One reader (a relative newbie practicing only since 2007) and a refugee from Biglaw, finds that she’s now wrestling with how best to delegate work to attorneys newer than her without being seen as a helicopter supervisor, or being viewed as condescending or overbearing (choose your adjective), while stifling her own internal control freak.
If she’s wondering about those issues, what must the dinosaur lawyers be thinking, as they figure out what they need to do in terms of succession planning and delegating work to those who will, if necessary, kick the dinosaur bodies aside after they die at their desks? (Not a pretty image, but you get the point.)
Delegating any work confronts the fear of letting go, the fear of being fungible, which we all are (remember the bucket test?), but if any law practice, whatever its form, is to keep going, then the dinosaur lawyers and/or those who have supervisory responsibilities need to figure out how to delegate.
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Harvey Mackay discussed principles of effective delegation in an issue of Inc. Magazine some years back. They’re just as true today and they’ll still be true when we dinosaurs are long gone.
Mackay lists six elements to effective delegation and they apply to every business…..even the law biz. Delegation requires both IQ and EQ (emotional intelligence for those who are unfamiliar with the concept.)
His list:
1. “Don’t look for perfection.” Amen to that. You don’t need a Cadillac when a Chevy will do. Not everything needs to be absolutely perfect, especially if the client is not expecting it and will not pay for it. Endless drafts of pleadings, documents, discovery motions and the like are tasks that run up the bills and how much value added is there really? “Good enough” is very often “good enough.” If it suffices for the client, then the work is good enough.
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2. “Provide complete instructions.” This should be a no-brainer, but it’s not. I’m sure we all have unpleasant memories of files being dumped on our desks with a terse “Take care of this.” What does that mean? You open the file and there’s no clue to what’s to be done, in fact, there are no notes in the file and the file is a mess.
Your crystal ball is in the shop, and so you chase down whoever gave you the file (I’m trying to be polite here and not repeat the word “dumped”), and ask for instructions. Oftentimes, the response is a scowl and a terse “You figure it out.” Thank you for sharing. It’s the client who is going to get billed for the time while you figure out what’s what, unless the delegating attorney is smart enough to realize that the time you’ve spent chasing your tail has to be written off.
I’ve never understood why it’s so hard to give complete instructions. Does this really need to be a guessing game? No one, especially support staff, should have to guess at what’s wanted. How long does it take to give complete instructions? A lot less time than having to redo the work.
3. “Stop believing you’re the only one who can do the job properly.” (See bucket test.) Other lawyers may approach the task differently, may have a different way to proceed, but if you reach the desired result, does it matter how you got there? So many lawyers think that it’s “my way or the highway.” Good for them, but when they’re overtaken on their highway by younger lawyers who have found a better, faster, more efficient way, millennials smirk while dinosaurs eat their dust.
4. “Focus on teaching skills.” Part of teaching skills is letting people make mistakes. There are very few mistakes, even in law practice, that can’t be corrected.
People will tell you that they have learned more from their mistakes than from their successes. Believe them. They’re not telling you that just to make you feel better when you’ve forgotten an exhibit to a pleading, miscalendared a date for responding to discovery, or whatever the sin of omission or commission might be. We’re human, and if there’s any question about that, see Mackay’s first point above.
5. “Check on progress.” On the one hand, you don’t want to be a helicopter supervisor (kissing cousin to a helicopter parent), but, on the other hand, you can’t abdicate your responsibility to make sure that the work is done correctly and timely. So, finding the balance between the two is tricky but necessary. Nobody likes a hoverer. Mackay says to set your expectations at the outset and have milestones to make sure that the work is coming along as anticipated.
One problem that younger lawyers have is the sense that they’ve got to do it all on their own, that to ask for help is an admission that they don’t know everything (perish the thought). The reluctance to ask for help, be it a question to be answered, a form to be used, a sample pleading to be used as a framework, can lead to procrastination and the failure to get the work done. That’s why milestones and dates for finishing various aspects of the work are critical.
6. Most importantly, Mackay says to “thank the people who have accepted the responsibility.” As the delegatee, there can be a mixture of terror and pride in getting an assignment: terror (uh-oh, what if I screw up?) and pride (they trust me to do this work-yes!). We don’t say thank you often enough. (A civility issue?) The assignment is a proving ground for the junior lawyer, but it’s still nice to acknowledge the contribution. Thank them at the start, as well as during the assignment, and upon completion. (Too touchy-feely for you? Tough.)
Nothing is more gratifying than to know that you, as a junior member of the team, have value. Nothing is harder than for us dinosaur control freaks to admit that.
Jill Switzer is closing in on 40 (not a typo) years as a active member of the State Bar of California. Yes, folks, California, that state west of the Sierra Nevada, which everyone likes to diss. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see old lawyers, young lawyers, and those in-between interact — it’s not always pretty. You can reach her by email at [email protected].