize the relationship or demotivate them. We tend to associate feedback with criticism and tend to avoid giving it as much as possible.

In doing that, we in fact delay communication from happening when it needs to happen, the result being that, when we finally can’t deal with the situation anymore and decide to give our feedback, it’s often too late and irrelevant!

What is good feedback?

Good feedback can be either positive or negative.

What makes it ‘good’ is the fact that it serves a good purpose, it helps us grow, learn or understand things from a different perspective. It is also the fact that we feel good about it, even when it’s negative, because it opens up a dialogue. Good feedback is a productive dialogue!

The Focus

Good feedback focuses on behaviour, not personality.

Behaviour is what a person does or says, actions you can photograph or words you can record.

When we focus on behaviour, what we are saying is similar to listening to a story or watching a movie.

When we focus on behaviour, we don’t tell people who or what they are or aren’t. We tell them:

• what they said or didn’t say
• what they did or didn’t do

Good feedback makes the other see things from a different stand-point.

This is why it’s important to use ‘I’ messages – where the focus is on how I view things, not on how you are or are not. You will know better than me how you are.

Therefore, when I say something like, "you are wrong" the immediate reply will be, "no, I’m not." Saying something like, “I didn’t like it that you assumed I wanted to leave earlier” is more specific and leaves room for us to clarify both our stand-points.

Giving positive feedback

We talked about ‘I’ messages. They are called this way because they help us start the discussion with ourselves in the spotlight, not the other. So, we start the sentence with ‘I’ instead of ‘You’.

I [action] + when / how you [action] + result / effect

Starting with ‘I’ helps me be more specific and give you valuable input. It helps me ‘make the movie’ of what happened and give my definition of a ‘professional’ outlook. It is specific, clear, and it helps you know what you did well.

Note: "You are great!" – is not feedback.  It’s an appreciation, nothing more. It leaves you with no clue of why I just said that and it gives you the possibility to say "no, I’m not."

Giving negative feedback

We also use ‘I’ messages when we give negative feedback (or especially then)! The difference from positive feedback is that we also include our feelings in the equation and direct the discussion towards a solution that is acceptable to us in the future.

I [action] + when / how you [action] + feelings + result / effect + desired solution

Note: "You’re so negative" – is not feedback. It’s a statement that can be contradicted. It makes me almost immediately reply "no, I’m not."  It also doesn’t feed me any valuable information as to what makes you say that or what you understand by it.

It is important to address our feelings when we give negative feedback because that helps the other empathize and relate to our situation easier.

Conclusion

Giving feedback, especially when it’s negative, means courage; the courage to be honest, to tell you my truth and how things look from where I stand, while feeling uncomfortable and expecting you will disagree with me. It’s the courage to start a dialogue on what doesn’t work so we can agree on what will work for both of us from now on.

The courage to address difficult points is the definition of accountability. We’re holding ourselves accountable by choosing to address the issue rather than ignore it. And we’re holding the others accountable by discussing the issue with them. Accountability fosters trust, which is the key ingredient in any good relationship.

And isn’t that what good leaders build?

Further resources

• Feedback Exercise
• Brene Brown - The Anatomy of Trust

Many law firms Human Resources, Office Managers and Facility Managers are still not aware that Ergonomic Programs and Ergonomic Standards are mandatory in the workplace under the Occupational Health and Safety Laws for each province in Canada including Ontario. In our practice, we find that many employers with seemingly low risk environments such as offices and administrative type businesses, assume that ergonomics & ergonomic programs are not required in their workplace. This assumption comes at the risk of:

• an employee complaint to the Ministry of Labour and/or compensation board
  
• an unplanned worksite visit by the Ministry of Labour’s Ergonomic and/or OH&S Inspector
• written Orders being made to the employers with a 30 day requirement to eliminate the ergonomic risk(s) in the workplace
• an AODA and/or Human Rights complaint about a lack of an accommodation of the workplace using ergonomic standards.

Most of the WCB’s and Ministry for Ontario expect law firms as with all employers, to abide by the Canadian Standards Association’s ergonomic standards as well as the Ministry and/or WCB’s mandatory MSD Guidelines.

Public Services OH&S Association

The CSA has released its first major overhaul of the CSA Office Ergonomics Standard Z412. The last writing of the Standard was in 2000. Law firms need to be aware of this along with the recent changes to the Musculoskeletal Guide by the Ministry of Labour for Ontario, both of which need to be applied in a formal way within your workplace.

This article will outline the major ergonomic guideline revisions that law firms’ Human Resources, Office Managers and Facility Managers need to be aware of to ensure all employees are set up properly at their workstations physically, environmentally and mentally. Some of the most interesting updates in the CSA Ergonomic Standard include: 

• Expectations of law firms as employers to promote office ergonomics as part of an all-encompassing Occupational Health and Safety System.
• The requirement for employers to focus on the physical, environmental, psychosocial & cognitive workplace hazards that impact physical and mental health and wellness.   
• New ergonomic parameters and guidelines for sit/stand workstations. 
• Standards on the use of tablets and mobile phones. 

The new Canadian ergonomic standard is called “Office Ergonomics – an Application Standard for Workplace Ergonomics.” Released in December 2017 as Z412-17, the CSA spent much of 2018 communicating this new standard in the marketplace. The Ministry of Labour for Ontario and the WCB’s across the country expect employers to use this as the standard within the workplace. The standard applies ergonomics as a means of enhancing employee health, safety and well-being as well as a standardized method to optimize human resource based system performance to prevent occupational injuries related to the workplace in office environments. Because the CSA Z412-17 described responsibilities for OH&S on the employer and includes the use of “mandatory shall,” this is how provincial OH&S and WCB agencies are able to adopt this standard for compliance.

The new MSD Prevention Program with the Ministry now includes the “Work Shouldn’t Hurt” program with resources about prevention of MSD, MSD Risk Assessments and online resources. The Ministry of Labour for Ontario and the WSIB in Ontario expect employers including law offices to also use this program as a standard. This forms part of employers’ obligations to reduce the severity of harm, physical, mental and environmental related to occupational demands.

Under the OH&S legislation across Canada, employers must take all reasonable steps to protect employees from harm. In this way, law firms across Canada who actively manage health and safety – physical, environmental, mental – and take reasonable steps to protect employees from harm will be found to be duly diligent. By extension law firms in Ontario and Canada should refer to the CSA Z412-17; the new MSD Prevention program for Ontario as a start point. To take your ergonomic program to a higher level the CAN/CSA-Z1003-13 National Standard of Canada Psychological Health & Safety in the Workplace – Prevention, Promotion, and Guidance to Staged Implementation is also recommended.

Some of the highlights to be aware of with the new CSA Z412-17 includes more detail about:

• Office furniture, equipment and task seating designs: This includes the use of a standardized ergonomic process and critical steps for the application of ergonomics with workplace furniture, design, and seating.
• Prevention of mental demands hazards: The standard now highlights the importance of physical, environmental and psycho-social demands of work which impacts employee wellness. (This points out the need to use consultants who have both University Level degrees in the area of ergonomics/human factors design which includes psychological demands of work, plus years of experience in the field).
• Employee training (and education): Although the standard only describes employee training about how to use their technology, environment, furniture and seating, our firm strongly recommends employees be educated about why to use these factors properly for true prevention.
• Laptops, phones and tablets: The standard recommends how these items should be used properly and includes newer research about the use of technology at night. (The blue light emitted from these devices is found to interfere with sleep/wake cycles).
• Use of certified experts is also described in the Standard. Ergonomics especially when used in a strategic program is comprised of a far more complex science than most people understand. Where employees are attending any type of medical treatment for their injury or illness, have lost time from the workplace or work in more complex office environments, should be reviewed by bona fide experts. The ergonomic/human factors design experts should be asked:

• What degrees they hold in the science of ergonomics and human factors design
• How many years of experience do they have in the field
• Do they have a complete understanding of the CSA, ANSI/BIFMA, ISO and related standards for office ergonomics
• Do they represent any lines of furniture, technology, ergonomic accessories, seating (this is a conflict of interest and an ethical breach)
• Do they offer “free” consulting services in return for the purchase of the furniture, seating, accessories, desk top sit to stand units etc. being purchased from their firm?

In Summary: Its time to get started to enhance or commence the development of a comprehensive ergonomic and human factors design program for your law firm. We recommend you familiarize yourselves with the MSD Guidelines and the new CSA standards for both ergonomics and psychological ergonomics in your workplace. From there it is recommended your firm partner with a highly qualified firm who can guide Corporate Real Estate, Facilities and Office Management, Human Resources, Technology, Architects/Designers together to create a long term, strategic and effective means of preventing injury while optimizing human performance!

By age 38, many professionals have to make a decision to strive for a high income career based on cultivating their own clients or to solidify job security by building relationships with employers. The problem for those who opt for the job is that, eventually, they can be replaced by a younger person earning less. Either way, more and better business relationships are needed.

I have a number of clients in their early 30's who are in the relationship building phase of their career. And it’s a difficult phase because they are extremely busy with their work and their personal lives. The time management problem in 2019 is not a lack of time, it’s an abundance of good things to do.

The fact is that a thirty year old lawyer committed to building relationships and doing all their work will go out to lunch almost every day if invited by someone else. But that’s not what happens.

I have found that the most common impediment to relationship building (over lunch, coffee etc.) is that people do not spend enough time reaching out. Most people have a significant list of people they can approach or a list they've built by networking, but they don’t do enough inviting. Reaching out more is a difference that will make a difference.

Two simple things need to be done to get you reaching out more. The first is to simply devote 15 minutes each day to sending invites. The other is to spend time each day ensuring that your list is up to date. A lot of people have many business cards they’ve collected but not put into a system to make following up on the initial contact easy. People also carry names around in their mind they want to approach, but don’t.

One other thing to overcome is coming to believe that meeting someone now will have any long term benefit. If you are 30 and out to lunch with someone from your cohort, there is not much chance that building this relationship will pay off now. A 30 year old will not yet have much expertise to offer or relationship benefits to deliver. But in eight years both will have much more to offer and, if the relationship has survived, there are potential benefits for both.

So the strategy to reach the success you want in 15 years is to multiply the number of business building relationships that you own among Prospects, future Referral Sources, Clients and Partners. If you’re marketing yourself at age 30 the payback for today’s activities is way over the horizon. Of course many will pay off sooner and many never will.

The tactic that will make a difference is to raise the number of invitations you send each week to arrange business development meetings. If you’re at 3 per week now, 10 per week would be better. This focuses on quantity of meetings believing that quality will rise as you get more experience and meet more people.

On a day to day basis the important but not urgent things you can do are:

• Devote 15 minutes early each day to send invitations (getting this out of the way early will energize you).

• Bring your Outlook files up to date to refresh everyone in there now and add those that are just in your mind now. Refresh means update the contact info.
• Get back in touch with people you’ve seen before but haven’t followed up with.
• Compose emails that you can easily use for invitations e.g. i) “Hi Bob. I enjoyed our meeting last year. Would you have time for a follow up on July 16 after work?” ii) Hi Jane. We met at our offices when you introduced your bank to the partners. Would you have time for a follow up lunch on May 6?”

Underlying this thinking is that your in-basket will always be full so there isn’t a future time when you’ll have otherwise unscheduled time to market yourself. You just have to do it. Some do to their everlasting benefit.

At TLOMA, we provide education, professional development, mentorship, and support to our Membership. Through these initiatives, TLOMA members are offered both a professional and social network of professionals working in law firms of all sizes. To encourage members to grow their network at TLOMA, we would like to profile TLOMA members in each issue of TLOMA Today to give readers a snapshot of who we are within the legal industry.

Name:  Nicole Brown

How long have you been a member of TLOMA? 3 years.

Where do you work? Oatley Vigmond Personal Injury Lawyers.

What do you enjoy most about working in the legal industry?  I enjoy the challenge of being a marketer in the legal industry - specifically the personal injury field. Lawyers have routinely gotten a bad rap, especially Personal injury lawyers.  This makes marketing extraordinarily challenging and rewarding when we retain clients.  

What is your favorite movie? Inception, the best mind-bending movie of all time – Is it a tech movie, love story, sci-fi? Maybe a bit of everything but wow is it good. What is your theory? Does the top keep spinning or does it fall? 

What is your favorite artist/band you got to see live in concert? The Backstreet Boys. Don’t judge, I grew up in the 90’s! As long as there’ll be music, they will be coming back again.

If you were able to start a blog, what would it be about? If I were to start a blog it would be about #momlife and the pressure women face trying to balance a career and a family. As a relatively new mom (Hi Liam, mama loves you) it’s so hard to balance it all. There is an enormous amount of pressure to have your life, child, and house Instagram ready at all times.  This is just impossible. Women need to stop apologizing for having family obligations and a messy house.

If you could have a 60-minute conversation with anyone (fictional, famous, not famous, etc.) – who would you choose? Kim Kardashian. Love her or hate her she is a #momboss.

You have been gifted with $10,000 …. the only catch is you have to spend it all within 24 hours… you can't use it to pay bills. What does your 24 hours spending spree include? Vegas baby. Shoes, purses, shows, and if there is anything left, maybe some gambling. 

If you are interested in participating in the Member Spotlight feature of TLOMA Today to share some of your experiences at TLOMA, please email editor@tloma.com for more information.