New England Biz Law Update
Ask the Coach appears regularly in New England In-House. Two expert executive coaches share their thoughts and ideas in answering your questions on complex management and leadership issues and difficult work situations.
We are excited to be able to bring together the depth of experience and insights that these two coaches offer. The topics for this question and answer format will be based on your questions and those most frequently asked by their clients. Lerner and Stern will respond to one or two questions and we reserve the right to edit questions for clarity and length.
Have a question? Send it to: [email protected]. (No names will be published.)
Dear Executive Coach:
Seven months ago, I hired a bright young staff attorney eager to learn our business. Last week, she resigned saying that I had not taught her very much and that she felt that I was unwilling to give her any real responsibility. She added that she thought that I believed I could not rely on her and she therefore had no future with our legal department. I think highly of her but my workload is so great that I have not really had the time to train her properly. Although she is eager to learn, she thinks that she can do more than I sense she is ready for. This type of situation has happened to me before and I wonder if you have ideas on how I can prevent losing a talented but naïve employee in the future?
Sincerely,
E. D.
Dear E.D.:
What your associate seemed to be experiencing comes from the common management problem of difficulty in delegating. Effective delegating requires a degree of planning and the commitment to carry out that plan. A critical component of that delegating plan, no matter how informal, is following through.
To be successful as a manager, one must be available to do the managing. Without a leadership style that includes effective delegating, one cannot be as productive as possible. No amount of hours worked can make up for sharing the workload with a well trained and trusted associate. Think of it as an investment of time now for major returns later. I have heard lawyers say that it takes more time to show someone else how to do the task than to do it themselves. That may be true for the first or second time but after that the benefits should outweigh the investment. Trust is a necessary component for effective delegation, but it should not be misinterpreted as giving up one’s ultimate responsibility for the delegated task.
As with other managerial responsibilities, it is necessary to follow-up after an assignment is given. Be aware of the progress, or lack thereof, that is being made along the way. To wait until the end of a deadline to see if your delegating efforts worked, is too late. At the beginning of a new assignment, be prepared for possible disappointment as your subordinate is still learning the job. You might even consider asking for feedback from your new associate on how you are doing as the delegator and seize the opportunity to strengthen your own skill in the process.
Dear Executive Coach:
I work with someone who did something that eroded my trust in him. I shared in confidence information and my feelings on a sensitive issue and before I knew it my boss was asking me about what I had said. This was not the first time this person broke a confidence or let me down when he had promised to get something done and got me into trouble when I couldn’t deliver to someone else because I didn’t have what he had promised. I need to be able to trust the people I work with so I don’t have to watch everything I say or check up to make sure people are doing what they promise. Based on this person’s history with me I’m not sure I can ever really trust him again. Since this person is one of the key people with whom I need to interact on a regular basis, is there anything I can do to get beyond this real barrier?
Sincerely,
T.L.
Dear T.L.:
Most people rarely intend to break a trust and usually are unaware that something they have done would be viewed as untrustworthy. It’s possible that your colleague told your boss or someone else what you had shared with him and knowingly broke what you shared in confidence. It is just as possible that there was a difference in your understanding about the confidential nature of your discussion. He may have also shared the information with someone in confidence trying to get some help on how to deal with it. Or your boss might have heard the information from another source.
When it comes to the past history of your colleague not living up to his commitments to you, consider whether your expectations were absolutely clear and put in writing so there could not have been any misunderstanding about the commitment. Whatever the actual case, try not to make any assumptions that your colleague intentionally broke your trust.
Once trust is broken, you basically have three options: Decide to work around the person, limiting what you expect of him and protecting yourself accordingly; escape from the relationship and stop working with the person one way or another; or reach out to the person and try to regain the trust that has been lost.
The last option can be tough. You can just give it time and hope the person won’t let you down again or learn in what ways and in what situations you can trust him and in which you cannot. Or you can have a heart-to-heart talk with the person and explain why trust is so important to you and your working relationship with him, how you view what he did, ask about his view of the situation, and build an informal agreement about things each of you could do to rebuild the trust moving forward.
