“Looking out for number one” and couching business decisions in terms of win-lose is part of the zero-sum thinking concept discussed in John Hagel’s provocative posting about the recent column in Forbes titled World’s Worst Disease.  Unfortunately, this disease has also infected the relationship between business and law.

• Attitude.  “If we run it by the lawyers it will take too long.  Their job is to find something wrong and then we’ll never get the deal done. I’d rather ask for forgiveness later.”  If as a manager you’ve ever said these words or secretly thought them, you probably view lawyers more as adversaries and roadblocks instead of trusted advisors.  Such a short-term approach leads to slap dash deals that beat the clock, but the reluctance to seek legal advice early also causes latent issues to fester and ferment into more expensive legal problems down the road. 
   
• Customer Relationships.  The zero-sum approach to customer relationships causes problems to be viewed in adversarial terms instead of collaborative terms.  That frame of reference allows customer dissatisfaction to quickly escalate from complaints into formal claims and lawsuits.  Alternative dispute resolution methods can help shortcut lengthy legal proceedings.  But ironically one of the central principles of alternative dispute resolution is collaborative negotiation – focusing on joint interests instead of individual rights.  Wouldn’t it be more effective to use that approach at the outset to stay out of trouble instead of using afterward to get out of trouble?
  

          Shifting the focus to a non-zero-sum relationship leads to fewer conflicts and creates less drag on the bottom line.  It leaves more resources available for developing new products and services and satisfying customer needs.  The win-win attitude also opens the door to new opportunities and the possibility that 1+1 is far greater than the sum of its parts.  It thereby promotes growth and competitive advantage.  There is a lot to be gained by changing your frame of reference.

     One of the keys to cashing in on the benefits of new mindset is finding the right legal advisor to coach you in developing more legal literacy.  You need someone who can help you navigate a balanced response, someone who can protect your interests while not being a roadblock to revenue — someone who can show you “how to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 29th, 2006 at 3:03 pm and is filed under Business Blind Spots, Compliance, Costs, Decision Making, Lawyers, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.