Face-to-Face: Even if you can’t be with somebody in person, it’s still important to put a face to your words. Litera CEO Avaneesh Marwaha notes, “Utilizing a video-first mantra will assist teams in remaining close, intimate and will allow individuals to maintain a sense of openness with each other. In times of forced remoteness, maintaining a culture and safe environment is important.” Eli Nussbaum, managing director at Keno Kozie Associates, agrees that it’s all about the collaboration, adding, “While FaceTime and Skype offer virtualized face-to-face communication, tools such as Microsoft Teams can facilitate both direct video chats, but also enable greater collaboration and act as a repository for ongoing discussions. These tools incorporate chat, conferencing and even project planning to simplify communications, which is more important today than ever.”
Let’s Do Lunch: Missing out on business lunches while you’re not in the office? You don’t necessarily have to. Virtual lunches can be “a great way to keep inter-office relationships strong and may be a good opportunity for candid banter with folks you don't regularly talk with,” says Memme Onwudiwe, executive vice president at Evisort. Jim Wagner, president at Seal Software, adds that grabbing a coffee or snack at home can provide the energy to stay in top mental shape. “It’s easy to get comfortable in your chair for a very long time and it’s also easy to forget that your spouse doesn’t know the intricacies of your schedule. But they would probably like to see you once in a while!” he says.
Loud and Clear: When working remotely, sometimes directions you thought were clear may end up lost in translation. Especially when you’re not able to explain a job face-to-face, being clear up front can save a lot of back-end headaches. Kristin Tyler, co-founder of LAWCLERK, advises, “Be clear on the documents they should review, issues to be researched and arguments to be addressed in the final document. Invite questions, request an initial draft and set a clear deadline for the work. Give a time estimate for how long you anticipate the work will take. Taking a bit of extra time to give these details will set the attorney—and you—up for success with the final written document.”
Remain Flexible: Law firms and legal departments often like to have a strict hold on which programs and applications employees use. But that may not be feasible when everyone is dispersed, notes Jamie Berry, executive vice president at Integreon. “Collaborating despite current limitations is crucially important, so the more flexible attorneys can become on collaboration platforms and applications, the better,” he explains. “Don't expect everyone to use what you use (FaceTime, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc.). Instead, become familiar with as many as you can to include everyone who's needed on the call, while not excluding or offending necessary people.”
Stay Secure: With employees working all over the place, a big part of remaining engaged is collaborating in a safe and secure manner. Sundhar Rajan, CISO at Casepoint, recommends taking this time to assess cyber-hygiene security practices across your organization and technology providers. He notes that the best ways to maintain digital hygiene during remote work “include using secure online conferencing tools, storing or sharing files using a secure, cloud-based platform, and making sure all employees are trained in up-to-date security protocols.” Smaller firms often have local clients who previously would stop by the law office to drop off papers or to sign documents, adds Tomas Suros, global product marketing director at AbacusNext. Now, those clients are remote. “A secure portal site gives law firms a private, secure web location where attorneys working remotely, as well as clients, can share documents, use an eSignature tool to sign documents, they may also have integrated secure email.”
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Use the Tech You’re Used To: In a novel situation, one way to ensure everyone is on the same page is by making the most of technologies workers already engaged with. “With everyone working from home, we are all getting less face time with our colleagues, meaning that more communication is happening over email,” notes Alex Babin, CEO of ZERO. “Leveraging mobile productivity apps can help you keep your inbox organized, prioritize messages, and even ensure that your emails are filed to the appropriate folder or DMS destination.” Simplifying calendars is another easy way, adds Will Norton, founder and CEO of SimplyAgree. “Tools like Calendly eliminate the back-and-forth emails of trying to find a time to connect. They seamlessly integrate with our calendars and web conferencing platforms like Zoom to automate the scheduling process, making it faster and easier to schedule meetings.”
With stay-at-home and social-distancing orders becoming more prevalent by the day, it’s clear that not only our personal lives, but our professional lives have been markedly affected. Many law firms have the technology and processes in place to allow their staff to work from home, but when it comes to the people working at home themselves, there can be challenges.
Attorneys and others in the legal profession are naturally driven to be engaged with clients and co-workers. But many are used to primarily doing this engagement face-to-face. So right now, how can remote attorneys and workers use technology to feel like they’re still being engaged as they want to be?
Legaltech News asked a few experts for their tips on staying engaged, even when face-to-face meetings are impossible. From leaning on video to simply taking a break, here’s how they say technology can be the key to keeping those relationships where you want.
2020-03-24 15:30:05Z
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2020/03/24/6-ways-tech-can-help-keep-attorneys-engaged-even-while-remote/
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