By Nickie Freedman
In Part I of this series, we discussed creating a high performing staff and what it entails – building an atmosphere of employee empowerment. And what constitutes employee empowerment? I believe it comes down to three basic principles:
Encourage an Ownership Attitude (featured in Part I)
Coaching Management Style
Freedom to Fail
This installment is about kickstarting coaching as the firm’s management style.
Coaching Management Style
In a previous article for the Practice Manager (February 7, 2005), I talked about the four different leadership styles, one of which was Coaching.
What is the coaching management style? This style entails a lot of direction and support. It encourages staff to play a more active role in their work, involves them in taking responsibility for improving processes and culture, and trusting them to do their jobs well.
Many attorneys and administrators may feel that they’re already coaching staff and I’m sure many are. However, the majority of staff I meet in training sessions complain of either micromanagement or never knowing what’s going on.
How to explain this difference of opinion between the two groups? The adage that ‘perception is reality’ is probably at work here. While many administrators believe they use the coaching style (and in fact, may be using it), staff perception is what truly matters. Is everyone in a supervisory/management position on the same page regarding management style or does that only pertain to the firm’s administrator? What I find many times is just that situation – the firm’s administrator does use coaching; however, the attorney(s) that person supports probably does not.
What can be done about this dichotomy? I’ll be honest about it – some people will never change; however, I do believe that most people can and will if given proper incentive and guidance. I’ve actually seen it happen when the right person is placed with an attorney and is given the tools and time to work out the other person’s insecurities in trusting others to do the job well.
Kickstart The Attorney/Assistant Relationship
So how do we kickstart this process? I’m a firm believer in getting the parties together and working out an attorney/assistant agreement. This doesn’t have to be an overly involved or formal signed process. It simply sets out the attorney expectations for their assistant and what the assistant expects from the attorney, and gives them a place to start in building their working relationship.
A partial list I used when starting a new assignment:
What are your expectations of me?
What is your working style?
What behaviors bother you?
How do you wish to be told of incoming calls?
Are you comfortable transferring nonbillable work to me so you’ll have more time for clients and billable work?
What is your description of a capable, effective, and indispensable assistant?
This is how I prefer to be corrected if you’re unhappy with my work: Please tell me as soon as possible and not wait until my evaluation (which may be six months away). I do not take criticism personally. My role is to assist you in your practice and free your time for clients.
I would then answer those same questions myself and let them know what worked best for me. Did this work to instill trust in me from my supervisors? With one notable exception, it did. Is this the only tool needed for supervisors to learn to use the coaching style? No, it isn’t. However, it is a good way to kickstart the process.
What’s the last critical part of empowering staff? We’ll discuss that in Part III of this series.
Nickie Freedman, PHR, owns Legally Large, a training and consulting firm specializing in the BUSINESS of practicing law. To receive her “Work Smarter” tips, contact her via www.LegallyLarge.com, Nickie@LegallyLarge.com or directly at 512.791.9644.
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