For some, the last few weeks of the year come with relaxing downtime – but for you, the end-of-year rush usually means a chaotic inbox. Every sales rep is trying to close their open deals, HR wants to run new remote work policies by you, and finance needs a report on contract revenue — all before January. Inbox-zero is a pipe dream, and there’s a permanent red dot on your Slack icon this time of year. If it feels like it’s too much to manage, that’s because it is. But what if you used a legal project management tool to streamline requests?
Just hear us out…
Direct them away from your inbox.
Most times, collaborators head towards your inbox because they don’t know where else to go. They’ll also use their own project management tools to make requests. When each team uses a different channel (or floods a disorganized one) for their asks, your team may find themselves spread thin trying to keep track of it all.
So, before the end of the quarter or year, direct stakeholders away from your inbox to a legal project management tool. Make it clear that requests routed through email are less likely to be answered, and set expectations around how to work with your team as the year closes.
Create workflows for standard requests.
After a while, common tasks that regularly cross your desk become familiar — NDAs, sales contracts, collateral review. Even though you could complete them in your sleep, they still take a long time because of your manual process.
Instead of starting each task from scratch, a legal project management tool lets you create automated workflows to move projects along without relying on manual oversight. This makes it easier to quickly answer requests and improves your ability to complete work before year-end deadlines. The more efficiently you execute, the more ingrained it becomes among your peers that contacting you through the legal project management tool is the way to go.
Enable collaborators on your legal project management tool.
In addition to telling your collaborators about your new non-inbox tool, consider also training them on how to get the most from it. This increases their chances of adoption instead of defaulting to your inbox.
Set up office hours or lunch and learn trainings to show your business partners the best way to work with the legal team through the end-of-year storm. This helps make it stickier, and best of all, keeps them out of your inbox.
Takeaways
The end of the year is a wild time for legal teams. Everyone’s emergency becomes yours, and if you’re not careful, you’ll run yourself ragged trying to meet everyone’s needs. Instead of keeping watch at the gates of your inbox or monitoring Slack for certain keywords, introduce your company to a legal project management tool like LinkSquares Prioritize that can help streamline their request process. This helps your team stay organized as you work with cross-functional collaborators to close the year strong.
See how LinkSquares can transform your team during this busy time and all year long. Contact us today.
