Who interrupts you at work? In my last couple of videos, I talked about how lawyers can prevent interruptions from clients by setting a communications policy and not taking unplanned telephone calls. But what happens when the interruption comes not from clients, but from inside your own organization? Do any of these interruptions sound familiar? …
(Jump to video) Are unplanned phone calls interrupting your work? In this series of videos, I’ve been talking about distractions or interruptions and how they reduce your productivity and prevent you from focusing on your most important work. One of the most common distractions for lawyers is the telephone. I recommend that, whenever possible, you …
How do you deal with interruptions? In my last video I talked about keeping an interruption log to get a good idea of what interrupts you during your workday and how often. Today I’d like to talk about one source of those interruptions – your clients. Of course, your clients are important to you, and …
(Jump right to the video) How often are you interrupted at work? A 2018 study by the company RescueTime revealed that 98% of workers say they are interrupted at least a few times a day, and over 50% said that they were interrupted frequently throughout the day. Other studies show that when interrupted, it can …
Are you more focused on an employee’s skill level before you hire them than you are once they are working for you? In my experience, when law and other professional services firms are seeking to hire, they are looking for candidates with a specific set of skills. But with the rapid pace of change in …
Are your best employees leaving because others are being given a free pass on their bad behavior? Poorly behaved or toxic employees: Cause emotional turmoil Damage morale Disrupt work Decrease productivity Spread their bad behavior to others Sometimes toxic employees are easy to identify: they shout at other employees, make snide comments, tell inappropriate jokes, …
Are you risking losing your best performers because you’re taking a one-size-fits-all approach? If you want to retain the best professionals in your firm, you need to treat them as individuals. Everyone doesn’t want the same things. They have different motivations. Their circumstances are different. They have different goals. They are at different stages of …
What kinds of training do you have available at your law firm? When I ask this question of lawyers, I am often told that there is no real training at their firms. New employees are given an orientation of sorts and taught how to use the firm’s systems, but this training is minimal, and there …
What are the consequences when you don’t communicate with the people in your firm about what it takes to move to the next level? In my last video in this series on retaining your best employees, I talked about being transparent about what it takes for them to get to the next level. Today, I’d …
What does it take to get ahead at your law firm? If you want to retain your best employees, you need to be transparent with them about what it takes to get ahead at your firm. What happens if an employee wants a promotion? How does an associate become a partner in the firm? What skills, activities, or behaviors are required for advancement? Employees get restless when they don’t know where they stand. In my experience, law firms are really good at communicating things like how many billable hours are required or conducting performance reviews that talk about past performance, but they’re not necessarily so good at talking about the future and what an employee wants to get out of their career, what opportunities there are for advancement at the firm and what an employee needs to do to get there. Instead of just focusing on billable hours and past performance, talk to your employees about what they want out of their careers. Help them to set goals that will help them to advance in your firm. If becoming a partner means that you have to bring in business, make sure that your associates know that. Encourage them to get involved in their local community or their bar association. If trial experience is required for partnership, make sure that your associates know that as well and help them to find opportunities to get that experience. If you can’t become a partner unless you’ve had a certain number of years as a lawyer, make sure that people in your firm know that as well. Remember, what might be obvious to you isn’t necessarily so obvious to your employees. More articles and videos like this:
Do you know what the total cost of hiring a new employee is? Hiring employees costs money and takes time. Aside from all of the time it takes to review resumes, interview candidates and make hiring decisions, a new employee has to learn all of your office’s procedures and systems, and needs to be able …
Are your law firm invoices helping or hurting you? I’ve seen far too many legal bills that are confusing, disjointed, filled with abbreviations that are difficult to decipher or don’t contain enough information to understand what was done and what the client is actually paying for. Watch the video below (or scroll down if you …
Are you waiting for your clients to call or email you before you let them know what’s happening on their matter? Find out why this may result in clients not paying your bills on time in the video below, or scroll down to continue reading. If your clients are calling you for status updates, you’re …
Here’s another video in my series on how to talk to your clients about billing and fees. I’ve talked in previous videos about what to cover with clients during the initial consultation, but even if you’ve done a great job of covering the basics of your billing practices and how you set your fees during …
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