The LCLD Fellows Program focuses primarily on individual attorneys, but LCLD Member organization Honeywell has found several ways for the whole organization to benefit from its participation.
With 22 attorneys nominated since 2009, Honeywell clearly sees the value of LCLD’s Fellows Program. But LCLD Member and Honeywell General Counsel Anne Madden (right) continually challenges her team to ensure that the company is making the most of its experience with LCLD.
“I have always believed that being a good leader means identifying and nurturing talent, providing development feedback, and then providing access to other leaders,” said Madden.
As a result, Honeywell Fellows are improving their professional and personal brands, building relationships that enhance their professional development, and sharpening their stewardship and leadership skills, all while becoming more effective contributors both at Honeywell and with LCLD. Since completing the program, many Honeywell Fellows have been promoted to roles like General Counsel, Chief Litigation Counsel, and Chief Counsel throughout the organization.
Here are four of the strategies Honeywell uses to make sure the entire organization benefits from the Fellows Program:
1. Create opportunities for Fellows to engage with organization leadership.
Fellows have a standing invitation from Madden to present to the legal leadership team. This gives Fellows the chance to interact with leaders, refine presentation skills, and gain visibility within Honeywell. Each Fellow meets with a leader before the presentation, for preparation and support, and afterward, for feedback, in addition to connecting with Anne before and after the meeting.
“The access and support have resulted in some outstanding projects, including a robust set of recommendations to enhance our diverse slate hiring initiative and a new way of presenting a business overview,” said Madden.
2. Make space for Members to debrief with Fellows on their LCLD experience.
Madden holds an annual roundtable that includes every Fellow and their manager. This provides an opportunity to discuss Fellows’ accomplishments, how they are interacting with the program, and how they can improve engagement with LCLD, as well as feedback from Anne and feedback for LCLD. For example, this year’s roundtable explored how to expand the engagement of the Fellows with LCLD’s Success in Law School Mentoring Program.
“As a more experienced Fellow, I appreciated the opportunity to discuss this topic with Anne and the other Honeywell Fellows to ensure that we all are getting the most out of the Fellows Program,” said 2018 Fellow Lynn Dummett, Chief Litigation Counsel for Honeywell Building Technologies.
3. Engage Fellows in your organization's diversity and inclusion efforts.
Honeywell appoints its Fellows to leadership positions on the company’s Inclusion and Diversity Council once they have completed the program. The Council also has an LCLD Committee that ensures Honeywell is making the most of its LCLD Membership.
Because of the Fellows’ engagement, Honeywell committed to greater year-over-year participation in the LCLD 1L Scholars Program; grew its participation from four Scholars in 2018 to nine Scholars in 2019; increased communication among Scholars working at various Honeywell offices; and developed ways to gather feedback from Scholars.
4. Tap into the vast Fellows network.
Honeywell knows that through LCLD, their Fellows have the opportunity to develop deep relationships with more than 1,900 other diverse attorneys. This means Honeywell can add Fellows’ experience and expertise to their own problem-solving resources.
“Multi-national companies have had to navigate several changes to U.S. labor laws over the past several years,” said Dawn Valdivia, 2013 Fellow and Assistant General Counsel for Honeywell Human Resources. “I have been able to utilize my relationships with several in-house Fellows from other large multi-nationals to share best practices and help form Honeywell’s response to those changes.”
To learn more about how Honeywell engages with Fellows, reach out to Therese LeBlanc, Senior Counsel, Honeywell Federal Solutions.
To learn more about the Fellows Program, reach out to Fellows Program Manager Nichole Velasquez at nvelasquez@lcldnet.com. To learn more about the LCLD Alumni network, reach out to Fellows Alumni Program Manager Erin Hess at ehess@lcldnet.com.
