The culture of work has changed forever. Even once we have successfully flattened the curve, people have been vaccinated, and we have managed to finally get ahead of COVID-19, there won’t be any “going back to the way things were” pre-pandemic.

Even the largest, most successful law firms with the very best office environments recognize that work from home is here to stay, at least part of the time, and form part of the workforce. But managing a permanently remote team involves different considerations and takes a whole new set of skills.

Welcome to Gimbal’s Tip of the Week, where you get practical, actionable advice you can use right away to start building a more productive and profitable legal practice… WHY? Because every lawyer deserves a practice that gives them financial success AND the freedom to enjoy it.

Throughout February, our tips will have one central theme: working together when you’re working apart. You are going to learn strategies you can implement in your practice to reduce or eliminate the friction that undermines the productivity of remote teams and gets in the way of delivering what your clients need.

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Team vs. Work Group

Today, we are going back to basics by asking, what is a team?

You may think the answer is simple, but let’s take a closer look.

A TEAM is a highly interdependent group of people who solve problems and make decisions together within the context of a specific project.

On the other hand, a WORK GROUP is a relatively independent set of people who may meet periodically to share information.

Work groups lack the cohesiveness and interdependence of teams. People in work groups are not working together to achieve a particular objective in the context of a particular matter.

For example, a department (or small firm) with multiple attorneys and support staff may meet once a month to share information or assess their overall performance. The work is split up so that everyone works on separate matters. The department is a work group. It wouldn’t make sense for them to operate as a team.

But a senior attorney, along with a junior attorney, an assistant and maybe a paralegal, working day-to-day on a single matter or defined portfolio of matters? Now that’s a true TEAM.  They are all working towards a common goal and, so, you can understand why they are more dependent on each other and work more intimately together. It would not make sense for them to operate more loosely like a work group.

Why is this distinction important?

The distinction between a true team and a work group is important because many of us operate in work groups when what we really need is a team. Conversely, some of us may be trying to operate as a team when a work group would be more appropriate.

This week look within your practice to see where you actually need a team, and to see where a work group suffices. Doing that will set you up well to benefit from the rest of our weekly tips this month. You will know exactly where you need to implement the strategies we will be sharing with you.

And let us know: Do you find it harder to work in a team now that everyone is working remotely? What is your biggest frustration about working remotely?

Just hit reply to this email and tell us, so we can be sure this month’s tips provide you the information you need.

This Week’s Tip Wrap Up

Understand the difference between a team and a work group, determine where you should be using a team instead of a work group, and then join us again next week when we are talking about the five elements of an effective team.

Click here to sign up and get our Tip of the Week directly in your email inbox every Wednesday. Do that now, and you won’t miss the rest of the tips in this series on working together when you are working apart.

Thanks a lot everybody!