Come end of May this coming year, I am stepping out of Church employment. To many, it might come as a surprise. To me, however, it is expected and has been the plan (communicated to me shortly after my acceptance of the position to work in the Church Office of General Counsel (OGC) as its International Legal Manager assigned in Manila). Of course, I will not be completely detached or out of touch, because I will still be rendering legal services as an outside counsel, through my own law firm. But part of moving on and bidding adieu my three and a half (3 1/2) years with OGC, I am submitting this list of the “50 Things” that are unique and were learned only through my stint with OGC.
Personal Insights
1.My employment is not just a calling (coz I am compensated), but it is also not just a job. Only here that I make judgments according to the directions of the Spirit. (Elder David Bednar)
2.Caught the Vision: “To be exceptional servant to the “Servants of the Lord” and align my work to the emphasis of the Area Presidency and Presiding Bishopric”.
3.Only in my Church employment that I see a Case for Change like this: “Leverage our limited resources to bring more souls unto Christ and sustain exponential Church growth”. What a noble goal and I am glad that I am part of bringing about this change as I find ways to render services in the most timely, efficient, and cost effective manner.
4. I had undergone a “360 Degree Feedback”! The 360 Degree Feedback is a tool for my personal leadership development - an information about how people perceive me as a leader. It compares how I feel about my leadership...and how my supervisor, peers, direct reports, and others (like customers) feel. It identify my leadership strengths, fatal flaws,evalutae my "fit" and move the employee leaders from "good" to "extra ordinary".
5. Based on my 360 Degree Feedback, my leaders (bosses) say " She is very intelligent and well trained in the law. She understands the law and issues most affecting our organization. She is not afraid to take a stand, speak up or defend her position in any setting or group. Driven. She could continue to teach and reinforce principles of the law to others in the organization whose work is affected by the application of law, while at the same time being mindful that she is often speaking and working with those not versed in the law. She is great!"
5. My 360 Degree Feedback shows that my peers perceived me as competent and highly effective. Their written comments are very encouraging: " Communicates ideas excellently with peers. Humble and objective in expressing opinions which may be different from the group. Demonstrate professional and technical expertise. She analyses issue and solve problems. Expert in area of repsonsibility. Pleasant to work with. She is very knowledgeable about the nature, value, and contribution of her work to the organization thus she provides great service with her expertise. She has a strong intellect, knows well the law and can quickly understand the issues to be dealt with to minimize the risk to the Church. She is highly effective in what she currently does."
6. My 360 Degree Feedback shows that Others (Direct Reports) and (Customers) perceived me as "Very intelligent and able to see problems and changes that need to be made for effectiveness. Very good at knowing what needs to be done and finding the right person to do that job. In my delaings with Mhe-anne, she displays the necessary dedication to her job. Somewhat intimidating, could be a better listener.".
7. I learned from my 360 Degree Feedback that my leaders, peers and direct reports and customers does not see anny fatal flaw in me! (Fatal flaw exist when leaders have behavioral or performance issues that, if NOT addressed, could ultimately lead to career derailment or job failure.).
8. I learned that my "balancing act" look like I'm "Managing Vertically" which means that my opinion of my self equals that of my leaders and direct reports, but a little less with peers.
9. So to be an extraordinary leader I chose to improve on to lowest scored items: (i) Provides frequent praise and recognition and (ii) Builds a feedback rich environment.
10. There is such a thing as ‘Succession Planning’ where each manager got to plan their successor or their managers’ successors for the next five years.
Management Style
11.I learn how to properly interface between Church officers, managers and employees, on the one hand, and outside law firms and attorneys, on the other hand, to resolve legal issues affecting the Church.
12.Vendors, outside service providers and consultants are reminded not to give gifts at Christmas time. The gifts given by those who did not heed the request are raffled off during Christmas party.
13.Christmas parties always follow a theme and costume – Filipiniana, Retro and Wild Wild West were great memories for me.
14.Managers and employees who frequently travel are given a JP Morgan Chase Card to use for official expenses and Blackberry for communication. Advance huh!
15.We believe in meetings, we hope for meetings, we have endured many meetings, and hope to be able to endure all meetings. I sit in weekly meetings (i.e. Managers, Area Physical Facilities Committee), bi-monthly meetings (i.e PEF, Legal/Real Etate Coordination), monthly meetings (i.e OGC, Area Controls Committee, Extended Managers Coordination), quarterly meetings (Government Relations, Area Benefits Committee) and special meetings with the Area Presidency.
Strictly OGC
16. Even though I am a full-pledge lawyer, all my legal advice has to be confirmed by an outside counsel.
17. OGC lawyer cannot sit in any Board or executive position in other Church legal entities.
18. OGC lawyer should not sign pleadings
19. Web-Ex Training
20. Outside counsel are contracted abroad and paid in dollars
21. OGC lawyers are addressed by their nickname and not usually have “Attorney” on their names even though they are all great lawyers.
22. Obtaining Settlement Authority
23. Obtaining Authority to File Case
24. Incident Report
25. InfoGuide
Professional Learnings
26.Doing lawyer’s work in-house with outside local counsel help is less costly and more efficient. My familiarity with the Church organizational and operational structures reduced the need for frequent visits, and back and forth correspondence usually associated when only the outside counsel does the work. Thus the costs associated to it are significantly reduced.
27.To ensure quality and efficiency, Local counsel should have a fixed fee arrangement (than billing by the hour) so that they will be more motivated to close a transaction quickly.
28.My physical proximity (or any Church in-house counsel) means more responsiveness, convenience, rapid service, and better understanding of the problems.
29.Local counsel are managed through monitoring and convergence. Monitoring local counsel “questioning fees, denying disbursements, and insisting on strict case management procedures” can be done without hurting them.
30.I learned economies of scale in handling large numbers of complex repetitive transactions (especially in Real Estate transactions).
31.I learned economies of scope by avoiding the learning curve of having to become educated about Church’s regulation and its organizational and operational structure.
32.I learned to become more comfortable about rendering informal legal advice.
33.ABCAR.
34.The Aquinos.
35.The D’s. I hope we don't get to meet many of them, who out of pure greed would claim that they are employees of the Church when they know in their hearts that they are not, and they are just hired by the missionaries out of kind consideration and desire to help.
36.The Las Pinas Chapel. Spiritual foresight. The chapel was built about 8-meter away from the property line. Couple of years later, an easement of road right of way was demanded by the government and the service area and the gate will be moved back 5-meters. Here I got the spiritual insights also to know who to talk to so the demolition will be done by the church and not by MMDA.
37.The Labangon experience. A purchase that involved about 30 heirs with differing interests and persuasions. I learned that a Preliminary Title Report would have save all the complexities if only it was done before the commitments were made and the released of payment were made.
38.The Balagtas.
39.Cebu Philippines Temple. It feels good to be part of the construction team for this very important building for the Filipinos.
40.I learned that there are many people (including lawyers) who do not understand the concept of a corporation sole - that it is a legal entity composed of only one person and the incumbent corporation sole has a juridical or legal personality separate from the incorporator/his successor. In the same way that a corporation is able to act through its board of directors and/or its agents, the incumbent corporation sole, is able to act through agents.
41.Lorelle Holdings. First time that the issue on payment of a creditable withholding tax instead of the usual Capital Gains Tax came out since the property involved is an ordinary asset.
42.Utilized Local Counsel in all real estate acquisitions and handling of civil, labor, and criminal cases for the Church and are consulted on major legal issues.
43.Registration and Tax Compliance
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