TLOMA Today

Well, they say April showers bring May flowers, so what does April snow bring? Thank goodness that is over and the nicer weather is slowly on its way.

I hope you had a chance to come out or attend via webcast, the Technology SIG on April 7^th, “10 Questions to Ask Cloud Computing Vendors”. Mike Dewdney, the CEO of LexCloud.ca presented the session and provided all of us with some very valuable information. It has been suggested in my office that we look at switching some of our servers to the Cloud, so this session couldn’t have come at a better time for me.

Later that same evening, TLOMA held its annual Business Partner Appreciation event. What an amazing turnout we had! This event was a chance to network and chat with some of our current Business Partners, meet new ones and hear testimonials from Business Partners on what TLOMA has given them. Our Business Partners support our organization all year long, even more now, with the sponsorships that we introduced this year for SIG’s and PD sessions. This event is our way of once again saying thank you for their continued support. The testimonials we heard from the Business Partners that spoke at the event got the Board of Directors thinking, why not have a Business Partner Spotlight in our monthly newsletter? You will now see this as a regular feature of our newsletter and we feel it’s an opportunity for you to hear our Business Partners’ testimonials.

On April 26^th TLOMA held a joint event with the Ontario Bar Association (‘OBA’) titled “Own Your Time: Find More Time In Your Day”. The speaker, Ann Gomez of Clear Concept Inc. had us engaged during her presentation and provided us some useful and practical tips to establish better boundaries and assist us in maximizing our time. The joint event was a marketing initiative targeting not only our current members but also our new Lawyer Members. Lawyer Members are those who manage either a small firm or are a sole practitioner where their management duties consist of at least 10% of their time. These members don’t have administrators.. It was well attended with a good mixture of TLOMA members and OBA members. There were 70 in person attendees and 80 attended via web-cast. After the presentation we enjoyed a small reception, which gave TLOMA members a chance to mingle with others and market our association. The event was a success and thank you to everyone who assisted in the planning of the evening.

Another new item, we will be showcasing in upcoming monthly newsletters, will be a spotlight from Past Presidents. With the Nominating Committee about to get under way this month, we thought hearing from Past Presidents may give you the information you need to persuade you to come forward and volunteer. There are many roles available on the Board of Directors each year and we’d love to have you be a part of it.

Watch for the e-mail coming from the Board this month looking for Nominating Committee members. Don’t be afraid to sign up! It’s about a 6 to 8 week commitment. We’d love to have you join the Nominating Committee or sign up to become a Board member and make a contribution.

Early Bird Registration is open until May 16^th for our 2016 TLOMA Conference. Make sure to get your registration in before the Early Bird deadline to receive some great extra savings. Conference is being held from September 28^th to October 1^st in Niagara Falls at the Niagara Hilton Hotel & Fallsview Casino Resort. The line-up of speakers is exceptional. You won’t want to miss it! There are always opportunities at Conference to network with other members, make new friendships, share ideas over a bite to eat or make new connections while mingling later in the evening at one of our social events. It is also a great time to meet new Business Partners and find that product your firm has been looking for.

Please save the dates for TLOMA's upcoming events for May and June 2016!

• May 9, 2016 - Marketing SIG - Marketing Plan - Start With a SWOT!
• May 17, 2016 - Facilities SIG - What Law Firms Need to Know To Be Compliant in First Aid
• June 3, 2016 - Member Networking Event - Copacabana Brazilian Restaurant
• June 9, 2016 - Technology SIG - Data Insight & Data Governance
• June 16, 2016 - HR SIG - Beyond Stigma - Increasing Our Understanding of Mental  Health in the Workplace
• June 21, 2016 - CASL: Have the Regulators Been Bulls or Bears?

Remember any questions you may have can be directed to Liz Barrington, Karen Gerhardt or myself at any time.

Sandra Hatcher-Maher
2016 TLOMA President.

For more information, visit www.tloma.com/membership/membership-benefits or contact TLOMA @ info@tloma.com.

By nature of the fact that you are reading this publication, you likely have a very impressive career track. After all, TLOMA attracts a certain high-performing type. But I’m guessing your days are pretty full – and also long. Life can be busy in these circles.

Our time doesn’t always feel as though it is our own. Many professionals question whether it is possible to take back control. Is it really possible to own our own time?

I profess that this is an attainable goal. You can own your time. There are some tangible things you can do to find more time without adding more time to your day. I recently presented some core productivity principles at the joint TLOMA/OBA Event. I’d like to take this opportunity to summarize my favourite productivity principles here.

Principle #1: Focus, Don’t Multi-Task

The research is clear: Multi-tasking does not work. From tackling big projects to keeping up with email, we should only ever focus on one thing at a time. Focusing is far more effective than multi-tasking. Focusing is faster, leads to better quality work and is easier.

We sometimes feel as though all of our time gets absorbed dealing with small tasks, interruptions and distractions. We pride ourselves on being responsive to our colleagues and clients, but we never seem to have time for our own work.

We absolutely need to find ways to manage our interruptions. This might mean we turn off our email for short bursts, let phone calls go to voicemail or ask drop-by visitors if we can come back to them later. Few things require instant responses (and if they do need an immediate response, they will find you).

As busy as you are, you can’t simply wait for some free time to tackle big projects. We need to literally block off and protect the time. Maybe it's first thing in the morning before you get pulled into a busy day. Or maybe it's right after lunch. Decide what works for you and make it part of your routine.

Principle #2: Establish a Master Plan

We absolutely need a Master Plan to track all of our goals, deadlines and commitments. We are all juggling countless things and cannot expect to rely on our memory. After all, the expectation in the professional ranks is that we follow-up on all of our commitments.

A Master Plan is a sophisticated To Do List and is a critical tool for all professionals. Our Master Plan helps us balance priorities, track deadlines and manage expectations. We need one central list to streamline our planning and commit to using it for all of our work.

Principle #3: Define Your Routine

We are all pulled in countless directions. If we are not clear on the best allocation of our time, we are at the mercy of others. We need to define our ideal time allocation, and protect time for our top priorities.

Regardless of what we struggle to fit into our day, the solution remains the same. The secret to finding time is making time. In other words, we need to protect time for our top priorities before other things get in the way. We need to establish a routine.

A routine helps us to protect time for top priorities. For example, blocking the first hour of your day for your top priorities can be a highly effective way to avoid having other things get in your way. Also, protecting time for your team can avoid having people chasing you down the hall and emailing you at all hours.

Principle #4: Take Control Of Email

Email has a bad rap these days. Many people struggle to stay on top of the incoming avalanche, and inboxes tend to be bursting at the seams. Email was once viewed as a brilliant communication tool but has been denigrated to the dreaded obligation. 

During our recent workshop, we talked about the benefits of keeping your inbox relatively clear. Throughout the day, emails will pile up but we should then work to whittle them back down. Ideally, we want to end our day with less than ten emails in our inbox. This ensures that nothing gets lost, we are better able to focus on top priorities and we end up spending less time sorting through old emails.

Bonus Principle: Don’t Strive for Perfection

In your busy professional life, it will be nearly impossible to apply these principles all of the time. Strive for most of the time. You'll not only be more productive, but you will also get more done. After all, striving for perfection is one of the biggest productivity sabotages I have ever seen.

I hope these key tips provide you with the inspiration to take back control over your day, and make the most of your precious time. I would love to hear from you and invite you to contact me to share your successes, challenges, and even a screen shot of your clear inbox. Few things bring such joy to my life.

When I started research for this paper it was going to be about how Partners and the Millennial generation need to work together.  What I’ve learned through my study is that it would be imprudent of me to simply focus on these two groups, without recognizing that there are unique talents and challenges with each generation, and in order to be successful as a firm, we need to appreciate and respect each other and communicate and collaborate in order to truly thrive.

I started with my experience from the time I spent in firms.  I’ve heard that Millennials, “need to respect the tradition, culture, working conditions and hierarchy that exists within the firm”, all of which can likely be linked to what’s made your firm successful in the first place.  I agree.  I’ve also heard the opposite about Millennials, “they have a lot to offer and are the future of our firm, and we have a lot to learn from them.” I agree again.  Well that didn’t get us anywhere!

Next, I went back to some of the work I’ve done previously, particularly the feedback I’ve received through focus groups I conducted with Associates at the firms I worked.  It was here that I realized I was onto something.  The messages I heard certainly didn’t paint a picture of a generation that had a jaded perspective of what it meant to be successful within a firm or the work ethic required, in fact, quite the opposite.  What I did find is that at the root of all the discussions I’ve had there’s one commonality.  Regardless of what generation you come from we largely want the same things for the firm.  The Associates I interviewed, largely Millennials, want the firm to be successful, they are passionate about being lawyers, they want to be the best at what they do, and they are committed to providing the best service and solution to their clients.  Does this sound like a group that we couldn’t work with?  Now I think we’re getting there!  And yes, I get there are anomalies to these statements.

So, my conclusion – We can debate which generation is right, which generation is wrong and ultimately never get any further, or we can focus on how to work together.  The remainder of this article will be about that.

Learning how to communicate with the different generations can eliminate many major confrontations and misunderstandings in the workplace.  In order to work better across the generations we must first understand some of the Criteria for Successful Cross-Generational Relationships.  Below are just a few to consider:

We all own a piece of collaborating and communicating more effectively amongst generations and it may require an emotional change on our part to accomplish.  Exactly how we do that now becomes the question.  Below are 4 ideas for your firm to consider:

• Respect the Values, Attitudes & Behaviours of Each Generation – The Pew Research Center is a think tank with a particular focus on understanding the values, attitudes and behaviors of each generation. In reading through some of the research, what it says to me is that all generations, Pre-Boomers, Boomers, X and Y are all unique with their own expectations, priorities, approaches, work and communication styles.If firms can learn to leverage these differences they might discover a competitive edge by utilizing and combining their respective talents and skills.What it requires though brings me back to a couple of Dale Carnegie Principles – Become genuinely interested in other people and try honestly to see things from the other person’s perspective.
  
  

• Overcome Your Unconscious Biases – There is no denying that we all have our preconceived notions about all generations that provide a potential for negative stereotypes.Seasoned workers may perceive Millennials to be entitled, lacking work ethic, tech-obsessed and unwilling to put in their time while workers new to the work force may see previous generations as rigid and stuck in their ways, incapable of innovating or find them difficult to train.Instead of focusing on the negative, some believe these differences can actually present an opportunity at both ends of the generational spectrum.  Millennials’ enthusiasm to try new things can lead to great innovation within the firm while experienced workers can leverage their experience to ensure any risks or exorbitant costs are being considered.
• Giving Sincere and Honest Appreciation – All generations like to be appreciated for their contributions.If we all got a little better at appreciating what we each bring to the firm, the results might surprise you!

Ultimately, firms cannot continue to ignore that the strife between generations exist and that it will just go away.  Firms need to be proactive in understanding and respecting the differences and strengths that each of the generations brings, and figuring out how to work together to leverage it for the good of the firm.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Canada) Ltd. was the Event Sponsor for the OBA / TLOMA joint event held on April 26, 2016 at the OBA.

Organization & Services Overview Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Canada) Ltd. is one of the world's leaders in information management focused on enterprise content, technology optimization and cloud services. Our portfolio of offerings deliver solutions to improve our customers' speed to market, manage technology costs, and facilitate the sharing of information to increase productivity.

Konica Minolta offers managed/optimized Print Services (OPS/MPS), provision of an extensive array of printing/scanning technology, document management and workflow solutions, managed IT services, IT consultancy, security assessments, cloud solutions, scanning hardware and software solutions, and much more.

How many years have you been a Business Partner of TLOMA? Three (3) Years.

What has been your partnership experience with TLOMA over the years? It’s been outstanding for making introductions, establishing new partnerships, and learning about how to best serve the legal community.

What is your favorite lunch spot during the work week? Mercatto at Bay and Adelaide.

What is your favorite movie? Field of Dreams

What are your favorite hobbies? Playing baseball and making electronic music

If you could have a 60-minute conversation with anyone (fictional, famous, not famous, etc) - who would you choose? Stephen Hawking and Hunter S. Thompson.

Pet Peeves: Inconsiderate drivers.

Describe your ideal vacation: Hot days with cool breezes; beautiful wine and fresh, classic food. New friendships and the companionship of my wife, historical sites and natural marvels.

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 will profile TLOMA members in each issue of TLOMA Today to give readers just a little snapshot of who we are in the legal industry as well as our interests and hobbies. Take the time to get to know some fun facts about one of your fellow members. 

• Name –  Christine Yeung
• How long have you been a member of TLOMA – 5 Months
  
• Where do you work?  Perry + Currier Inc.
• What do you enjoy most about working in the legal industry? Being around great people and being exposed to innovation and new ideas.
• What is the name of your favorite restaurant? Nando’s Chicken, I love spicy food.
• If you had to sing a Karaoke song to describe the real you, what song would you sing? Superwoman by Alicia Keys
• If you were to start a blog, would would it be about? Food, titled 'Tooth-Pix'.
• Where is your go-to coffee shop? Starbucks.
• 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 you 24 hour spending spree include? Eating food with all my favorite people and patenting an app!
  

 *If you are interested in being featured please send us an email to editor@tloma.com.