How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?
I use a number of filters with my team that have assisted us in times of instability or crises. The first question we ask is, “What do we know for sure” about any situation? This allows us to be clear on the data we are relying on and to craft responses with a level of confidence that pierces through the system, induces confidence in others, and settles some degree of panic. We are also proactively part of the Crises Management Team and have worked out quite a number of scenarios that could destabilise the company and proactively worked on a response approach. We also conduct risk assessments on each of our entities annually and identify potential legal risks associated with contractual, regulatory non-compliance or reputational damage. We ensure to prioritise these risks, include them in our KPI and ensure alignment with the business on our proposals to deal with them. We also stay agile and adapt should our environment change. We have attended several inspirational talks on Agility and other crucial skills like resilience and these have assisted us to stay calm and be a voice of reason during a crises. Our other filter is a regionally aligned approach which is “Focus on What Matters”. This challenges us to periodically test whether what we are busy with is still aligned with the business strategy and prioritise. As Bridgestone West Team (covering America, Europe, Africa and Middle East), we award 20 legal counsels selected across the four continents for a Focus on what matters award. These are individuals who have demonstrated the highest level of strategic business partnership and have ensured a higher level of connection between business strategy and the legal KPI’s.
We have also cultivated great working relationship with our external counsels, and they partner with us to tackle any gaps the team might have.
What strategies do you employ to ensure the successful digital transformation of a legal department while maintaining compliance with South Africa’s data protection laws?  
First, we have gone almost 100% paperless, which ensures that our documents are electronic and stored as such.
In collaboration with IT, we have made sure our key signatories adopt e-signatures. Our Africa and Middle East business covers 72 countries, so going electronic with signatures helps us and the business work efficiently and not lose crucial time, even if some key people may be travelling frequently.
As a legal team, we are using CoPilot to improve our drafting skills but also capture board minutes and generate board minutes faster. We obviously review the generated draft to ensure correct referencing etc. On top of this, we use Grammarley to further improve our grammar and ensure our communication is clear, but we also use a tone that fosters collaboration.
We use Chat GPS/ Meta AI for research purposes. However, we ensure we stay on top of legal developments, and we are subscribed to the Afriwise Platform. We are also subscribed to various law firm websites and members of the Institute of Directors South Africa. All these are trustworthy sources of information that enable us to correct errors that AI tools could make and ensure that we maintain the highest levels of accuracy.
We do refresher comms or training on Data Protection Laws which ensures that even we keep data protection top of mind and our colleagues do so too.
How do you manage and motivate your legal team to ensure high performance and professional growth?
My team and I connect monthly and gauge process against our goals. We use Go beyond platform to recognise achievements and ensure visibility to our stakeholders who can boost the recognition too. I provide my team with timely developmental feedback and enable them to course correct quickly.
I have been signing my team in phases as members of the Alternative Board. The Alternative board is a platform that puts together peer boards. As a member a person gets to have 6 objective individuals that can give perspectives on any topic of ones choosing. My team and I use the Alternative Board to unpack complex matters we may be dealing with and we capture the diverse perspectives and then incorporate our understanding of our company’s vision and we bring back to our excos options to consider that are commercially sound, diverse and induce a fresh perspective. Its been an incredible platform for our professional growth.