1. Vision Facilitation Template
Strategic Planning Preparation

2. Table of Contents Objectives for Today Why a vision statement
Vision Statement - Draft
Vision Statement – Components
Department Attributes
Team Member Behaviors
Leadership Role
Implementation Approach

3. Objectives for Today …
Brainstorm attributes that describe inputs into the vision statement
Vision Inputs
Business Needs & Direction
Legal Value Contribution
Client Experience
Department Behaviors
Leadership Role ….
Prioritize key themes
Consider degree of gap and implementation approach
Not: Draft and hone an actual vision statement

4. Why a Vision Statement …
Aspirational perspective to:
Define the value contribution of the Law Department
Establish expectations for how the Department will interact with business leadership and other corporate functions
Establish expectations for how the Department will interact amongst team members
Prioritize legal services with the greatest business impact
Define the role and type of legal resources needed (internal and external)
Serve as a guidepost for assessing current state gaps and outlining necessary changes to the structure and operations of the Law Department
Coalesce the leadership team around a common set of priorities

5. Law Department Visioning Session
To ensure the Law Department’s Value Contribution, the Law Department’s Vision should be grounded in supporting the organization’s strategic goals. To what degree does the Department’s current Vision reflect the organization’s strategic goals for the next 3 – 5 years? To what degree does the Department’s current state reflect the Department’s Vision?
Organization’s Strategic Goals
Department’s enabling action

6. Workshop Steps Unpack Law Department’s vision statement
Understand supporting behaviors of each component
Define behaviors required to support the vision statement
Assess the gap between current state and aspirational vision
Develop implementation approach

7. 1. Vision Statement Unpacking Exercise - Example
Drive accomplishment of Company’s strategy through solutions-oriented services and a business mindset.
Exercise: Understand the key components that will drive your service delivery
Replace the vision statement with your Department’s statement.
Break your statement into key components.
Key Components:
“drive accomplishment”
“Company’s strategy”
“solutions-oriented services”
“business mindset”

8. 2. Vision Statement Components Exercise - Example A
Drive accomplishment of Company’s strategy through solutions-oriented services and a business mindset.
“Company’s strategy”
Progress Company’s growth and expansion
Augment revenue generation and cost reduction through asset optimization
Increase business agility through improved technology enablement
Focus on long-term success and reputation goals
Create legal approaches that further the Company’s strategy for growth and value creation
Exercise: Understand the underlying meaning of each component
Draft supporting statements for key component that explain the component. These statements should reflect your company’s unique strategy and operations. (Examples are in italicized text)
Repeat exercise for each component (Additional examples on following slides)

9. 2. Vision Statement Components Exercise - Example B
Drive accomplishment of Company’s strategy through solutions-oriented services and a business mindset.
“solutions-oriented services”
Deep understanding of the industry and Company’s business, current and past
Connect disparate groups in the business to stimulate interaction and comprehensive results
Promote avoidance of financial or reputation harm through thoughtful preventative measures
Create solutions to manage risk and protect the company’s ability to operate
Translate current and emerging risks into recommendations and solutions that help to manage and grow the business
Act as a early warning system to detect and address potential risks
Encourage client self-sufficiency through simplified legal processes, forms and training

10. 2. Vision Statement Components Exercise - Example C
Drive accomplishment of Company’s strategy through solutions-oriented services and a business mindset.
“business mindset”
Engage with the client to identify legal needs and proactively direct the type and degree of interaction
Maintain focus on practical issues that have a meaningful business impact
Develop actionable recommendations that address client challenges and expand perspectives
Define team composition of internal and external resources to drive effective and efficient service delivery
Maintain strategic role with the business when engaging and directing outside counsel
Be accessible and provide timely response that encourages trust and sense of reliability

11. 3. Department Attributes Exercise – Example A
Exercise: Define the behaviors that are needed to support the vision statement,
Certain behaviors will be essential to successful implementation of your vision.
Draft key behavior statements for team members and leadership. (Examples are in italicized text)
Repeat exercise for leadership behaviors (See following slide)
Team Member Behaviors
Embrace role as problem solvers
Be a learning organization that requires team members to expand their knowledge sets and embraces continual improvement by supporting process initiatives and rejecting “opt out” culture
Utilize and rely upon Corporate and Law Department systems/processes as a recognized obligation
Ensure the right resource is doing the right work
Maintain accountability when engaging outside counsel

12. 3. Department Attributes Exercise – Example B
Leadership Role
Model behavior, integrity and ethics for the Law Department and Company
Balance priorities of service delivery, proactive business engagement and people management
Champion change and inspire others to adopt new ways of thinking while preserving and enhancing current successful strategies and practices
Maintain awareness of company direction to translate how corporate goals shape the legal department’s priorities
Discuss risk tolerance and encourage appropriate risk taking in solutions
Emphasize a department-wide view towards personnel development and succession planning
Convey goals and expectations for the individual team members based upon Company needs and provide team members with opportunities to demonstrate their skills and knowledge of the business
Be accessible to team members for structured and ad hoc guidance
Embrace and promote effective technology use, process improvement and cost management

13. Leadership: x Department: x
4. Current State to Aspirational Vision Gap
Successful implementation of the vision should be judged based upon how the current and future gap has been addressed.
Exercise: Assess the gap between the current state and the aspirational vision.
Use a numerical score, e.g., 1 – 10
Assess both Leadership and Department gaps
Vision Input
Current State
Future State
Business Needs & Direction
Leadership: x Department: x x
Legal Value Contribution
Client Experience
Leadership: x
Department: x
Department Behaviors
Leadership Role …

14. 5. Implementation Approach
Communication and implementation of the vision should drive incorporation of behaviors into the fabric and day-to-day workings of the Department.
Exercise: Define the actions needed for implementation of the Law Department vision
Steps should included both actions and communications
Draft key steps for leadership. (Examples are in italicized text)
Leadership’s Next Steps
Refine vision, as needed, to reflect the vision for the Law Department
Communicate refined vision to the Department
Dialog with teams in group and individual settings to obtain feedback on vision and actions needed
Incorporate feedback into a implementation plan
Develop change management plan based upon feedback
Communicate expected behaviors
Measure business and department perspectives on current state through a voice of the client (VOC) survey and repeat on an annual/bi-annual basis
Incorporate expected behaviors into performance expectations
Use during annual evaluations, compensation and promotion decisions
Year 1: set expectations
Year 2: measure against defined requirements

15. 6. Translating Vision to Strategy
A Strategy Roadmap should be developed to translate the Law Department’s vision to a strategic plan. Department Leadership is responsible for clearly articulating its prioritized Strategic Objectives (the key enablers which propel the Department toward its Vision) and defining what success looks likes and Legal Operations is responsible for translating those Strategic Objectives into Work Streams (discrete tasks that further the Strategic Objectives and drive towards the Success measures).
Department Vision
Strategic Objective #1
Strategic Objective #2
Strategic Objective #3
Definition of Success #1
Definition of Success #2
Definition of Success #3
Work Stream #1
Work Stream #2
Work Stream #3
Work Stream #4
Work Stream #5
Work Stream #6