Oct 13, 2015
Law Firm People Management and Accountability
Question:
I am the managing partner of a newly formed 8 attorney firm in Austin, Texas that was formed last year when several of us left another firm and started this firm. The most frustrating part of the managing partner job is managing the people – this includes other partners, associates, and staff. How do I deal with people that are not following firm policy or doing things they should not be doing?
Response:
Managing people is one of the toughest challenges that law firms face. Challenges often involve people not following firm policy and doing what they should not be doing. It drives owners, managing partners, and administrators crazy.
My advice to frustrated owners, managing partners, and administrators – tell them to stop. Seriously. As the managing partner of your firm you can't beat around the bush and be sheepish concerning your expectations concerning desired performance and behavior in the office. Confront the performance or behavioral problem immediately. Manage such problems in real time. Don't wait for the annual performance review and don't treat serious problem as a "self-improvement" effort. Tell them how you feel about the performance or behavioral issue, the consequences for failure to resolve the issue, your timeline for resolving the issue, and the follow-up schedule that you will be using to follow-up and monitor the issue. If they must resolve the performance or behavioral issue in order to keep their job tell them so. They may need this level of confrontation in order to give them the strength to be able to deal with their issues.
Being a wimp does not help you or them. Tell them like it is and conduct a heart-to-heart discussion. You will be glad you did.
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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
Posted at 09:50 PM in Human Resources
Tags: Accountability, and, Firm, Law, Management, People
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