Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?

After I moved to GE Global Operations, based in Hong Kong, I received numerous praises from commercial colleagues and many accolades from the company. I was pleasantly surprised since I had not received that much attention during my previous time practising in law firms. Colleagues told me that I am a good solution finder with a pragmatic mentality, and they appreciate that I am always willing to fly with them to engage our customers in person until we seal the deal.

While at the law firm, I focused on providing clients with various options and solid legal strategies. However, as an in-house lawyer, I had to quickly shift my mindset and wear both commercial and legal hats. I learned to listen to colleagues who would potentially be affected by legal decisions and to build trust with both stakeholders and other functional heads. It’s a complex yet crucial process to gain a clear understanding of why sometimes the best legal solution does not produce the optimal outcome for the business.

I would say that continuous learning and listening, curiosity about how to run a profitable business, transparent communication, and solid trust are key elements for me to build a successful collaboration with my business team.

How do you motivate and manage the other members of your legal team well?  

I am very fortunate to have received excellent management training courses from world-renowned institutes, such as Harvard Business School, and from highly regarded coaches and leaders during my time at GE. At work, we often encounter incomplete or imperfect information, face multiple unknowns – especially during the COVID-19 pandemic – and need to identify responses quickly. These challenges reinforce and highlight the advantages of the adaptive management method I have adopted in recent years.

For instance, our team has developed a routine where, after I attend weekly meetings with commercial stakeholders, we convene to discuss and predict future needs that arise from our commercial strategies. Together, we build an action plan with a degree of flexibility, allowing us to adjust it as new information comes in or sudden changes occur. In addition to conducting a high-level risk assessment, our plan addresses cross-functional accountability and identifies decision-makers. Beyond domain expertise, we prioritise transparency, timely communication, and the ability to adapt and adjust as key goals for the team.

My team and I feel highly motivated and collaborate effectively because we have clarity about our common goals. We know what we want to achieve individually and what it takes to get there. The path to our goals is often open-ended, allowing for exploration, imagination, and innovation, which certainly adds a great deal of enjoyment to our daily work.