From the moment I stepped into the beautiful Bellagio Hotel and Casino for CLOC 2019 Vegas Institute, there was a wow factor that no one could deny.

While not new to the Bellagio, I was new to CLOC – this was the first conference I have been able to attend. When CLOC launched its first conference in 2016, there were many unknowns about the organization and also the power and influence this conference would have. Here are my takeaways from CLOC 2019:

1. The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium is a 501(c)6 nonprofit organization that helps legal operations professionals and others optimize the legal service delivery models required to support the needs of law departments. The organization is comprised of 2,303 members across 45 countries including, but not limited to the U.S., UK, Australia and Canada. Its membership represents 65 Fortune 100 companies, 182 Fortune 500 companies and 242 of the Fortune 1000. The organization has seen a continuous increase in membership registrations year over year. If your goal is to connect with legal operations professionals, the buck stops here.
2. Stats matter, and the numbers are evidence of influence and growth. There was an 80 percent increase in CLOC Vegas Institute registration from 2017 to 2018 and a 55 percent increase from 2018 to 2019. CLOC staff claims that this year they had more than 2,300 attendees present and 46 percent as in-house legal representatives.
3. I attended the press conference with the CLOC board of directors, which includes Mary Shen O’Carroll, director, legal operations, technology and strategy, Google; Jason Barnwell, assistant general counsel – legal business, operations and strategy, Microsoft; Christine Coats, vice president of legal operations, Oracle; Mike Haven, senior director, ACG and head of legal operations, Gap Inc.; Lisa Konie, senior director of legal operations, Adobe; Aine Lyons, VP and deputy general counsel, worldwide legal operations, VMware; Jamal Stockton, head of legal innovation and digital enablement, Fidelity; and, Brian Hupp, CLOC board member. The message from the board – all volunteers – was clear: The organization is invested in the legal community. It encourages connections and breaking down barriers between practitioners and service and technology providers. This enables people to learn from each other and will propel and push boundaries to elevate the industry as a whole.
4. Technology is changing very rapidly, and staying on track with it is a collective job, meaning CLOC, legal service and technology providers, consultants, media and other practitioners all need to help guide and educate and get everyone to the next level. I have seen technology and service companies come into the legal industry expecting big wins right off the bat from a trade show, email campaign or a PPC advertising campaign. When success doesn’t arrive overnight, they often get frustrated and leave the industry. What they don’t know or have the patience to understand is that this is not the legal operations or legal practitioners’ fault for not immediately buying into a new technology or system, but it is the industry’s nature, historically, to avoid risk and only make change happen once something is tried and true. Leaning on an organization that encourages education, collaboration and betterment, like CLOC, brings peace of mind when making a decision for change.
5. As an executive director of Women in eDiscovery, I understand how much volunteer time goes into running an organization of this size. There are countless hours, increasing demands, growing pains and also a lot of excitement for the future and what could be! I feel that CLOC has done a tremendously successful job at the institute and look forward to how they will continue to improve things for its members and constituents alike.
6. I met up with a good number of Edge current, past and hopefully future clients (you know who you are!), and the overall feedback I received regarding the conference, exhibiting, educational content and networking opportunities was positive. There were some complaints about not fitting everyone into a room for some sessions, but I say demand is good. Get there ahead of time or you might not get a seat! Meaningful conversations between our legal technology and service provider clients and CLOC members were prevalent. This makes me believe that the first and foremost goals of CLOC of networking, connecting and thinking are truly happening … which is a good thing!

CLOC 2020 Vegas Institute is scheduled for May 14-16, 2020, at the Bellagio, and I look forward to anteing up to experience it once again.

When I get to the office in the morning, the first thing I do to start my day is make a big cup of coffee. The second thing I do is look at my calendar.

For some reason, it just sank in today, and I had to do a double-take. That can’t be right: June 2017?! We’re nearly halfway through 2017 already? How is that possible?!

Of course, time slips by because we are consistently consumed with and distracted by the day-to-day: We have meetings, deadlines, and appointments. There are the constant questions of “What’s for dinner?”; “Where’s my blue shirt?”; “Did that proposal go out?”; “When is the last time I called my mother?”; “Have I tweeted enough lately?” And on and on it goes until you wake up one morning and realize you’re six months into 2017, despite the fact that you’re still writing “2014” on your kids’ field trip permission slips.

We all start each new year with delusions of grandeur: This is the year I will join a gym and lose 10 pounds, get my inbox sorted and organized, eat more kale and less chocolate and start saving more for that anniversary vacation instead of inevitably spending up my travel nest egg on Black Friday.

What happens when you realize you’re six months into that shiny new year, and those goals that seemed so doable in January, now seem so far out of reach? How do you assess your progress to date? How do you get back on track and still meet those goals, with six months gone?

Are the goals we set in January, still SMART today?

There is a helpful acronym, coined in the 1980s to guide the process of goal setting.  The acronym is S.M.A.R.T.  A S.M.A.R.T. goal aligns with the following criteria: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

• Specific – Ask the “W” questions: What do I want to accomplish? Why is this an important goal for my team? Who is involved, and what are their roles?
  • Example: A general goal could be, “Get more clients”; a specific goal would be, “Hit the 50-client mark by December 31.”
• Measurable – This requirement stresses the need for a concrete way to determine whether the goal has been reached: There is a definite finish line. Your team can visualize the proverbial tape breaking across their chests and celebrating their collective victory. “Get more clients” can mean different things to different members of your team; “Hit the 50-client mark by December 31” is a clear objective that leaves less open to interpretation.
• Attainable – Does my team have the resources required to reach this goal? On the one hand, setting the bar too low can lead to low motivation, procrastination and decreased morale. A goal that’s too easily achieved poses no challenge, offers little reward and inspires no action. On the other hand, a goal that is too far out of reach or beyond your capabilities and/or resources will also serve to demotivate. If you feel you’re set up to fail, why bother going to the effort of trying? It is crucial that you know your team and are able to walk the fine line between low-hanging fruit and implausible expectations.
• Relevant – If a goal is relevant, buy-in from your team will be a matter of course. A goal that is relevant is worth the costs and/or sacrifices entailed by such an undertaking and in keeping with the overall values of your organization, your brand and your long-term plans.
• Timely – A goal with no time restriction elicits no sense of urgency. “Lose 10 pounds” doesn’t convey the same message as, “Lose 10 pounds by July 4.” The ticking clock can provide the impetus for action: You know the end goal, and you begin to conduct your day with that goal in mind, bringing you closer to actualizing it.

Have we made any progress?

Breaking a large or long-term goal into more palatable, bite-sized, actionable steps can keep everyone from getting overwhelmed and paralyzed into inaction.

• Are we each clear on the goal, why we’re striving to achieve it and our respective roles in doing so?
• Are we holding accountable the members of our team to whom we’ve delegated specific aspects of the task
• What does that accountability look like?
• How can we effectively track our progress going forward to ensure we stay on target? Specificity can be key, but be cautious that you don’t get so caught up in tracking the progress and reporting on it, that you end up wasting more time, impeding the progress you’re tracking!
• Weekly/monthly reporting or status update meetings? To whom, by whom?

Avoid motivation drain.

The middle is tough. It’s where most people lose motivation, because they feel they’ve put in so much time and effort, but there is so much still to do.

• Keep a visual reminder of your goal nearby. Whether it’s a hand-drawn, data-driven thermometer graph taped to your office wall or a travel brochure stuck to your fridge with a magnet, the constant reminder of the finish line will help shape your behavior, getting you closer to those palm trees.
• Allow yourself to take detours: Tackling a long-term goal is daunting and draining, and a brief hiatus from the task at hand will enable you to come back, refreshed and re-energized; however, be sure to set a limit on how long that detour can be!
• Be open with your team about your dwindling motivation. Undoubtedly, they’ve struggled too. Lean on each other, use each other as sounding boards and help to boost each other back into gear.

Jackson Brown Jr. said, “You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

Reaffirm your commitment to your goals for the next half of 2017: Spend your finite number of hours in a way that will bring you closer to your target! Next year, you’ll be motivated by looking back on this year’s success!

About the Author

Tanya Amyote is a Marketing Assistant, database and Excel guru, and token Canadian at Edge. Tanya possesses a strong work ethic, impeccable communication skills, and a can-do attitude… as long as she’s had her coffee!

Tanya is an outspoken advocate for awareness of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease), which she and her son both have. She is an avid reader, musician, and amateur photographer. In addition to their young son James, Tanya and husband Bryan have two rescue dogs, a senior pug named Harley and a small Heinz 57 named Luna.