Why a Review Does Not Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Your Job Performance

If I ran a company, I would never review my employees in a general way. Instead, I would force managers or individuals assigning tasks and projects to provide feedback on individual project by project basis. Why? Because when people draft these holistic reviews with boxes to check for satisfactory, meets expectations, or some other positive but uninformative lingo.

Add to this that reviews are generally held only once in an entire year, and the problem grows. You either get information that is too general to be helpful, or your reviewer only remembers the last things you did. If those last things are bad, you are really in trouble, because all of the prior good can be forgotten. There is a great chance you might not ever learn that you knocked three of four projects out of the ball park, and this last one was the only problematic one.  And, without that information it makes it more difficult to plead your case and your worth as an employee.

A final problem with the review structure is that often one person is assigned to do them, and he or she may or may not be the person you are actually working with. I have sat in reviews while my reviewer sought to decipher the handwriting of the individual who I had actually worked with. While I knew the feedback was good, it would have been most helpful for me to talk to that person, so that I could get the good, and the areas of improvement.  

What is more efficient? Working with someone on a project by project basis, and getting information straight from the source. I don't know about other industries, but in higher education and law this can be difficult to do. Humans avoid conflict. But to grow as an employee, you must get both your strengths and your areas for improvement. This allows you to develop ways to increase your worth and shore up the not so great parts.  This can insure that you don't end up with a pink slip for performance, and have no idea why.  Or have an endless cycle of poor fits for employment. 

My suggestions:

1) Consistently ask for feedback. This means, when you work with someone ask them what you did well and what you could do better. If individuals you generally work with are uncomfortable doing this, find someone who is (there are people who feel born to do this in every company) and try to work with them for a while. This can help you see your areas of strength and weakness. Also, you can start the discussion by pointing out things they already say to get the ball rolling. This will require time, creativity and thought, but as this is your career and livelihood, it's a small price to pay. 

2) Ask someone you trust what the general consensus is about your work. This is a great way to gauge the opinion in the company about you.  This person must be sufficiently trusted and in the know to provide you with the truly helpful feedback you need. Many times, when reviewing the trainwreck that is a complaint in a court or a situation where an employee is about to be fired by a client, I see situations where an employee was going downhill fast, no one really knew how to tell them, and the employee had no one to turn to. Relationships with individuals in the company in a position to help you, be they co-workers in the know, subordinates with great relationships, or individuals in positions above you, is integral to your career success.  In almost every firing situation I have seen, there were certainly little steps the employee could have taken along the way to turn things around. 

3) Be honest with yourself.  If you know you could have done better on that project, then you did not turn in stellar product. If you know you have been drinking way too hard, coming in with a hangover every day, and not paying attention at work, your work product is slipping. If you know your desk is becoming a backup zone, and projects you get take weeks to see the light of day, seek help immediately. Don't wait and let the situation get worse; the only person truly invested in your career is you.

4) Take a hint. If no one wants to work with you, if you struggle for repeat business, or if you see individuals outside of your group called in to pick up the slack though you find yourself not terribly busy, this is a giant danger sign. You need to find someone who is accessible and talk to them about how to repair your image.

If you are honest, and have a good insider to provide you with a true picture of your company reputation, you can see a pink slip coming from miles away, and find ways to divert it's arrival. Waiting for an annual review is simply not enough; if a problem goes on for an entire year, you had best be looking for a new job. 

A Quick Shout Out

So yesterday I read a really great article about Michelle Obama (who I am a little bit obsessed with because she is totally the best thing since sliced bread and reminds me of my own potential). And it mentioned the by far greatest man at Harvard Law School (where I got my JD from): Professor Ogletree. Ogletree is amazing! He is down to earth, but super connected. And he cares about his students. He was/is Michelle Obama's mentor. Which makes me like her even more. Because, quite frankly, Ogletree is amazing. And if you have the good sense to stay connected to him, you are probably pretty amazing too!

If you ever have an opportunity to hear him talk, you should go. He just might be at a law school near you (he travels a lot). He believes that you truly can do good, and do well. And his life attests to it.

Avoiding the Office Dating Drama

My summer as an intern at my law firm, as one of the firm acitivities, the summer interns went to the beautiful house of one of the then associates, who is now a partner, and somehow the discussion involving all women intern and associates turned to dating. Like who was dating who, and what drama dating created. It was enjoyable and funny, and reminded me why I like the group of people I work with so much (how often is it that you get to work with someone who was destined to be your best friend?). But it also made me worried about the possible intersection between dating and work.

It seems that quite a few associates (and partners?) have found love in the office. A lot of the cutest couples here started dating when they were both employed at the same place. And it has worked out for many. But there are also the horror stories, like associates who get caught in a compromising position with partners. Associates or partners who are married to other people caught in compromising positions. Stories about how female and male associates get ahead on their backs. And the list goes on. Furthermore, a rumor like this about a co-workers really makes the respect quotent take a dive. And makes people wonder if that individual is really competent at their job. When I was interviewing for summer intern positions in law school, I was repeatedly propositioned, and I do know that some students followed up on the numerous offers. I was, thankfully, very happily dating. I wonder, what would have happened if I did go back to the hotel room with the tall, brooding partner? Would anyone respect me now, if I had also chosen to work with someone who gave me a position because of how good I was in bed?

Right now, I am single, and I realize that with all the time and energy I put into work, I probably won't spend very much time with people I don't work with, even with my new vow to really try and get out there. And even if they don't work at the same office, most of the people I meet who have dating potential are people who I inadvertently work with or for. The rules are difficult for this whole work-with/date situation. And I know I don't want to deal with rumors. But I also really really want to be happy, and not close off the perhaps most valuable avenue for finding that special someone. Because dating a lawyer really isn't that bad, especially when you can share lawyer humor jokes ;) And, another lawyer will definitely understand my hectic up and down schedule, my frustration with strange things, and my passion for doing good and doing well.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

There is a coming revolution in employment in the United States. I really think that the tide is turning against the at-will employee relationship, at least with skilled employees.  This weekend, at a wedding with some of my wonderful friends, I realized just how uncommitted we are to our employers, and just how much we appreciate flexibility.  

Contract employment, or employment "agreements" will be the new norm. Employers want to retain top talent. Employers also want to poach young talented employees from other employers who train them.  

That is good news in a market like this, especially for highly skilled employees. In the legal industry, law firms are making promises to not fire attorneys, no matter what, and are still spending lavishly on recruiting.  Law firms know as other industries know or will find out. There is a need for young educated workers, and they aren't loyal to a company, and they are desperate for some type of balance. Furthermore, because they saw what happened in the 90's with the layoffs and the over-kill, and they know that there is no loyalty to the employee, but only the bottom line. 

Perhaps the law firms are lying. Perhaps corporations will continue the hire and fire cycle, continuous with the economic upturns and downturns. But I can't help but hope that there will be solidarity in the ranks, and the good talented young people will band together and show employers that they won't be treated like pawns to be sacrificed to the god of revenue.  And maybe, but maybe, the corporate heads will think twice before they hand out those pink slips. 

Effective Discipline

So last night, when I was at work at like 10:30PM doing the most boring thing that lawyers do (aka reviewing documents) my boyfriend made an interesting comment: he said I have a lot of discipline. Whether or not this is true depends on what your view of discipline is.

I usually hear quite the opposite from the health nuts in my life. While I am vegetarian, I love, love, love junk food. And I refuse to eat anything that doesn't taste good. And isn't what I want at the moment. I eat, unfortunately, tons of sugar. And I also like french fries with my ketchup and salt. And I find myself incapable of making myself exercise consistently (thank God for a good metabolism). In my general life, I am very low on the whole discipline thing.

But, I admit that I have the fortitude to do something I hate but I realize must be done for hours on end. I can, with small breaks, write a paper for three days straight that has become so yesterday I just want it to be over with. The paper was actually quite good. I can, with small breaks, do almost anything for hours and hours on end, pushing the limits of physical possibility, simply because I must. I can, quite frankly, make myself do anything. The trick is, that anything must be something I realize I must do to get what I want.

But so can anyone else. The difference, I think, is in the idea of discipline. Someone else who has to take themselves to the gym by force, and even then only averages once a week on a good week might think that they just don't have it in them to study for six hours in three hour incriments every day for several months for a test to see if they can in fact get in graduate school. For me, it was a no brainer. I would sit for hours on end reading barbri books and testing, testing, testing for the LSAT. Even though some days it is physically impossible for me to make myself eat a single healthy meal (my body refuses!).

Discipline, the effective kind in my opinion, is knowing when to use it. You can't possibly use it all the time; you will burn out. There is only so much energy to be had to wrangle yourself into doing something that is not fun and, at times, if given a choice you would rather poke your eyes out. You must choose. I choose to expend my energy when it is essential, i.e. when I can see the nachos on my thighs so I simply must head to the gym.

Looking for Signs of Job Danger? While They Might Be Cryptic, They Are There!

Last week, a law firm fired 96 associates, partners, and other attorneys on staff. This was the second time this law firm fired associates this year. The first cut was 30+. So far, this firm has "trimmed" over 10% of their workforce.  And, according to the blogs I read on these topics (WSJ, ATL), not just the practice areas most readily affected by the sudden economic downturn were impacted.  Associates from practice groups all over the firm lost their jobs. 

But there were signs. Other than the obvious economic down turn. But a lot of firms have not fired 10% of their workforce. A lot of firms have simply scaled back on hiring. Or have found other ways to cut back.  Were there signs that the associates were in trouble at this particular firm?

The day after the firings were announced, the midlevel associate survey came out. And guess what firmed scored the worst on the survey? Yes, the firm that fired all the associates.

In a time of economic downturn, if you want to find out if you are about to get the axe for no fault of your own, ask yourself a few questions:

1. Does my employer specialize in an area that is going obsolete or struggling because of economic changes? Unless your employer can quickly turn things around, which is very very difficult for a large or difficult company (like, say, a law firm), you could be walking the pavement soon, searching for new employment.

2. Does my employer has a serious morale problem? You know the signs when you see it, all the employees huddled together complaining, usually nice bosses yelling and frazzled, wildly popular employees taking a lot of "sick time" while looking completely healthy.  Your employer is sinking like a ship, and unless you want to sink too, quickly work on your resume.

3. Does your employer sees employees as fungible, only thinks about profit, and you know that they would axe you in a second on the bottom line? A lot of law firms are desperately increasing their bottom line (and not the bottom line that enriches the associate) at whatever cost.  Some companies say reputation be damned. They don't understand the new workers and how, while money is enticing, they don't want to sell their souls. And while I think that these companies will suffer in the long run, the current administration of non generation Xers really thinks that this will just blow over. Or maybe they haven't learned from the past. Either way, if you notice the higher ups getting testy, or really quiet, and you know that they don't care at all about the little peons actually making them money, maybe you should dust that resume off and get busy. 

4. Are other employees disengaged, or lost in the office.  When a large portion of the employees spend their day avoiding work, or when the work distributed is not properly explained or delegated, employees are going to be lost and disengaged.  Whey they are, they aren't being productive. And the company will suffer. In this economic environment, disengaged employees are going to lead to layoffs. 

One, or maybe even two of these signs are not a sure sign of impending layoffs. But if you have under-worked, disgruntled employees, and a power structure that doesn't value the little, profit producing guy, you are headed for trouble.