Staff Communication

by Terri Olson

For the next few issues, I'd like to talk about how to make the best use of your most important resources -- and no, I'm not talking about your fax machine; I'm talking about your employees. If you are like most attorneys, you may have never managed staff, given directions, hired or fired, or handled any of the numerous details lumped together as "human resources" or "personnel" before you graduated from law school and were presented with your very own secretary.

For many lawyers, "managing staff" means dropping dictation tapes into the secretary's in box and picking up messages from the front desk; it's not something that gets a lot of time or attention. But a well-run office doesn't happen by itself, so how do you see to it that your staff and you are working together at top effectiveness to provide quality service to your clients? One critical factor is communication: not in the sense of writing directions on a Post-It attached to a rough draft, but by letting people know what is important to you and understanding what is important to them.

For example, does your staff know which cases are priorities for you right now? If the "case of a lifetime" is heading for trial next month, make sure your secretaries and file clerks realize the importance this case has for you. Secretaries will set priorities -- frequently among tasks assigned by several different attorneys -- according to their own standards, such as work assigned by the senior partner is done first, or first come, first served, if they're not told otherwise. If a particular item is your highest priority and needs the most careful attention, let them know. (And, of course, let them know what your deadlines are.)

Another good means of keeping staff working to the same goals as you is giving them a regular overview of all new cases and clients, including names, positions, priority of new work, and a general statement of facts geared towards the work they'll be performing on the files. It's easier to be productive and accurate when they have a sense of what they're working towards. In addition, doing this will impress upon your clients the fact that their work is important to and understood by all employees in the firm. You don't want to have your receptionist say, "and could you spell that, please" to your newest and potentially most important client.

Make sure that your staff is aware of your expectations. This may sound obvious, but think about what you have done to clearly outline to employees their responsibilities and your policies. Do you have a personnel manual that covers such things as dress code, work hours, overtime policy, and procedure for answering the telephones and opening mail? Do you have a job description that shows each employee what he or she is expected to do? Do you have regular staff evaluations where you sit down with all employees and cover what they are doing well and what they need to improve? If not, your staff may be reaching completely different conclusions from you regarding how well they're performing their work. Never suppose that an otherwise intelligent employee will simply "know" what you are thinking; that works about as well as assuming the same of your spouse.

Along the same lines, take time both to praise and criticize where needed. If a new secretary is working out very well, tell her so. If your legal assistants did a particularly good job of research for your latest brief, let them know. If you want your runner to stop wearing T-shirts with guitar-playing skeletons, say so. I have talked to lawyers whose whole concept of praise and criticism could be summarized as "I haven't fired them; they should know I'm satisfied." Morale aside, this point of view is unproductive, as many employees who don't receive positive feedback will stop doing the very things their employers were most pleased with.

When you must criticize employees, don't wait too long after the relevant infraction, but wait long enough to find a quiet place and private moment to have your say. Keep it brief and neutral; don't personalize comments ("If you had any sense you'd realize you shouldn't ...."), and don't take an employee's failure to perform as expected personally. It wasn't done to aggravate you; more likely, it was simply a lack of awareness of your expectations.

Better communication won't solve all problems, of course. Next time I'll talk about working with difficult employees. As always, feel welcome to call the Law Practice Management program at any time with your questions or suggestions. Our number is 404-527-8773.

This article was originally published in the Georgia Bar Journal, August 1995, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 38