Source of article 2's Company - Magnus Insights.

A mental concept that I utilize in our trial consulting work is one of that of passing a baton, as in a relay race. The flow of our engagements is such that we function as a team, with much of the work being done by one person at a time. Engagements usually begin with me doing a case intake, conflict check, and needs assessment. After those initial steps, a proposal is created, and skipping ahead, once we are retained, Melissa takes the baton from me to begin planning the project. The research day is all hands on deck and the baton analogy doesn’t hold. But, afterwards, the post research work is extensive and there are lots of things being done simultaneously and the baton is passed among our team, especially in the report production and editing process. It is then, as much as anywhere else, that I add to the analogy and view the baton as a hot potato. That child’s game involved passing the hot potato as fast as possible to avoid being burned. In this scenario, what I try to communicate to our team members is when you have the baton, do your work as quickly as possible and pass it along. Don’t make others wait. Your priority is handling the work so that the next team member is not waiting on you. Client work comes first, therefore, teaching staff to prioritize by using this analogy has proven helpful over the years. It doesn’t pertain only to client work, but to any work of which an team member is a part. This is about prioritization and eliminating waiting for smaller tasks to be done so the higher level work gets done expediently.