2019 ACC National Conference Dovetail Summary

The Dovetail Team attended the 2019 ACC National Conference

Below is a brief compilation of the key messages we took away from some of the sessions:

Stephen Scheeler – Disruptive Leadership and the In-House Legal Function in the Digital Age

• Digitalisation is changing five things about businesses:
  • Speed
  • Boundaries
  • Fuel – find data and insights to fuel your revolution
  • Culture – agile
  • Talent – utilise the power of the youth; find the right people
• An interesting insight from Stephen was that something we need to recognise, is that “people are the software of the future”.
• The two things that resonated the most with us at Dovetail though were firstly the focus on removing friction and secondly the empowering of individuals to focus on impact. It’s about moving from simple customer centricity to customer obsession!

ACC Panel – Legal Technology: Implementing Legal Operations in the Enterprise

• When choosing technology to deploy within your team or organisation, consider this advice: ‘Never be the first, the last, or worst of all: the only user of a technology’.
• Go for MVP – minimum viable product. Don’t look for a silver bullet solution to all your needs. Start with the biggest pain point and target that area first. Request a pilot from preferred vendors so you can use real data and your team can see it first-hand. Avoid the temptation to have the solution customised for your organisation, if configuration within the technology can sufficiently get you there. You don’t want customisations to end up splintering you off from accessing benefits of future updates… you’d be the only user.

Dr Kirsten Ferguson – Corporate Courage and the Crisis of Trust

• The importance of trust in business and organisations – demonstrate good judgment and experience; be consistent; but most importantly of all, build and maintain positive relationships.

Joanne Moss – Becoming a Key Contributor to Innovative Conversations

• We are on the brink of the fourth industrial revolution. To join the conversation, put on your innovative hat and get comfortable with uncertainty. Stop being reactive. It’s time to be proactive and explore collaboration across cross functional teams.

Bernard Salt – The Future of Work

• An engaging walk through a range of insights that can be drawn from demographic trends. Everyone’s already well aware of the ‘smashed avocado’ phenomenon and we saw memes like “I stopped buying smashed avocado and now I own a castle” and also this defaced road sign in Victoria:

• Some newer additions to the broad demographic groupings included:
  • PUMCINS – Professional Urban Middle Class in Nice Suburbs (Google the “goat’s cheese curtain”…)
  • NETTEL – Not Enough Time To Enjoy Life
  • KIPPERS – Kids In Parents’ Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings
  • LOMBARD – Lots of Money But A Real Dickhead…

Katrina Gowans – Change management that sticks

• Six tips for in-house lawyers to thrive in change management:
  • Be visionary
  • Plan, plan and plan some more: utilise project management tools, traffic light systems, deliverables, surveys, forms and any tool at your disposal.
  • Know your audience
  • Don’t get distracted by technology
  • Develop a culture of shared learning
  • Embed the change and own it

ACC Panel – Value Challenge: Using Design Thinking to Innovate Legal Practice

• Get it done, trial it and, if it doesn’t work, rethink it and go again.
• Don’t let striving for perfection stop you from getting started. It’s time to break some eggs…

All up it was another successful ACC National Conference – well done to everyone involved and the team at the ACC for all of your effort.

If you had any thoughts or ideas and would like to discuss anything further about ACC event or about the current state of the In-House Legal market, speak with a member of the team at Dovetail.