Last week one of my team members was complaining to me about someone doing something they shouldn’t have.  I listened and then told to the person thank you for bringing this issue to my attention and explained to them what I was going to do next.  The employee said to me, “I don’t know how you stay so clam.  If it I told attorney XYZ they would be going bonkers right now.”

Many attorneys tend to be reactors to bad news.  When they hear something they don’t like or don’t agree with they tend to want to take action immediately to address the issue by finding the person to blame and correcting them.  That is what many of them do for a living, right?  They take on other people’s issues/problems, figure out who is to blame and make them pay for it.

As a manager, I triage complaints every day of my work life, usually multiple times each day.  Someone doing something they shouldn’t, saying something they shouldn’t, not doing enough, doing too much…  Trust me this list could go on and on.  As a law firm administrator you have the opportunity to react differently to those situations.  When that team member brought the issue to me I could have started talking about how frustrated I was with the person, how they should have known better, said something like, “How many times do I have to talk to them before they get it,” and gone right into confrontation mode.  However, getting excited and worked up and jumping into action without taking the time to think through the issue and determine the best way to handle the problem usually only exacerbates the situation in a negative way.

Be the calm in the middle of the storm.  Take a few moments, hours or maybe even a day before talking with someone about an issue.  What you will find is if you work in an office of reactors, once they see how these types of situations can be handled differently and successfully, they will start to mimic your response.

 

Last week one of my law firm management friends called me to vent about work.  Which we do for each other from time to time between texting pictures of the wine we are drinking after a long day at work.  She started off with the statement, “I just don’t understand why people keep coming to me complaining and dropping all of their issues on my desk.  Most of this stuff they should be able to just figure  out on their own.”  I let her go on for a while about this particular situation that got her particularly perturbed, and then she sprung the conversation into a rant about how everyone comes to her with their problems.  I shocked her a little with my response of, “Wow, that is so wonderful.”  She stopped and asked if I was listening to her.  I explained the fact that everyone comes to her with their problems means, one they trust you, and two they actually think you can solve their problem and are coming to you for help.  Once she heard that, she got mad and said “Dammit Sarah I just wanted to be mad, and now you are making this into a teachable moment.”  By the end of the conversation while she was trying to hold onto being made, I know her perspective changed.

If you work in law firm management and people are not bringing their issues to you on a regular basis you are doing something wrong and need to figure out what it is, quickly.  Even if you have the best culture, the best staff, and the most well behaved attorneys, you are still going to have issues.  Good law firm managers should be in a position where they are able to help EVERYONE in the firm overcome their obstacles and issues.

When people ask me what I do all day, my typical response is, “I work to help everyone do their jobs better, faster, more easily by assisting them through any daily obstacles that might be put in their way.”  I have an open door policy and encourage people to come to me with their issues, with the caveat that they must also come with at least one idea on how to solve it.

So the next time a complainer shows up at your desk with an issue, think of it as a sign you are doing a great job and embrace it as an opportunity to have a positive impact on your office!

Thanks for joining me!

For the last year I have been delving out advice to my team.  I said things like, “Get out of your comfort zone,” and “Find a way to share your talents and expertise with others.”  With the start of this blog I am going to take my own advice and step out and do something totally outside my comfort zone.

A little about me first, I am a fully recovered attorney who practiced law just short of a decade before transitioning into law firm management.  I have now sat on both sides of the desk for equal amounts of time.  Because of this unique experience I bring a much different perspective on law firm management than others in my same position.  I hope through this blog  I am able to share some advice, funny stories, and lessons learned through my journey in working in a professional services firm.

So, my first piece of advice is sharing a motto  I came up with last year to motivate my team members to initiate meaningful change in our organization.  BAM! stands for Think BIG, Take ACTION, and Make Your MARK!  When trying to initiate change sometimes we self-edit and think about why something will never work, or that it is too expensive, etc.  BAM allowed the team to be able to ask questions like, “Are we thinking big enough,” and “What lasting change will this idea have.”  It also assisted us knowing when to stop the discussion and move into the action phase.  Finally, it provided a way for the team to celebrate our success by yelling BAM! whenever someone came up with a great idea or we had a successful event or won an award.  Using a motto to help motivate and celebrate when attempting to make change will make the journey with others more productive, effective and fun.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton