D&B Brief

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Heather Bradley, CPCC, and Miriam Bamberger Grogan, CPCC, are the co-founders of The Flourishing Company, a workplace consulting firm which changes the way people experience work. They are the authors of Judge For Yourself: Clarity, Choice, and Action in Your Legal Career, published by the American Bar Association in cooperation with MCCA®. For additional information, visit: www.TheFlourishingCompany.com.

 

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How soon after joining an organization do you think attorneys start asking themselves the question, "Should I stay or should I go?" The timeframe is probably shorter than you think. MCCA® research revealed it can be as little as 30 days before new members of a team begin plotting an exit strategy.

While it may be tempting to dismiss this reaction as impatience, naiveté, or impulsiveness, reasonable or not, the revolving door is spinning, and the problem is not limited to young attorneys. "When you are new, you can feel lonely and somewhat isolated, irrespective of your years of experience or stature within a firm," says Edmund D. Cook, Jr., a veteran attorney who recently joined the Washington, DC office of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, PC.

If we are honest, most of us would agree it took us weeks and months to really feel as if we belonged in a new organization. Keep that in mind as you welcome a new person into your organization, and make an extra effort in the first 90 days to help the new person become comfortable with the rhythm and pace of the organization, start to form relationships, and get a feel for the work. If everyone makes a super effort on the person's first day, but the effort is not sustained, the new person may soon feel lost and abandoned.

When people join a new organization, their first day is filled with conflicting emotions: high hopes for their career and work experiences accompanied by nagging doubts about their decision. They desperately want to believe they made the right decision and are looking for corroborating evidence. In many organizations, the first day is also the beginning of a formal orientation program explaining policies, procedures, and other critical information. This one-way "data dump" has an important function—helping new hires understand how things get done—but alone, it is not sufficient to help new employees feel at home. You and every member of the organization have a role.

The three steps of The Flourishing Process™ can help you decide how to best assist your new colleagues integrate into the organization and feel good about their decision to join your organization.

The Flourishing Process™

 
Clarity: What do you want to be different for new attorneys after their first three months at your firm?

Know, Feel, Do

Because expectations are intangible, it is easy to assume everything is fine, when in fact the new hire is distracted by confusion and doubts. Help the new person feel comfortable by clearly explaining your expectations, including reasonable time frames for fulfilling them.

• What do you expect the attorney to KNOW at the end of the first day? After the first week? After the first month? After 90 days? For example, new employees need to know:
  • Who are the key internal customers and other important contacts?
  • How does their work impact their practice area and the company?
  • What are the commonly used acronyms and buzz words?
  • How can new employees offer feedback to more tenured colleagues?
• What do you want the new attorney to FEEL at each of these stages? Part of the team? As if he or she had made the best decision of his or her life?
• What do you want the new attorney to DO at each of these stages? You may expect a new attorney simply to complete personnel forms during the first week. But the attorney may think you expect him to bring in two new clients and work on existing substantive matters. Be sure the new attorney knows:
  • What matters you expect her to work on, and by when.
  • How the assignments will be made.
  • Who is responsible for communicating assignments.

Help new people clarify how to recognize when they are fully incorporated into your organization. Each person will have a different definition. "I feel I am really included when I am a part of the dialogue, when people acknowledge my opinions, even if they are different. And when they cross-sell my services to their clients," says Cooke. In addition to helping new people recognize their destination, this clarity helps you determine what to say or do as you help the person adjust.

 

Choice: What do you choose?

What personal responsibility do you accept to impact the experience for new hires within your sphere of influence? What steps do you choose to take to solidify the relationship the new person has with your organization?

Action: What will you do?

You have probably generated a long list of actions based on your answers to the clarity and choice questions above. Remember these modest steps, which are so easy to overlook during a busy day.

1. Begin integrating your new hire before the start date. Send a note expressing your delight that the person has selected your organization and is joining your team.
2. Walk new hires through the entire organization. Give them a hook for remembering places, such as, "This is where the executive committee meets."
3. Treat the new hire like a superstar. "When I came to the firm, each time a colleague introduced me, the introducer would say, ‘We are so glad Michelle is here,'" says Michelle Speller-Thurman of Jenner & Block, LLP. "She created a halo effect that made others look for the good in whatever I did."
4. Introduce staff using both first and last names. Many people have the same first name. If you do not know the person's full name, ask them to introduce themselves.
5. Explain the processes specific to the firm. What is the best way to submit billable hours? How are medical insurance claims handled? What meetings is the new hire expected to attend and when are they? Beyond the policies covered in orientation, explain how things really work.
6. Examine your orientation program from the perspective of the new hire and solicit feedback from new hires to discover how they would improve the process.
7. State clearly and explicitly the unwritten rules of your work place. What does "casual Friday" really mean? Even if the office opens at 8:30 a.m., what time are people really expected to arrive?

New employees begin to form impressions about your organization before their first day. Keep up the good work you did in your recruiting efforts to make sure that good first impressions result in a long career.

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From the May/June 2006 issue of Diversity & The Bar^®