The Dos and Don’ts of Managing Legal Staff

The Challenges of Staff Management

Legal Practice Management is hard! As a lawyer or law firm partner, you’re probably used to being in charge of things. And as the boss, you definitely have every right to make sure that everything runs smoothly. However, if your employees feel like they’re just being managed instead of led by someone who understands them and appreciates their talents, they probably won’t be motivated enough to do their best.

How Can I Manage My Team Properly?

So how do you manage legal staff without just looking over their shoulders all day? People are more likely to listen to individuals whom they like. There are many qualities that a good boss has while an unlikable boss doesn’t. Here are some tips to be a better manager:

Don’t Just “Manage” the Staff, Lead Them!

Managing the legal staff is not the same thing as leading them. The two have different objectives and reasons for existing, so it’s important to understand the difference between managing and leading.

Managing is about getting results from others–it’s about tasks, deadlines, budgets and so on. It’s about controlling people in order to achieve goals within an organization or team structure (or even externally). Managing is often seen as “doing things right”, because managing means making sure everyone else does what they’re supposed to do too!

Leading on the other hand focuses more on developing people over time by inspiring them with vision and purpose; encouraging them towards greatness through supportiveness; helping them grow both personally & professionally through mentorship & coaching…

Communicate

Communicate clearly and often.

Communication in the Workplace is essential for every business. It’s important to communicate your expectations about how employees should behave, as well as what they will be paid and when they can expect it. Communicate this information in person, through email or text message (avoid emojis), in writing on the company intranet–and make sure that everyone understands what you’re saying by using plain language that doesn’t assume any particular level of understanding.

No Micromanagement

Do NOT micromanage. Micromanaging is a sign of disrespect and people don’t like it, it’s also not your job to do the work for anyone. Your employees are there to help you achieve your business goals, not just follow orders blindly without any thought or consideration for their own workloads and responsibilities.

Delegate to Your Team Members

Trust in your team members’ abilities; Let your staff know that you trust them! Even if they’ve made mistakes in the past, if it wasn’t related to something essential like accuracy or timeliness (which could be improved), don’t hold onto those instances as reasons why they can’t handle certain tasks now or in the future. Give them opportunities where appropriate so they can show off their abilities; this will encourage greater confidence among both parties involved with less need for oversight by management overall

When you’re managing your team, it’s important to delegate tasks and allow team members the opportunity to make decisions. Let them do their own work! Don’t micromanage or be afraid of letting your team members fail on occasion. If they do something wrong, address it and move on.

Don’t be A Pushover

As a manager, you need to be strong. You need to be able to make decisions and stand by them, even if they are unpopular with your team.

You must also have the ability to discipline when necessary. This doesn’t mean being an ogre; it means having clear expectations and sticking with them when employees don’t meet those expectations.

You’ll also need to praise employees when they do well so that they know their efforts are appreciated and noticed!

Your Team Members are Accountable for Their Tasks

It’s important to set goals for your team members and hold them accountable for them. This can be done in a variety of ways, but it’s best if you let the employee choose what they want to achieve. You can also create a list of possible goals that they might want to pursue, so that there is no pressure on either party when setting up the goal-setting process.

As an example: If you have an employee who works primarily with clients, then one goal could be making sure each client gets their case resolved within three months (or whatever deadline is appropriate). Another option would be increasing their number of billable hours by 20%. These are just two examples; there are many other ways this could go depending on what exactly needs improvement or improvement areas identified by management or peers within the company

Don’t Make Excuses for Your Employees’ Mistakes

• Don’t make excuses for your employees’ mistakes. It’s tempting to rationalize an employee’s errors, but this will only undermine their confidence and make them feel like they can never do anything right. Instead, focus on helping them learn from the experience so that they can improve in the future.
• Don’t blame others for your employees’ mistakes. When something goes wrong on a project and it often does! It’s tempting to blame someone else: “If only my boss hadn’t given me those unrealistic deadlines…” or “If only I had more resources at my disposal…” However well-intentioned these thoughts may be, they’re ultimately not helpful in improving performance; instead of focusing on external factors like these, try identifying what went wrong within yourself and how you could have done better next time around.

Be Transparent

You should let your employees know what’s expected of them and when they have fallen short of expectations, explain why it’s important that they do better next time.

• Don’t just tell them what to do, explain why it’s important.
• Let your employees know what’s expected of them and when they have fallen short of expectations, explain why it’s important that they do better next time.

Balance Your Feedback Frequency

Feedback is an important part of the management process, but it should be given in a timely manner. If you’re too busy to give feedback, then your staff will feel neglected and unimportant and they’ll likely become frustrated with their work environment.

The best way to give feedback is through regular one-on-one meetings where you can discuss performance issues as they arise. The goal isn’t just for managers to tell employees what’s wrong with their work; it’s also about helping employees understand how they could improve and take control over their own careers.

Strengthen Your Relationship with Your Employees

The best way to ensure that your legal practice runs smoothly is by developing relationships with your employees that yield mutual trust, respect and success.

When it comes to managing employees, these three things are key:

• Trust – Employees who feel like they can be open and honest with their superiors will be more productive in their work and less likely to leave the company.
• Respect – You want employees who respect you as well as each other. This will make them less likely to engage in gossiping or backstabbing among themselves or with outsiders (like clients).
• Success – Everyone wants their own personal goals met at work; if yours aren’t compatible with your staff members’ goals then things may get tense quickly!

Staff Management Software

Okay but how can I manage my staff remotely? There are a lot of different options out there that allow you as a manager to keep your team under the radar, but for a lawyer, We have designed RunSensible specifically for you! It’s the CRM software that has everything a lawyer needs to manage their team with ease. It includes everything from task assignments and high-quality communication options, to time sheets and workflow automation.

If you’re hesitant, we’ve got you covered. RunSensible offers a Free Trial for newcomers so they have time to work with the software and make sure it suits their needs.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this article has given you some insight into how to manage your legal staff. We know it can be a challenge, but if you follow these tips and keep your team happy, then everything else will fall into place!