Team size: Nine

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

After I took over the management of my team, I worked on its reorganisation, taking into account the expertise of the single lawyers and pairing them with the most suitable customers to provide them with tailored and exclusive advice. Therefore, I created a small team within my wider team.

On important and large projects, my team continuously works on a four-eyes basis, which promotes their competencies and the team structure. Working on a four-eyes basis has several advantages: It reduces the error rate, the team members learn from each other, and it increases the safe progress of the project if one of the colleagues is unplanned absent, such in cases in which one gets sick.

My team works almost exclusively hybrid, which is very important because it has eight employees, seven of whom are women, which is rare in the IT sector. I enable all my employees to work 60% or more from home and 40 % or less from the office. The opportunity to decide on their own when to work from home or the office increases their flexibility, work efficiency, and work-life balance. Since they still come to the office regularly despite the possibility of working from home, they keep in touch with the company and with colleagues from other teams.

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives?

My team oversaw the implementation of the whistleblowing system and modernised the compliance management system.

I already mentioned that my team has mostly female lawyers; we also see it as a social responsibility and role model. We stand for a modern way of working and defy every cliché of women in a technical professional environment and the compatibility of a responsible job, advising the top management, and family obligations and desires.

Can you sum up the team culture/ethos in one sentence? 

Our team culture is ‘All for One and One for All’.

We trust each other 100 %. I am convinced that leadership instead of management is a significant game changer. As the leader of the legal team, it is my responsibility to bring out the best in each of my employees, to recognise their strengths and weaknesses, and always to set an excellent example of how to handle challenging situations. I do not ask my team anything I would not do myself. Appreciative treatment and a culture that accepts mistakes are also essential.