To save job of your direct report, Olympic effort (and build trust)

There are proven techniques to getting rid of under-performing in-house counsel. You can ignore them (let them hang themselves with poor performance). You can manage them out (document clear expectations you know they will not meet). You can outright fire them.

Is that the best use of your time and your company’s money? Think of how expensive and time-consuming it is to find and train a replacement (your HR consultant may have the numbers to prove it).

Consider the alternative; harder, but better for the bottom line. An Olympic effort to manage to success!

Personal development plans for in-house counsel - performance review 201

You've had your annual performance review, so now what?  It's time to work on your personal development plan, for those aspects of you (your "competencies") that you want to improve.

Your plan also articulates how you're going to change yourself, your time-frames for doing so, the means to measure your success, and your support network. If you were not provided with a template and task list, I suggest that you take the initiative and make them up.

Performance review 101 for in-house counsel – how to “receive” your review

Hate them or love them, performance reviews are a potent reminder that in-house counsel are corporate employees – mere mortals – and not just lawyers.  If your annual review is coming up soon, here are five suggestions for the recipient (laced with a few thoughts for the review writer).

1.  Good feedback makes us feel good.  Even the most humble enjoy a little positive feedback now and then.  A good source is your annual performance review.  If you know you are due some positive reinforcement, but not getting enough, you may want to remind your boss (gently) about how important feedback is to his/her team.

Self-appraisals for in-house counsel -- there ought to be a law against that

OK, I'm guilty.  I have requested self-appraisals from the in-house counsel I supervised (and my bosses requested them from me).  A reasoned criticism of this "common performance management practice" was recently posted by Dick Grote in Let's Abolish Self-Appraisal.

Grote admonishes that self-appraisal use often leads to a misimpression -- on the part of both the employee and the supervisor -- that a performance review is a "negotiated" process.  "That's wrong.  A performance appraisal is a record of a supervisor's opinion of the quality of an employee's work," says Grote.

Performance review? Don't miss an opportunity for a good conversation

It is mid-year, the 4th of July weekend, and a good time for a reminder that you should be having conversations about job performance more often than once a year, at the often-annoying end-of-the-year review.  If you do not participate in mid-year performance conversations, you are missing a golden opportunity to be LeadingInHouse.^sm

Action Plan: Try the conversational approach.  Make a list of simple questions that you can ask of your direct reports (or that you can ask of your boss), such as:

It's what you DO that makes you successful - nine suggestions

Does this sound as familiar to you as it did to me?  "Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others?  If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion.  It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail."  Nine Things Successful People Do Differently. 

According to motivational psychologist Heidi Grant Halvor, it's "because of what they do," not "who they are," that makes successful people successful.  For performance-management purposes, I've put an in-house coaching spin to three items on her list of nine:

Performance planning for employee success

A solid discussion on performance planning and goal setting is provided in Amy Gallo's post on the Harvard Business Review blog, Making Sure Your Employees Succeed.  Among her more salient points and principles:

• As supervisor, you should "balance your involvement with the employee's ownership over the process."
• Goals are more "meaningful and effective in motivating employees" if they are tied to "broader organization objectives."
• Do not ignore high performers, as they "need input and feedback to meet their goals as well."

The last point is particularly relevant for in-house counsel, who as a group tend to be high performers.  We want to be superstars, but not overlooked superstars.

This summary was prepared by Perry Cone and posted at www.leadinginhouse.com/

Legal Notice and Disclaimer

How to Navigate Bonus Season

In-house counsel who manage others may face communications issues related to compensation.  Amy Gallo does an excellent job of discussing challenges associated with communicating bonuses and other compensation (whether up, down, or stagnant).  Her blog contains a useful list of "Principles to Remember," including:  do "connect bonus awards directly to employee accomplishments" and don't "rely on bonuses as your only way to motivate people."  Read Amy's full blog at: How to Navigate Bonus Season.