Don’t become an economic casualty.
When revenues drop, firms put their administrators under close scrutiny. They want a good payoff for the salary investment.
Sometimes the partners question whether the administrator is doing enough. And sometimes they question whether they need an administrator at all, says executive coach Lissa Weimelt, a principal with the executive search firm SearchPro Services in Minneapolis.
In that bleak environment, she says, administrators have to increase their own value and prove it to the partners.
Don’t be a cost center
Understand what the partners want and what it takes to survive in the job, Weimelt says.
Essentially, an administrator has to “hit the ball out of the park.” To be worth the expense of the salary, the administrator has to move from being a cost center to a profit center, and that’s done by taking on new tasks and responsibilities that bring in money.
The two telling questions to ask are:
- What am I doing to bring more money into the firm? and
- What am I bringing to this firm that makes the partners want to pay $X of their money for me?
Become a business partner
Be a business partner to the firm, she says. Do things that show a profit.
What profit-producing jobs can an administrator do? “There are tons of things,” says Weimelt.
Start with the smaller things, such as:
- Shop vendor prices.
- Evaluate the work currently being outsourced and see if it can be brought in house.
- Search out money inefficiencies. If the firm has had layoffs and is now using a lot of temporary staff, calculate whether it would be more cost effective to hire a part-time person.
- Figure out ways to reassign staff to reduce overtime.
Then go to more sophisticated things.
Pay close attention at the partnership meetings to find out what the strategic planning entails. Don’t just sit there thinking “this doesn’t have anything to do with me—I just run the office.” It has everything to do with the administrator’s job survival—and indeed to the firm’s survival.
If there’s no marketing department, the administrator should be doing the marketing by setting up speaking engagements and authorship opportunities for the attorneys and arranging cross-marketing meetings within the firm.
Find out what clients the firm is going after, what practice groups it wants to develop, what alliances it wants to make—and help make those things happen. For example, while it’s up to the partners to develop a new practice group, the administrator can participate by helping the attorneys market it.
Come up with ways to help the firm reach its long- and short-term goals. If there’s a goal of bringing in a lateral, offer to set up a recruiting plan to find that attorney. And then recommend ways to help the lateral make new business contacts.
Look at each of the firm’s goals and ask “what am I doing to help this?” The administrator’s job, says Weimelt, is to contribute to getting the results the partners are trying to achieve.
How to weather the dark days
Along with knowing what loftier job changes to make, know how to weather the crises that come with the job.
Weimelt cites two crises to be prepared for: One is a change in the managing partner and the other is a bad review.
Pleasing the new managing partner
The managing partner is the person to please. And when a new managing partner comes in, the administrator has to find out what pleases and what displeases. What the previous partner wanted may not be what the new boss wants.
Oftentimes the partner doesn’t have any interest in running the firm and doesn’t even know—or care—what the administrator’s role is or should be. And while that may be okay during good economic times, according to Weimelt, “When there’s trouble paying the bills, it’s not good to have an anonymous job.”
Meet with the partner and set out the game plan.
Ask “what are your expectations of me?” And then go over the details: “Here is my current job description. Do you want me to continue with this? Do you want me to change it? Add to it?”
Then make a sales pitch. Tell the partner about any personal talents or skills that aren’t being used and offer to put them to use for the benefit of the firm.
Suppose the administrator has experience in marketing. Offer to do that work. The partner may not know about that experience and may even be thinking about hiring a marketer. Take on that role, and the firm saves money and the administrator saves the job.
Meet periodically with the managing partner and go over what’s being done and what’s been accomplished and what more needs to be done.
Make sure that partner stays aware of what benefit the firm is getting from its administrator. Don’t leave anybody saying “well she plans the Christmas party and makes everybody feel good.”
An upcoming review
Stay prepared for every review. Draw up a profit picture to show the partners what they’re getting for their money and have it ongoing and ready for the next review.
In it, list the accomplishments achieved since the last review. But instead of emphasizing the amount of work each item has entailed, show what it’s done for the bottom line. What the partners are interested in are “numerically specific” results.
Don’t expect the review to be easy, and don’t expect any leniency. If the money is tight, the partners may say the administrator isn’t doing well and therefore doesn’t deserve a raise or even shouldn’t be in the job at all.
Weimelt recommends showing the accomplishments in two categories—one for those that saved money and the other for those that generated money.
On the saved side, an accomplishment might be that the administrator fixed a computer problem that would have cost $X in fees from an outside consultant.
On the generated side, the administrator may have set up speaking engagements for several attorneys that led to new business.
In addition, list whatever directives the partners gave at the last review and show how each one has been met along with its financial benefit to the firm.
A disastrous review
And then there’s the bad review. When that happens, Weimelt says, survival starts with how the administrator responds to the partners.
No matter how fearsome the comments sound, stay conversational, nonconfrontational, and calm.
If the poor marks are a surprise, say so. At the same time, ask what specific elements need to be improved and get as much detail as possible on what expectations the partners have.
Then ask for a few days to digest what’s been said, and ask to schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss a plan for correcting the deficiencies.
As for the emotional recovery, Weimelt’s advice is to follow the 24-1 rule. Take 24 hours to feel whatever is being felt—anger, distress, fear, or whatever. And find one person to share it all with. She emphasizes, however, that the one person cannot be anybody who works at the firm. An office is never a private place, and the smaller it is, the less the privacy. Count on it that whatever is said will get back to the partners, and the administrator will end up looking weak as well as unprofessional for having told somebody what was said.
When the 24 hours are over, start developing an action plan for making the improvements. And make it a fast plan. Be prepared to tell the partners it can be done in the next 30 days, or 60 at most. They want immediate results.
Equally important is to stay positive and stay in touch with the partners in the days following the bad review.
Don’t lie low in hopes of avoiding getting fired. To the partners, that’s childish. It looks like the administrator is sulking.
Take the opposite approach and get enthusiastic. Interact with all the partners. Talk with them. And don’t be afraid to be candid: “I haven’t been hitting the ball out of your park lately, so I’m trying to improve my performance. If there is anything I can do to assist you, let me know.”
Follow up with the managing partner, and do it fast.
Wait past 30 days and expect to be fired.
Start meeting weekly and at each meeting give the partner a written outline of what’s being done to improve in the areas discussed in the review. Don’t write a book, just give the highlights. It’s a matter of “here are my results—are they okay?”
Put the emphasis on “I have done such-and-such, and to date it has saved us $X.” At the same time, ask if there is anything else that needs to be done.
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