Articles by Debra Bruce

Clues You Can Use to Soothe Clashes

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

We all have someone we have to deal with who is somehow blocking us from getting what we want. It may be opposing counsel, but it may just as likely be our own partner or a staff member who isn’t performing to our expectations. In those situations our frustration levels mount, and some of us sneer or explode. We go from dealing with a difficult person to being a difficult person.

Many such problems can be solved or prevented if we can improve our communication skills. Here are some “clues you can use” to improve your communication and reduce the conflict in your office.

1. Deal with annoyances while they are small.

This concept particularly applies to people we interact with frequently. Sometimes someone does something that annoys us, inconveniences us or hurts us, but because it is a small matter, we think it would be too petty to bring up. By the time it (or something like it) happens the tenth time, we have a big stack of grievances to address, and our emotions run high. We appear to react out of proportion to the incident, but actually we are reacting to ten incidents. Ambrose Bierce, an American author and newspaper columnist, said, “Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” If we simply address the issue the first or second time it occurs, we usually can discuss it calmly, casually and without a lot of emotional investment.

2. Find some common ground or mutual goal to set as the framework for your discussion.

Your listener will be more willing to listen when he knows you care about his goals and interests. For example, if a lawyer in the office talks too loudly, affecting your concentration, you might start with, “This is a small, but busy office. I know you want everyone to be productive, with a minimum of distractions and interruptions, right? And I assume you want to safeguard client confidences, too.”

Be sure you find some truly mutual goals so he knows the WIIFM (what’s in it for me). It must be motivating for him. Once you identify a goal that you both share, then address the behavior that interferes with the goal and that you would like to see changed.

3. Describe his behavior and its impact, not him.

Be specific and let him know how his behavior impacts you or others, without inserting barbs or judgments or characterizing him negatively. Instead of “You’re too loud and inconsiderate,” try “Voices carry pretty far in here. I can hear your conversations on the phone, especially when you use the conference feature. I find it difficult to concentrate on my work, and I worry that client confidences may be revealed to anyone who happens to be in our offices.” This would also be a good time to check to find out what impact you are having on him. It shows your concern and respect for his needs. “Do you have a similar problem with my voice?”

4. Be open to solutions you hadn’t considered.

“Could we brainstorm some solutions?” That shows respect and caring for his interests by inviting him to suggest solutions, instead of trying to impose yours. People are much more willing to comply with a plan that they helped create. They may even volunteer something that you would have been afraid to suggest, like “Gee, I didn’t realize I was so loud that others could hear me. Maybe I should get my hearing checked.”

5. Clarify your intention by expressly stating that you don’t intend something negative, and state your positive intention.

Sometimes the discussion will create defensiveness or avoidance in others. We can help prevent that, or successfully deal with it when it occurs by creating safety for them. Two tools for creating safety are treating them with respect and clarifying our intention. Think about what they might be afraid of, or what negative intention they might assume. You might say, “I’m not trying to suggest that my work is more important than yours, or that you have to tip-toe around me. I just want to maintain client confidences and keep productivity levels up in the office.”

6. Maintain respect for others by (a) noticing the story you are making up about them, and (b) checking your assumptions.

When we tell ourselves he is a loudmouth boor with no consideration for others, it doesn’t help us maintain a respectful attitude and tone in our conversation with him. Try to imagine some reasonable motivation for his behavior before starting the conversation, to calm your emotions. Perhaps he is not aware that you can hear him. Or maybe he has a sinus condition that plugs his ears sometimes. Then ask questions to check out your assumptions, or even state them and ask if you are on target. You could say, “We could hear the weaknesses of Mr. Coleman’s case as you described them on the phone today. I’m wondering if you knew how far your voice carries.”

7. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

If during the conversation the other person starts getting defensive, becomes angry or clams up, he is feeling unsafe. He doesn’t believe that you care about or have respect for him or his interests. Acknowledge his interests, go back to finding a common goal, clarify your intention or check your assumptions until you have reestablished safety. Then proceed with the meat of the discussion. You might say, “I notice that you are not saying much about this. I hope you are not getting the impression that I am judging you negatively for something you aren’t sure how to control. I value you, and believe there must be a solution that works for all of us. Can we keep talking until we find it?”

You may notice that these recommendations can be time consuming to implement. They involve a lot more words than, “Pipe down in there!” I endorse what Stephen Covey says in The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. He points out that when it comes to dealing with people, fast is slow, and slow is fast. Take your time now so that you won’t have to spend twice as much time later patching up the new problems created by your haste.

I chose an annoying, but fairly innocuous example for this article. Many office problems start out with fairly innocuous issues that tend to grow and multiply if left unaddressed. Even if a monster issue arises in your office, however, these tools can help you tame it.

Get Noticed to Get Business

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

An important axiom of marketing is: “Customers do business with people they know, like and trust.” The significance of that axiom swells when you market a professional service instead of a product, because your potential clients can’t see, touch or taste your wares in advance of the purchase. To achieve that coveted status of being known, liked and trusted in advance of providing the service, choose marketing strategies that enhance visibility, credibility, personal relationships and referrals. Clients can’t like and trust you if they don’t know you exist. So this month we’re focusing on how you can augment your visibility to potential clients and referral sources.

The Value of Name Recognition

When you increase your visibility, you increase your name recognition. People gravitate toward names they recognize, even when they don’t remember why they recognize the name. The “I’ve heard of her somewhere” factor pays off. A while back I read an article reporting the polling results about the best lawyers in another city. I recognized the names of many of the lawyers selected, and could confirm the quality of a number of them from personal experience. I also recognized the name of one lawyer in a category that I didn’t have much knowledge about, but I assumed he was good because I had heard of him. Later I saw his name selected in several other categories requiring dramatically different skill sets and knowledge bases. Something seemed awry. With today’s in-depth specialization, rarely can a generalist truly excel in multiple legal practice areas, and this fellow was named among the best in four different areas! On reflection, I recognized that he had been very active in leadership roles in bar and community activities, and was a former State Bar President. He may be a genius and a multi-tasking time management pro, or he may be benefiting from name recognition. After all, I myself had assumed he was good in his practice area merely because I recognized his name.

Should You Advertise?

Advertising increases visibility and name recognition. Studies have shown, however, that when it is the sole mechanism employed, it is the least effective strategy for professional services marketing. The majority of professional service clients engage services based on a personal acquaintance or a referral. Therefore, advertising alone is generally only effective for attracting clients who are unlikely to have any other source of referral to a lawyer. When combined with other forms of marketing, however, advertising can serve to boost the impact of the other efforts by adding name recognition to the formula. Unfortunately, advertising that has high visibility tends to be quite costly. Further, research shows that, to be effective, the ad must have repetitive exposure, increasing the expense. Therefore, unless you have a generous budget, your marketing dollars will probably be better spent elsewhere.

Inexpensive Avenues to Visibility

There are many other ways to gain visibility, or preserve it, once achieved. Listed below are 20 ideas that are more cost effective than advertising, and some are even free. Use these or other strategies you feel comfortable with to increase your visibility to potential client and referral sources.

Be a speaker for organizations they belong to
Hold leadership roles in organizations with visibility to them
Donate your services at silent auctions for charities they care about
Be a supporter announced on public radio
Circulate a monthly newsletter with legal updates or tips
Offer legal tips in a newspaper column, radio show or trade magazine
Sponsor a booth or hospitality room at trade shows
Offer a one-minute legal tip at the end of every meeting of an organization you belong to
Pass out a piece of paper with a brief legal tip at each organization meeting
Publish an e-ezine that includes enough of your personality or personal tidbits to let you readers feel they know you
Have a website! (Surveys indicate that two-thirds of in-house counsel have investigated websites before hiring outside counsel.)
Be an expert writing a column for a website with high traffic, like www.About.com
Write articles for trade publications your clients are likely to read
Send them articles and information about cases or news of interest to their industry with a note from you
Write articles for the website of a company with a similar client base, such as the website of an accounting firm if you are business lawyer, or the website of a commercial real estate broker if you are a real estate lawyer. Be sure your byline includes a link to your website.
Consider hiring a PR consultant to help you become known as the expert the media contacts for comments on your subject area.
Write a book or hire a ghost writer to write one for you using your knowledge and experience
Offer public seminars in your area of expertise
Start a blawg about a topic you are interested in. "Blawg" is derived from "blog," which in turn is derived from "web log." A web log is essentially an online diary, usually with informative content. To see some examples of “legally-inclined weblogs”, go to www.lawblog.com, www.ErnieTheAttorney.net, and http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/blog.htm
Send press releases to state and local bar publications, business journals, the local newspaper and television and radio stations about appointments, awards, honors, elections, cases you win, big deals closed, books published, speaking engagements or other noteworthy topics. You can establish yourself as an expert that reporters can interview in connection with stories on topics of your expertise. These press releases do not have to relate to your law practice, however. Remember the impact of “I’ve heard of him somewhere.”

With these ideas as a start, do some brainstorming to create your own visibility mechanisms. Consider brainstorming with some non-lawyers to develop some out-of-the-box solutions. Get known to your potential clients and referral sources!

Leadership Lessons from Katrina

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

Together Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita brought destruction and chaos to much of the Gulf Coast. In every situation, however, there are lessons and gifts. Here in Houston as a Katrina volunteer at the Astrodome/Reliant Park, I received the gift of watching leadership lessons demonstrated before my eyes.

Usually the impact of our leadership style plays out gradually over time, and we are not able to easily distinguish which variables caused the results we received. In the time-compressed atmosphere of the Katrina relief effort, however, we had the benefit of something like time-lapse photography. We could see strangers form work teams that either dissolved into dysfunction or developed an efficient rhythm despite the rapidly changing environment.

I will briefly describe the leadership keys I observed that worked.

Purpose and Passion
Everyone on the team knew the ultimate purpose of their work: to bring emergency relief and compassionate care to people devastated by a natural disaster. The volunteers all aligned with that purpose, found it meaningful, and felt passionate about it. Their passion and purpose motivated them to work long hours, to do difficult work and even menial or distasteful work willingly and with a sense of fulfillment. For example, on my first day I voluntarily sorted dirty disposable diapers out of a poorly marked container also containing damp dirty clothing in the women’s shower area.

Vision and Direction
In this case, leaders didn’t have to inspire passion or communicate purpose to the legions of volunteers. They were self-evident. What was not so evident, however, was what needed to be done, by whom, and how to do it. So many volunteers flooded into the Astrodome when Katrina survivors arrived that traffic clogged all around. The mass of inexperienced volunteers overwhelmed the workers trained in disaster relief. The survivors’ immediate needs of food, water, medical attention and shelter did get met amid the chaos, at least. Over the first few days, leaders with vision emerged among the volunteers, establishing direction for others, who eagerly fell into step. As they shared their visions and established a direction for all that activity, the chaos diminished.

Structure and Communication
Some leaders could see what needed to be accomplished and could point others in that direction. Their newly formed teams worked inefficiently towards the goal, however, because they lacked structure and communication. I watched one team leap forward in productivity when they developed clear structures of responsibility and systems for tracking their progress (instead of everyone just taking on the task they felt like doing in the moment). Their system also included daily training for the regular influx of new volunteers. They still stumbled, however, when one structured department of responsibility didn’t know the duties or accomplishments of another.
Even amid high adrenaline urgent activity, they needed to slow down enough to communicate effectively with each other. The team developed a new structure of taking time out for a reporting meeting each morning and each afternoon. In that meeting they learned the needs and accomplishments of each department, and were able to coordinate their efforts. The team leader had the opportunity to acknowledge individual contributions and communicate new initiatives and directions. The team members offered feedback on how the team functions could be performed more effectively. The team leader quickly recognized the benefits of these twice-daily structures for both listening and telling for his fast-paced team.

Empowerment and Strengths
With a clear structure and regular communication, the team began accomplishing many of its daily goals, yet there was still a bottleneck in the overall flow. Every time the team leader walked into the room, people with questions surrounded him. He could not accomplish his own duties to the larger relief effort command center, due to the interruptions. Yet, if he didn’t make himself available for questions, his team came to a near standstill.

The team leader recalled how he became a team leader in the first place. He saw a problem and proposed a solution to the leaders he encountered. Their response was, “Sounds like good idea. Run with it,” and they turned away to other matters. They didn’t try to do it all themselves, and didn’t micromanage him. As he demonstrated his capability, those leaders called on him for help, asked for his opinions, and gave him more authority.

The team leader recognized that he himself had become a bottleneck for his team, because he had not adequately empowered his team members to make judgments and take action on their own. He began telling his sub-team leaders to “run with it” and even refused to make decisions for some who were reluctant to take the reins.

As his own bottleneck cleared, he occasionally noticed bottlenecks forming down line. Closer scrutiny revealed a new volunteer processing her duties slowly and spasmodically, although the previous volunteer had functioned quickly and efficiently. The team leader paused to ask the new volunteer what kind of work she liked doing, and what she did really well. He encouraged her to capitalize on her strengths, and authorized her to switch roles. By finding a substitute with strengths in the original role, he improved the efficiency of two posts, and the bottleneck disappeared.

Epilogue
In a matter of days, an ever-changing group became an efficient team of 20 people tackling jobs many of them had never done before. The team hummed, even with a 70% weekly turnover rate as volunteers returned to their regular jobs, and new ones filled in. The workers expressed pride and fulfillment in their accomplishments. The team leader completed his service knowing he had just gotten the equivalent of a $10,000 crash course in leadership.

Our Teams
What can we learn from that team leader’s experience? If we want our teams to function more efficiently and productively, we can ask ourselves these questions:

Have I clearly communicated a meaningful purpose for our work and inspired my team members to join me in my passion for it?
Do I have a clear vision of where we are trying to go and am I pointing a clear direction to that goal?
Am I willing to ask for the help and wisdom of others?
Do we have a structure that clarifies responsibility and provides systematic opportunities for communication up and down the ladder, as well as across different ladders?
Is every team member in a role that plays to her strengths, and have I fully empowered others to make decisions and take action to the full level of their capability?

With these guides in mind, leading a team can start feeling less like dragging a mule by the harness, and more like lightly flicking the reins to give course direction to a trotting horse.

Behavior Styles Affect Communication

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

"I ask you what time it is, and you tell me how to build a clock!" John said with exasperation. Ben felt confused and, frankly, a little hurt. He just wanted to make sure John had all the facts before making his decision.

***

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Carol asked.

"You file it with the county clerk," Glen responded.

"I don't understand, " Carol said, furrowing her brow.

"You file it with the county clerk," Glen repeated.

"What do you mean?" Carol said, raising her voice a little.

"You file it with the county clerk," Glen said slowly and distinctly. Then he turned and walked into his office, feeling exasperated.

***

"We agreed two weeks ago that we would have a date night tomorrow," Donna said evenly, pushing down her frustration and disappointment.

"Yeah, but two weeks ago I didn't know I could have the kids this weekend. Why don't you like my kids?" William countered.

***

In each of these scenes, one of my clients experienced communication difficulties. Everyone involved was actually a decent and ordinary person, yet they were getting cross-wise with each other. Whose fault was it? Chances are that you have already formed an opinion about who was wrong in at least one of the scenes because you are viewing it from the perspective of your own behavioral tendencies.

Back in 1928, William Marston, a Columbia University psychologist, published his research showing that people tend to fall into four behavioral styles. Much of the discord we experience simply results from differing behavior styles, rather than actual substantive disagreement.

Over the following decades Marston's research has been extended, refined and validated. Today we have a simple assessment tool, the DiSC® Behavior Style Profile, which has been used by over 40 million people to identify their primary behavior styles. DiSC® is an acronym for the four styles, called Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness.

Learning a little about our own behavior styles and those of the people around us can help us adapt to create more productive work teams and more harmony at home. Read on to see how to deal with the situations described above.

"D" Working with "I"

In our example, John was exhibiting his "D" behavior style. D's are result focused, fast paced, decisive, direct, determined and often impatient. They want to get into action to achieve the goal. They fear they will be taken advantage of if they lose control of the situation. Ben is a high "I" style. I's are people oriented, talkative, gregarious and like flexibility. They value connecting with people more than accomplishing tasks, and enjoy receiving attention. They fear personal rejection, so they may tend to take things personally. John felt impatient when he asked Ben direct, bottom-line questions and Ben gave him long-winded explanations setting the scene before getting to the heart of the question. When Ben learned about DiSC styles, he focused on giving John bullet-point responses. Although Ben thought it sounded a little curt, John was better able to make decisions based on Ben's information. Ben soon saw his relationship with John improve significantly, all stemming from that small adjustment. John relaxed with Ben when he knew he could quickly get the information he needed to achieve his goal.

"C Working with "I"

Glen, a high "C", works with Carol, another high "I". People who primarily use the C behavior style are analytical, systematic and value facts and accuracy. They fear making a mistake or having their work criticized, so they tend to make a lot of judgments about whether something is right or wrong. They like facts, figures and proof. They tend to be more reserved and formal in their demeanor.

Even though Carol was expressing some confusion, by Glen's analysis he had given all the necessary information. So he merely repeated himself, believing that if Carol carefully considered what he said, she would understand. C's tend to think there is a best and correct way, and they hold to it. As an "I", Carol seeks to connect with others, and she experienced Glen's repetition as rigid and rejecting. I's can be emotional, and her anger began to flash.

Glen can be persuaded to modify his perfectly accurate statements once he learns that, in communication, the "right" way is the effective way. In the short run, however, it will be much easier for Carol, the flexible "I", to recognize that Glen's response is not about her personally. She can get the information she needs by getting specific about the area of her confusion, or by directly asking Glen to rephrase his response to help her understand.

"I" Married to "S"

Donna was a high "S" married to William, a high "I". S's want harmony and predictability in their environment. They like to plan things out and to use tried and true procedures. They are loyal to those they respect and are good team players. They fear sudden change and instability.

When Donna and William made a plan together, she tended to see it as a commitment carved in stone. As a high "I" preferring flexibility, William tended to see plans as mere targets that they aimed for unless something better came along. William's sudden change of plans triggered Donna's discomfort, but his fear of rejection caused him to conclude that it arose because she resented his children.

When they learned that their differing styles interfered with a meeting of the minds about the level of commitment to plans made, they developed a solution. Now when they make plans, Donna says, "Should I write that down in pencil or ink?" If it is in pencil she strives to remain flexible and not count on it. William understands that, if it's in ink, he's contractually obligated and will have to pay damages for non-performance.

In the workplace and in our homes, we need the talents and strengths of each behavior style. We get into conflict if we fail to recognize and respect styles different from our own. By understanding DiSC behavior styles, we can be more effective and productive in our interactions with others.

When I first learned about DiSC, I experienced a great shift in the way I saw my husband's choices. I was kind of stunned to realize that about a quarter of the population approaches things the way he does. And more significantly, only about 25% of the population does it the way I do!

Would a shift in how you see the behavior of others help you be more effective?

Dealing With Distractions

Dealing with Distractions

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

A reader asks for advice on how to deal with distractions. If you, too, have difficulty putting aside distractions, here are a few subjects to investigate for the source of the problem, along with some possible solutions.

Which goals fall by the wayside?

First, let's look at what goal you get distracted from accomplishing. What is the purpose or goal of that "to-do"? Is it a compelling goal? Is it your goal, or really someone else's? For a mundane, but common example, let's say your to-do is to get your messy desk organized. If your purpose for cleaning up your desk is so other people won't think you are a slob, then that's just a should, and not very compelling. It really is someone else's goal, not yours. No wonder you are easily distracted from it! If, on the other hand, your purpose is (i) to get a burst of energy from releasing all those little worry strings tied to every piece of potentially important paper lost on your desk, (ii) to be able to respond promptly, decisively and effectively to challenges that come your way today (leaping tall buildings in a single bound) because you know how to quickly put your hands on every piece of information available to you, or (iii) to avoid repeating the embarrassment you suffered yesterday when a client called and you couldn't find her file… well, those goals sound significantly more compelling. It is easier to keep motivated and on track when we have vivid outcomes in mind. So the next time you have a to-do of reviewing a deed of trust or a routine set of responses to interrogatories (yawn), consider the purpose of your review and the outcome you desire. Ask yourself a few questions: What's important about this task? What will I be able to do or enjoy when I finish this? What negative consequence can I avoid if I complete this promptly? If you can't think of a compelling outcome, maybe you need to dig a little deeper and broader about the whole question of whose goal this is.

How do you get distracted?

Second, let's look what distracts you. Does your distraction primarily result from interruptions by other people? If so, the solution may lie in establishing better boundaries or developing more effective delegation habits. For tips on improving your delegation habits, see my article on delegation published in this column on November 1, 2004. If the problem results from weak boundaries, review last month's suggestions on creating blocks of uninterrupted time. Also consider whether people are interrupting you because you haven't given them enough authority or access to resources. Are you a control freak or information hoarder?

If instead, the distractions come from other tasks at hand, you might try creating that clean desktop mentioned above, so your eyes don't get attracted to anything else before you finish. Close your door or wear headphones with soft music to screen out disruptive noises. Keep reminding yourself of the day's priorities that you set after reading last month's article about getting things done. Give yourself the instruction that you won't attend to even the tiniest matter until you complete this more important one.

What kinds of tasks tend to get left undone?

Third, analyze what kind of tasks you get distracted from completing. What patterns do you see? For starters, ask yourself: Am I the best person to be doing this task? Does it require a person with my experience, expertise, or particular knowledge of the facts to get the job done? If not, perhaps the task should be delegated. Or is the flip side true…that I don't really have the ideal qualifications for doing this task? Is that why I procrastinate on it or am easily distracted from it? Can I delegate the task to someone who does? Do I tend to postpone the same things again and again? What do I always get done promptly? If I have more things to do than I can handle, farming out all or part of this project may be just what unblocks the flow and gets me going to accomplish those 100 other projects that I am uniquely suited for.

Are you a good starter, with lots of fruitful ideas, who loses interest midway through the project? Or are you someone who gets a lot of satisfaction from wrapping things up in an orderly and complete package, but have trouble generating ideas about how to get started? Your solution may lie in finding a complementary teammate with whom to work. When you can focus primarily on doing what you do best, it is much easier to keep on target.

How can you make it fun?

Finally, sometimes the solution is just to make your tasks more fun. Ironically, I had a hard time getting this article completed. I got distracted, interrupted and lost energy for the project. As a person who often suffers from distractions myself, who am I to tell you how to overcome them? Today I wished I could just relax at Starbucks sipping a latte instead. So I grabbed a notepad and my half-written article, and escaped from the office. I vowed to write at Starbucks until I completed the project. I got away from the distractions of the phone, email, and the other projects on my desk, and I felt rewarded for my dedication to getting this done. Et voilà! Here it is. Maybe I am the perfect person to write about overcoming distractions. I know the temptations personally.

Get More Done by Doing Less

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

"For fast-acting relief - slow down." ~ Lily Tomlin

Life is full of paradox. If you feel harried and stressed at work every day, if you are always putting out fires, stop everything else you are doing and read this article. Three steps will revolutionize your practice.

I know you are in a hurry, so here they are:

Create blocks of quiet time.
Prioritize your work each morning.
Stop multi-tasking.

Some of you are rolling your eyes and muttering disgustedly, "Get real!" or " Give me something I can use." You may be the ones who will have the most difficulty implementing this advice. You will also be the ones who will benefit most from it.

Creating Blocks of Quiet Time

This one step makes the single biggest difference in the efficiency of the lawyers I coach. In our accelerated world of cell phones, email and Blackberries, clients' expectations of immediate response have increased, and so have the number of daily interruptions. Yet lawyering still requires a lot of heavy-duty brainwork with full concentration. Stopping the onslaught for even just one hour per day of uninterrupted time can work miracles.

That requires discipline of yourself, your staff and your clients, however. Your clients are actually the easiest to train. They can't see you and they already expect you to be unavailable when you are on the phone, in a meeting with another client, or in court. Their anxiety at not reaching you can usually be soothed if they receive a specific hour when you will return their call. Provide your "gatekeepers" with suggested scripts for handling incoming calls. They can say something like "He's behind closed doors now, Ms. Smith, but I know he will want to talk to you. Can he call you at this number around 11 a.m.? Is there something I might be able to help you with right now?" If you normally answer your own phone, change your voicemail daily to indicate the hour when you will next return calls, and provide another contact person's number for urgent matters. Make sure that contact is scheduled to be available during your quiet time.

Lawyers and staff in your office must be retrained because you have trained them that it is ok to interrupt you at their convenience. Keep a tally to identify the most frequent offenders and the subject matters. You may need to grant more authority or give some additional training to remove yourself as a bottleneck in their workflow. Ask them to accumulate their questions until a scheduled time at the end of your quiet time. If you schedule your uninterrupted block at the same time each day, they will be able to schedule their needs for you more efficiently and adjust their expectations more readily. Accountability to a coach or buddy helps shore up the self-discipline required to implement new policy. Some of my clients have found it easier to actually leave the office for an hour each day. When they began to experience the benefits of the uninterrupted time, however, it strengthened their resolve to protect their time in the office.

Prioritizing Your Work

Many busy lawyers allow emails, phone calls and the priorities of other people to determine which projects they work on each day. Then they stay late or take work home because they are stressing over "not getting anything done today."

Avoid those pitfalls by taking the time to make a running written list of everything you need to do. That will free up the RAM in your brain normally used to run the reminder loop all day. You'll think more clearly and be more effective. Each morning before you begin work, review and update your list and identify the three most important items on the list. Yes, there may be 57 items on the list, but you know you won't get them all done today. So first keep the focus on the three most important ones. When you complete them, you can return to your list. If those are all you manage to accomplish today due to genuinely important and urgent matters that crop up, you'll have the peace of knowing that you accomplished what was most important.

Implementing this time management tip provides the second highest improvement in productivity for my clients. It's not new or revolutionary, but do you actually do it now? Some lawyers feel they must review their morning email before updating their list, in order to incorporate new matters coming in. They use accountability to a coach to help them avoid heading off on the rabbit trail of responding to low priority emails before identifying their most important tasks of the day.

Stop Multi-tasking

I gasped when my coach requested that I stop multi-tasking for a week. My deadlines and stress level had creeped up on me again. The stress had gotten so uncomfortable that I was willing to try anything that didn't add another to-do to my long list.

I found the shift challenging at first. As I drove to the office, I grabbed the cell phone to return a call, then realized that would be multi-tasking. I turned off the phone and even turned off the radio. That was hard. To keep from reverting to multi-tasking, I had to focus more intently on whatever I was doing. I started seeing things I had never noticed before.

As I gave myself permission to do just one thing at a time, I began to relax. The phantom sense of helicopter blades whirring in my head faded away. I let go of trying to accomplish a hundred things today because I had committed to doing one thing at a time. Knowing I could do only one thing, I paused and chose each next task deliberately. That night after dinner I almost enjoyed doing dishes as I focused on why the job needed to be done and how I could do it efficiently.

Over the next days as I continued the experiment, I had the mystical sense of time expanding to permit me to accomplish what really needed to be done. At the end of the experiment I had managed to meet all my deadlines as they arose. More importantly, however, I had regained my serenity.

As I reflected on my experience with some measure of awe, I realized that I had unknowingly engaged in what Buddhists call mindfulness practice. Through that practice I had experienced some of what author Eckhardt Tolle calls "the power of now." I have shared my experience with others and several have tried creating a "multi-task free" zone themselves. They too report increased peace of mind.

I haven't completely given up multi-tasking, but I do direct more effort to fully focusing on what I am doing in the moment. If I feel myself building up stress, I go back to doing one thing at a time. Try it. You may be surprised.

It's All for a Good Cause

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

More accurately, it's for two good causes: your bottom line, and the promotion of a charity or social cause that you believe in. I'm talking about "cause marketing." Cause marketing (also known as cause-related marketing) has been defined as a partnership between a company and a non-profit organization that increases the company's sales while raising money and visibility for the cause.

An early and often cited example of successful cause marketing involved raising funds for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty in 1983. American Express pledged a one-cent donation for every transaction made by its cardholders. American Express donated $1.7 million to the restoration, and experienced a 28% increase in card usage, creating a win for both organizations.

Cause marketing works best when there is an obvious link between the company and the cause. Bayer Aspirin paired up with the American Stroke Association to raise money for ASA and to educate the public about strokes. Bayer's sales increased 9% over the same month in the previous year.

Research shows that cause marketing creates additional benefits that endure beyond the marketing campaign. Cause marketing has been shown to differentiate the marketer from competitors, increase brand loyalty and credibility, and even enhance employee recruitment and retention, as employees align with the cause and feel proud to be associated with a company doing good works.

If you don't have a big advertising budget, you may be wondering how cause marketing can help your law practice. If your firm has a charitable donation budget, you may wish to identify a charity that closely aligns with the firm values and interests and those of the target clients of the firm. Create a long-term relationship with that charity to maximize public relations opportunities and to create a common bond with the cause among employees. Get media and other organizations involved in events that highlight the charity to help you have real impact on the cause you are supporting. Many charities now have departments that can help you brainstorm and orchestrate publicity campaigns.

Your genuine interest and concern for a cause can inure to your marketing benefit, even without the commitment of substantial funds or a true cause marketing campaign. By way of example, art lovers can participate actively in one of the Lawyers for the Arts organizations found in many states. Houston has the Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts (TALA). Participation in and support of that organization by a business lawyer can nurture referral relationships with accountants while also nurturing promising artists. If you support public radio, for a fairly nominal sum you can have your firm's name repeatedly broadcast over the radio by offering to match donations (up to a limit) made to the local station during their fundraising campaign.

I recently saw an excellent example of how support for a cause you feel passion for can garner good will and publicity for your practice and your firm. Thomas Kline, a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Andrews Kurth LLP feels passionate about the recovery of artwork looted from Jewish families during the Holocaust. He became the featured speaker at an event orchestrated by the Association of Women Attorneys at the Holocaust Museum Houston, as an expert on the difficult challenges involved in such recoveries. The event sparked an AWA member to seek his assistance to return what she believes to be such looted artwork. The Houston Chronicle picked up the story and ran a piece on Kline, the AWA member, and her sculpture. Later the AWA newsletter ran a feature article about Kline's assistance and his speech. One could reasonably speculate that he gained goodwill and name recognition with potential clients and referral sources as a result of his efforts on behalf of a worthy cause. And now he's getting a little additional publicity in this article, which will reach some more potential referral sources.

What cause strikes a chord with you? Does it align with your practice in any way? For example, if your firm has a family practice that includes adoptions, you might take on a significant role in supporting and promoting a children's home, which could include providing some pro bono adoption services. If your firm represents construction companies, perhaps your activity to support the construction of a new hospital wing will keep your name in front of some potential clients. If you never outgrew your fascination with dinosaurs, getting involved with the natural science museum may foster a relationship with a wealthy patron whose company would make a great new client for your firm.

What cause are you passionate about? Following your heart just might lead you all the way to the bank!

Listening Means Business!

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

Are you a good listener? How do you know? Why should you care?

Clients and prospects want to know that you care about them, their business and their problems. You know the common negative stereotypes about lawyers: that lawyers are arrogant, uncaring, selfish and greedy. Perhaps our public relations problems result in part from our listening habits.

In law school we learn to listen for the purpose of critically evaluating what the speaker says so that we can quickly make a decision about the best course of action. We learn to take feelings out of the decision process, and focus on facts, legal principles and logic. We develop the ability to think on our feet and make quick responses as we face grilling by professors in class or make arguments in moot court competitions. Then as lawyers we interrupt to clarify and focus on facts, disregarding feelings, which we deem irrelevant. We try to control the situation by doing more talking than listening, and what listening we do has a decidedly adversarial or challenging bent.

That approach may serve us well in the courtroom, but it causes problems when we need to build rapport and trust with clients. Effective listening builds rapport because it communicates our interest and concern, and helps us reach beneath our clients’ words to learn what is really troubling them. Listening also alerts us to potential new developments in the client’s business and additional opportunities to serve the client. In short, listening is an important marketing tool!

A large northeastern law firm decided to study their most effective rainmakers to see what they did differently from other seasoned lawyers in the firm. They discovered that the major rainmakers provided more than legal services to their clients. They became trusted advisors. As a result, executives turned to them again and again as a resource, regardless of their area of specialty or expertise, even to discuss non-legal matters. Those rainmakers were able to strengthen their relationship with the client, and at the same time cross-sell additional services of the firm.

How can you become a trusted advisor? You must be a good listener, because listening builds safety and trust. Listen without interrupting, and listen for more than the facts, legal issues and arguments to be made. A good listener notices the emotions of the client, such as fear, worry, anger, resentment, pride, hope and enthusiasm, which allow the listener to pick up on important unspoken cues and signals. Maintain eye contact with the speaker and allow him or her to speak without interruption. That demonstrates your respect and concern and builds rapport. If questions come up that need to be clarified, make a note of them and come back to them when the client finishes speaking.

Get your client or prospect talking by asking open-ended questions. Remember those TV shows where one person does all the talking, then goes away thinking the listener is a great conversationalist? Here are some open-ended questions that can establish your interest in the client’s welfare, while also exploring ways your firm can be of service:

What keeps you up at night?
What issues is your company facing these days?
How do those issues impact the company?
How are you impacted personally?
What has worked with similar issues in the past?
What hasn’t worked?
What would success look like?
How would success impact you personally?
What kinds of changes in your industry or product/service are coming down the pike?
What impact will that have?

As a trusted advisor you won’t jump in with a sales pitch or a litany of your firm’s attributes when you hear your prospect’s concerns and problems. After she has had the opportunity to tell you a lot about her challenges, however, you might describe how you successfully helped someone with a similar issue in the past. Success stories are memorable and more convincing than mere claims that you can do the job well.

Sometimes merely listening provides the most valuable service you can render to the client in the moment, and that investment saves you time and effort in the long run. If you are feeling impatient and wish the client would get to the point, you may need to shift your listening approach from evaluative to empathetic listening. Notice whether the client is feeling angry, nervous, hurt, worried, betrayed, distraught, disrespected, cheated or something else with regard to the events that brought him to your office. That information may help you design a better fitting solution. Make eye contact, nod, and give other verbal or non-verbal signals that you are tracking what the client is saying. Don’t jump in with problem-solving just yet. Once the client feels heard he will feel safer and will be able to more rationally and reasonably discuss the appropriate action with you. Now you can ask your evaluative questions.

In the increasingly competitive legal world, success depends on more than legal expertise. Become a trusted advisor by learning to talk less, listen more, and recognize when to shift your listening approach. You’ll know you are a good listener when the trust you engender breeds loyalty, repeat business and referrals from your clients.

Who Says Nice Guys Finish Last?

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

“He was still talking about that 10 years later!” said Dan Hedges, senior partner at Porter & Hedges, L.L.P. in Houston. Hedges was referring to the time he was waiting for his wife to join him for dinner at one of Houston’s private clubs. He heard that a new member applicant was coming in, so when he saw a stranger hesitating in the foyer, Hedges went up and introduced himself. It was the stranger’s first day in Houston, and he appreciated the kindness. The stranger turned out to be the new CEO of a Fortune 500 energy company, which became a significant client of Hedges’ firm.

A partner in a large Dallas firm was involved in resolving a complicated billing dispute with a client. She suggested that the clients bring in their CPA for the next meeting, if it would help them feel more comfortable. After the matter was resolved, the CPA said he had observed her handling the conflict with such consideration and professionalism that he would send all his future business to her.

A financial planner had a problem getting a carpet cleaning company to settle up on damage done to his furniture. He had met Jim Dunn, a litigation partner in Houston’s Dunn, Neal & Gerger, so he called Jim for a little advice. Jim stepped in, and soon the financial planner received a reasonable settlement, with which he was very pleased. When he offered to pay for Jim’s services, it was a small matter that had not taken much time, so Jim said he was pleased to do it a no charge. Since then the financial planner has referred several clients to Jim and described him in very gracious terms.

What’s the point of these stories? Psychologists have disproved the axiom that “Nice Guys finish last,” at least when it comes to marketing. In fact, Nice Guys get business because we humans have a compelling impulse, rooted in the social survival of the species, to repay favors and kindnesses. You’ve seen this “Rule of Reciprocation” in practice when a charity sends you an inexpensive gift with its request for a donation. In his landmark book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Quill William Morrow 1993), respected psychologist, Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., reported that the Disabled American Veterans organization increased the response rate to its appeal for donations from 18% to 35% (nearly double) by including a little gift of gummed address labels with its request.

Please note that I am not advocating that you engage in insincere, manipulative behavior. People don’t like Eddie Haskell (Leave It to Beaver) sycophants. I am suggesting, however, that you will be rewarded over time for cultivating a habit of watching for opportunities to benefit other people. Nice Guys are generous with their time, talent, connections, gifts and knowledge.

Nice Guys don’t restrict their favors to people they see as potential clients. You never know who may be the next-door neighbor, in-law, or protégé of the person you help.

Don’t worry. You don’t have to give away free legal services or expensive gifts to trigger the Rule of Reciprocation. Any benefit transferred will create the reciprocation pull. Nice Guys learn to listen for the needs and interests of others. Here are a few examples of free or inexpensive Nice Guy gestures:

A potential referral source is a baseball fan with a sense of humor. Nice Guy sends him a clipping of an article about Yogi-isms or a copy of The Yogi Book: “I Really Didn’t Say Everything I Said” by Yogi Berra. That lets the recipient know that Nice Guy listens to him, remembers him and appreciates his interests.
Nice Guy connects a client with a good prospect for her business. Nice Guy gets a “two-fer” as he helps to fulfill the needs of two people, triggering the reciprocation response in both of them.
Nice Guy tells you to “keep it in case you need it later” when you return the pen borrowed to jot a note. (A Nice Guy did that for me a few months ago, and the gesture is branded into my memory.)

In today’s climate of public opinion regarding lawyers, a Nice Guy’s thoughtfulness and generosity will inure to the benefit of the profession as well. In the meantime, he gets remembered as being a cut above, and clients are more likely to give Nice Guy that valuable word-of-mouth publicity as they tell others what he did for them.

Finally, in addition to developing business, Nice Guys also get a biological benefit from each kindness they render. It has been reported that an act of kindness improves the functioning of the immune system and stimulates the production of serotonin (a neurotransmitter associated with mood elevation) in both the recipient and the giver.

So in reality, Nice Guys don’t finish last, they laugh last!

Collaborative Law Spreading Like a Virus

by Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

It’s growing and it’s infectious. Could we be experiencing an epidemic of civility and candor among our fellow lawyers? Collaborative Law, once contained to the family law sector, may be breaking through to the resolution of business and other civil disputes. A recent rash of events evidences the spread of the contagion.

Where Collaborative Law is Spreading

On December 9, 2004, Texas State Representative Toby Goodman filed HB 205 to amend the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code to authorize Collaborative Law procedures in civil litigation outside the family law arena. On January 18, 2005, the Board of Directors of the Houston Bar Association authorized the creation of a new Section of the Houston Bar Association called the Collaborative Law Section. The HBA is the first major bar association to establish a Collaborative Law Section, but Dallas is not far behind. The Dallas Bar Association has a newly formed Collaborative Law study group, which is a required precursor to becoming a section of the Dallas Bar Association. The Texas Collaborative Law Council, Inc. was formed in August 2004 as a non-profit corporation by civil attorneys to promote the use of the collaborative process for resolving civil disputes, and to educate lawyers and the public as to the benefits of the process. Collaborative Law also garnered nationwide, mainstream attention in January 2005 when The Today Show, the NBC television morning news program, featured a segment on the positive impact the Collaborative Law process is having on divorcing couples.

What Is Collaborative Law?

Collaborative Law is a method of negotiating the resolution of legal disputes in which all parties and their lawyers agree to keep the case out of court and to be forthcoming with information germane to the negotiation. The court only gets involved to sign the orders required to effectuate the settlement agreement of the parties. Collaborative Law originated in family law cases where both lawyers and clients acutely felt the devastating impact of escalating aggressive tactics in litigation, and sought a new and better way.

In “the old way,” lawyers filed motions and threatened to seek restraining orders. They argued incessantly over discovery issues and withheld documentation until compelled to produce it, in an effort to gain negotiating advantage. Such tactics fanned the flames of already volatile emotional disputes, and increased the financial cost of divorce, as well. Couples, who might have been able to weather a divorce with dignity and maintain a relationship for co-parenting, found the divorce process further estranged and embittered them. It also caused ongoing damage to their children and their financial condition.

In such traditional litigation, lawyers may be motivated by their ethical duty to vigorously represent their clients, or they may get caught up in the competition of beating their opponent, losing sight of the impact the fight is having on their client. Cynics may even argue that lawyers have an incentive to fan the flames of litigation because it causes the legal fees to mount.

In a collaborative case, however, both the lawyers and the parties have a strong incentive to keep negotiations civil and productive. Pursuant to the collaborative law participation agreement, which is a four-party agreement among the spouses and their lawyers, if any proceeding is taken to court, both lawyers must withdraw from the representation.

How the Clients Benefit

The lawyers are trained in the collaborative process, and, as a result, most collaborative cases get resolved more quickly than traditional cases, with a concomitant reduction in legal expenses. The couples get experience in negotiating with each other that helps them manage disagreements more effectively after the divorce. They have more control over the outcome of the process, and the ability to keep potentially embarrassing matters private.

Jennifer Tull, an Austin family lawyer and one of the few Texas lawyers who has an exclusively Collaborative Law practice, tells a couple of stories that illustrate just how powerful the collaborative process can be for the clients. She says, “A couple came in just primed for a custody fight over their three-year-old. They were persuaded to use the collaborative process, and successfully negotiated a custody arrangement satisfactory to both of them. A year and a half later the former wife got transferred from Texas to Minnesota. Those parents had established such a good relationship that instead of a new fight, they worked something out where both parents, including the father’s new wife, moved to Minnesota so that they could continue their parenting arrangement. With the collaborative process they avoided not one, but two custody battles.”

Tull also recounts, “One couple, who had a large, complicated estate, hired the two most aggressive attorneys in town to represent them in their divorce. After one week, each spouse had spent more than $30,000 in attorney's fees. After they learned about and switched to the Collaborative Law process, the entire case cost each party LESS than they had each spent in one week of litigation. They not only preserved their relationship, but also their community estate.”

How the Lawyer Benefits

The benefits of Collaborative Law aren’t limited to the clients, however. Brenda Keen, the Chair of the newly created Collaborative Law Section of the Houston Bar Association, describes how a lawyer can benefit from converting to the collaborative method of practice. She relates her personal experience this way:

“After more than twenty years of handling family cases in the traditional way, I was approaching total burnout. One of my clients, a doctor, dubbed what divorce lawyers do as “damage control.” In one sense, damage control IS what a divorce attorney actually accomplishes in most cases. No one ever wins a divorce. All too often, though, despite my best efforts, that “damage control” came only after months and months of posturing, and after spending hours and hours doing the “make work” that compliance with our formal discovery rules have come to represent. I was forced to spend too much of my time (and my clients’ money) on work that did not really contribute to the substance of the ultimate result in the case.

Collaborative Law changed all that for me. Now, the time I spend on a collaborative case is mostly communication with my client, or in four way meetings - or preparing the legal documents that are necessary to document their settlement. I don’t have to play games anymore. I can spend my time on what really matters. Sure, there are still records and documents to be reviewed – but review in the context of a meaningful exchange of information, instead of making lists of pieces of paper just to be able to prove it was produced in discovery -- or had not been produced.

And instead of trying just to predict what the judge or jury might do with a given set of facts, or how they might react to the presentation or personality of my client or a key witness -- I have the chance to explore, with both parties and my collaborative counsel, what all the options are. I can try to get to the option that might best serve both parties’ interests and needs.

This year marks thirty years of practice for me. If Collaborative Law had not come along, and someone told me I couldn’t retire until I’d practiced for fifty years - I would regard the next twenty years as “twenty to do.” Collaborative Law changed that for me, too.”

Texas Role in the Development of Collaborative Law

Texas has been on the forefront of the Collaborative Law movement. Although the collaborative process originated elsewhere, and it is now being used in virtually every state and in Canada, in 2001Texas passed the first Collaborative Law statute. Harry Tindall of Tindall & Foster, P.C. in Houston, was one of the persons instrumental in getting the statute adopted. He says, “The statute was necessary to protect the collaborative process from the Texas ‘fast track’ requirements of docket calls, pretrial conferences and discovery deadlines. Collaborative lawyers also wanted to give the process clear legal imprimatur and guarantee enforceability of the settlement agreement in a manner similar to the statute authorizing mediation.”

Penetration into the Civil Practice Arena

Now the Texas civil trial lawyers are getting with the program. Lawrence R. Maxwell, Jr. and others have been working with Tindall and Rep. Goodman to get similar legislation passed to include the collaborative dispute resolution process in the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Maxwell suggests that the collaborative process should work well in his construction litigation cases, as well as probate, employment and business cases where the parties are motivated to preserve their relationships.

On March 17 & 18, 2005 the Texas Collaborative Law Council (http://www.collaborativelaw.us/) and the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism (http://www.txethics.org) will jointly sponsor the first Texas training in the collaborative process outside of family law.

Additional Resources

Even the law schools are taking note. The University of Texas School of Law will join with The Collaborative Law Institute of Texas, a non-profit organization boasting 300 members, to sponsor the 2^nd Annual Collaborative Law Spring Retreat starting March 4, 2005 in Austin. For more information, visit http://www.collablawtexas.com. In the fall of 2004 South Texas College of Law offered a Therapeutic Jurisprudence seminar, which explored Collaborative Law and multi-disciplinary techniques to resolve disputes.

To find more resources on the Collaborative Law process and many other trends in developing a less adversarial law practice, visit www.RenaissanceLawyer.com. The Renaissance Lawyer Society is a non-profit organization that acts as a clearinghouse for information and provides a platform for exchange of ideas for promoting a more visionary, humanistic approach to the law. For more information on the Collaborative Law section of the Houston Bar Association, email Brenda Keen at brenda@brendakeen.com. To participate in conversations about Collaborative Law in civil cases, you can join a new Yahoo listserv by sending an email to collablaw-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or contact Jeanne Fahey at jmfahey@mindspring.com for the schedule of a monthly conference call.

10 Tips for Surviving the Email Avalanche

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

Are you buried under an avalanche of email? Do you lose important information hiding among the emails clogging your inbox? Here are 10 tips for digging out of the email avalanche. These tips reference features available in Outlook, but most email programs have similar features.

To avoid such pitfalls, keep in mind the following four points in crafting an effective acknowledgment:

Use automated features to sort your emails into folders as they arrive. The Outlook Rules Wizard (under Tools) will let you create rules for automated sorting of incoming emails by sender, subject, text and other filters. Incoming messages are routed to the designated folders, which change to bold print to indicate an unread message. Set up folders (select File, New, Folder) for your clients so that you can see at a glance that you have email from them, and keep all your correspondence together. Replies to an email in that folder automatically will be stored in that folder as well. You can also route newsletters, listservs and other high volume, low priority emails to special folders to keep them from clogging your inbox until you have time to read them.
Drag and drop emails to your task icon if they have "to-do" items associated with them. The task will be included in the task list, and a copy of the email will be visible in the details window for the task. You can set a due date and reminder for the task. Delete the email or move it to a storage folder. You will get a pop-up reminder at the designated reminder time, even if you have deleted the original email. If the task is not marked as complete by the due date, it will turn red in the task list as a further reminder.
Drag and drop emails to the calendar icon if they involve events to schedule. That will open the scheduler window and you can also associate the appointment with the appropriate contacts so that it will show up in their Outlook contact files. The subject line of the email will be reflected as the appointment description, unless you change it. A copy of the email will appear in the details of the appointment. Move the email out of your inbox to an appropriate folder, or delete it.
Create folders for different actions to be done with respect to different emails. Drag and drop messages to one or more folders you create, such as "Needs Response," "Take Action," "Read Today," "Read Later," "Read Maybe," "Decide," "Follow Up," "Delete in 30 Days," or whatever fits your style. Use the folders to help you prioritize your email activity and get them out of your inbox. Cause the folders to appear at the top of the folder list and in the preferred order by starting the folder name with a number.
Flag emails as a reminder of action to take. For really important and urgent items, you can use the flag feature of Outlook and set a time for an alert. Right click on the email, and choose "Flag for Follow Up." In the "Flag to" drop down list you can choose the kind of activity you want to be reminded to do, and in the "Due by" drop down list you can choose a calendar date and time. If the due date and time passes, the email will turn red to further draw your attention to it. Unfortunately, you must leave such flagged items in the inbox for the alert feature to work, so limit its use to truly important and urgent items. Warning! Using this method may undermine the effectiveness of the folders described in #4 above, as their contents may become "out of sight, out of mind" if you rely too heavily on flags.
Move emails into the appropriate folder for storage before responding. Your reply email automatically will be stored in the same folder. Save yourself the trouble of finding the sent email and moving it for your records. You will be able to look in the folder to identify all the related correspondence activity later.
Use a "Delete in 30 Days" folder. Don't leave an email you have already read in your inbox unless you have flagged it for action. If you are afraid to throw it away right now, in case you might need the information later, put it in the "Delete in 30 Days" folder. That's a good place for notices about those seminars and offers with an expiration date that you might want to follow up on. You'll know where to find them if you need them, and they won't obscure your view of important items in your inbox.
Get a good spam filter. Personally, I love SafetyBar (formerly SpamNet) by Cloudmark. I especially love that it gives me something effective that I can do each time I receive a spam email. I can click on the "Block Spam" button and that immediately sends a message to Cloudmark that I believe this item is spam. As other subscribers do the same thing, Cloudmark's filter quickly learns which emails are spam, and routes them to the spam box for future recipients.
Use the drafts feature and the signature feature to create templates for common responses to save time. To save a draft to use as a template, just create a message in a new window without a recipient, then click on the save icon, or select File, Save As. Name the template in the subject line. Later you can open the Drafts folder, find the draft message and copy and paste the contents into your new email. Close the draft to save it again. To create a template using the signature feature, select Tools, Options, Mail Format, Signature Picker, New and then follow the instructions. Give your signature a name that identifies the template. To insert the template into an email, select Insert, Signature, and the name of the template you created.
Have your assistant cull your email before you view it. Many assistants already open postal mail, so why not email, too? You can have your assistant delete spam (or route it to a spam folder for your deletion) and categorize your email for you in advance of your review. Give out a different email address for personal email that your assistant does not handle, if privacy is a concern. You can even have your assistant draft responses or respond for you to commonly occurring inquiries.

Secrets to Actually Accomplishing Your Goals

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

The Coach’s Corner

It’s the start of a new year. Time to set new resolutions and goals that, if history is a predictor, will be off track and broken by the end of February, despite our best intentions now. Want to make this year different?

Let’s take a look at why our goal setting hasn’t worked in the past, and what we can do about it.

Not Our Goals

One reason why we often fail to accomplish our goals is that they weren’t really our goals in the first place. They were “shoulds” impressed on us by our spouses, parents, children, business partners, or society in general. So ask yourself, “I want this goal for the sake of what?” Why do I want this? If it’s to get my spouse off my back, I might be better served by choosing a more direct goal for improving my relationship with my spouse.

Do I want it badly enough to really change the way I behave? Do I want it badly enough to get out of my comfort zone and do something kind of scary? Am I willing to work for it? Do I want it enough to persevere and restrategize if initially I do not succeed?

If you cannot honestly answer “yes” to those questions, you would probably be better served by choosing another goal that is closer to your heart. If we keep our same old patterns, we will probably get our same old results.

Build on Prior Successes

Often the goals we set for ourselves involve more castigation than inspiration. We resolve to increase our business development efforts because we are disappointed in our income for the past year. We set a goal of losing weight because we don’t like what we see in the mirror. If we start out feeling like failures, what impact does that have on our likelihood of success?

This time, begin by reviewing your successes and achievements from the past year. List as many as you can think of, large and small. Don’t skimp on yourself in this area. Venerate your accomplishment of finally bringing in that big new client, and also acknowledge the chance meeting that may some day develop into new business. Think of successes in every area of your life, including ones that are unrelated to your current goals. Give yourself full credit for every accomplishment, and notice what helped you get there.

Look for patterns common to your successes. Do you tend to persevere more when you collaborate with someone? Or do you accomplish more alone? What made your efforts fun? What kept you going when you got discouraged? Which of your strengths did you rely on? How did you manage to be in the right place at the right time?

After that assessment, you can look at your failures and disappointments. Don’t dwell on them, but do try to identify what caused the breakdowns. In the future can you delegate or outsource that portion of the project? Can you elicit the support of a partner or coach? Do you need more education on the subject? What could turn drudgery into fun? What lessons can your failures or shortcomings teach you?

The Paradox of Goals

For many of us, planning and goal setting involve a paradox. On the one hand, we are much more likely to achieve goals that we write down and develop a plan for accomplishing. On the other hand, action plans can make us feel regimented and controlled, sapping our enjoyment of the process of achievement.

If feeling constrained or losing motivation is a factor in your past failure, here are some suggestions for circumventing the problem. Get a clear image of the benefits of attaining the goal. Imagine yourself achieving the goal, notice what is happening around you as you achieve it, how you feel, what the environment looks like, what people say to you, etc. Olympic athletes use such visualization both to motivate themselves and to enhance their performance by mentally rehearsing. (Studies have shown that mental rehearsal of an action is almost as valuable to performance enhancement as physical rehearsal.) Make this visualization compelling to you, and return to it often. Use it to rekindle your flagging enthusiasm, and to guide you when course corrections are needed.

In addition to demotivating us, a rigid plan can restrain our ability to recognize and capitalize on opportunities of the moment. So leave room in your action plan for adjustment and flexibility, sothat an unexpected competing priority or a minor setback doesn’t have to completely derail you. When you can’t get to the gym because you have kid duty, go rollerblading around the neighborhood with them or initiate a game of tag to get your cardio workout. Have you ever tried lifting kids instead of freeweights? Engage them in the creative problem solving process and you may wind up also serving your goals of having more fun and improving family relationships.

Create SMART Goals

Another common problem with goal setting is that we become discouraged when we can’t see our progress. Sometimes that is a matter of how we defined the goal. To avoid setting ourselves up for failure, we can set “SMART” goals. SMART is an acronym for 5 important characteristics of the goal we write down. The goal should be:

Specific - describe it in detail. Don't just use words like "good, nice, better, more, happier," but include a description of what that would look like.

Measurable - identify a way to measure your progress. Find a manifestation of that state that can be counted or otherwise quantified.

Actionable – make sure you can actually do something to influence the occurrence of the desired outcome. A goal of having 15 more sunny days in your home town is probably not actionable.

Realistic – choose something that is a stretch, but still in therealm of reality for you. Increasing your net income by $10million this month might be possible (by robbing a bank, winningthe lottery, etc.), but it's not very realistic.

Time-based - set a time by which you intend to accomplish yourgoal which is distant enough to be realistic, but close enough toget you into action.

Here is an example of changing a nebulous goal into a SMARTgoal.

Original goal: have more influence on the management policies of my firm.

SMART goal: get 2 of my suggestions for implementing better performance evaluations at the firm initiated by August 2005.

Sometimes in the process of trying to state a SMART goal, we begin to develop an action plan for achieving the goal. For example, the goal of having more influence in the firm mighthave been broken down to 3 SMART goals for 2005, as follows:

Get appointed to the Associate Development Committeeby March 1, 2005
Identify and design a program with committee approvalby June 1, 2005 that will improve associate retention.
Get management committee approval of the plan by August 1, 2005. Post your 2005 SMART goals somewhere that you will see often. It’s a good idea to review them each morning to help stay ontrack and note your progress. Put the due dates and other benchmark dates in your calendar.

Identify Resources

Once we clarify our goals, we don’t have to be Lone Rangers in accomplishing them. Stop to think about what resources areavailable to help. Create a list of colleagues, business associates, friends and family members who may have knowledge, introductions, labor, funds or other support to donate, trade or sellto you. Also identify businesses, professional service providers,trade associations, internet sites, government organizations, non-profit organizations, municipal services, universities and librariesthat may be helpful to you in accomplishing your goal. Simply creating this list may open up possibilities you hadn’t considered before.

Create an Action Plan

Once you have your goal identified as a SMART goal and have potential resources in mind, you can begin to create an actionplan to achieve it. Sometimes it helps to work backward from the desired outcome, identifying the projects and stages that will needto be accomplished to achieve your goal. Once you have the major projects identified, then you can begin to list the individual action steps involved in each project necessary to the goal. Remember to include some of your success strategies that you identified previously. For example, assume the goal is to lose 10 lbs by March 1, 2005. That would involve eating in a more healthy way and getting more exercise. The projects may be as follows:

Find a gym or other location for a type of exercise that would be enjoyable to me and within my budget
Research sustainable eating plans that accommodate my tastes and schedule
Identify an exercise partner or other source of ongoing support and accountability
Identify strategies to make it fun
Design my eating plan
Design my exercise plan
Set benchmark evaluation dates for assessing progress and tweaking the plan as needed
Acquire any equipment or supplies needed

My action steps under project #2 above might be:

Research Adkins, Zone, South Beach and WeightWatcher diets on the internet by January 2, 2005.
Contact nutrition coach Louisa Nedkov by January3, 2005 about nutrition and weight loss suggestions because her advice has worked in the past
Buy a book of easy and healthy weight loss recipes or find some recipes on a website by January 4,2005.
Contact my health conscious friends for recommendations on good restaurant choices by January 5, 2005. See how much more likely I am to succeed with a well defined goal and a strategic plan, than with a nebulous goal of “lose some weight?”

Plan the Reward!

Finally, although sometimes achieving our goal is a rewardin itself, I believe we need to consciously acknowledge andcelebrate our accomplishments. Is it any wonder that we losemotivation if the only acknowledgment of our efforts is theassignment of another task or goal? Most of the time wewon’t have others awarding us Pulitzer Prizes or throwing ticker-tape parades for us, so we need to design a reward thatis meaningful to us and appropriate to the accomplishment.For example, when I lose that 10 lbs., I’ll buy myself a newoutfit. When I get that management committee approval ofthe associate retention program, I’ll invite a couple of myclose friends and supporters out to dinner to toast thesuccess. When I achieve my goal through long hours of hardwork, I’ll give myself permission to stay in bed and read allday. The important thing is to celebrate in away that ismeaningful and fulfilling to you. Don’t short-changeyourself. Your subconscious is watching, and will erode yourdetermination next time, if you do.

Now you have some ideas on how to do it differently thistime. I would love to hear about your results. To help get you started in the process, you can download a goal settingquestionnaire from my website at www.DebraBruce.com.

Delegation: A Powerful Time Management Tool

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

The Coach’s Corner

“I’ve tried delegating more. It doesn’t work.” That’s a common lament I hear when I work with overwhelmed lawyers. Yet, the quickest way to reduce your workload is to pass some of it off to someone else. It’s true that ineffective delegation doesn’t work. So how can you delegate more effectively?

Levels of Delegation

First, recognize that there are different levels of delegation that are appropriate for different people. Many of us delegate at one of the extremes. Some delegate the entire task to a subordinate and never check back in, only learning that the task has not been accomplished at the crisis point. Others delegate, and then micromanage how the work gets done, frequently taking back parts of the project. No wonder “delegation doesn’t work.”

To delegate more effectively, identify the level of responsibility appropriate for the delegate and the task. Here are some levels to consider:

Follow these written instructions step-by-step, then provide the finished product to me to review;
Develop a suggested plan for proceeding, then checkwith me for plan approval before proceeding to the next step;
Develop a plan of action and proceed; report to me atspecified intervals;
Develop a plan and proceed, then report to me if thereare snags;
Develop a plan, proceed, and report to me when theproject is completed;
Just do it; no reporting necessary.

Clear Communication

Second, make certain that you make your objectives andexpectations clear to your delegate. Can you provide a form orexample that illustrates what you expect to receive? Does thedelegate understand why this task needs to be done and whatlevel of care needs to be used? Disposing of the trash doesnotrequire the same level of care as disposing of confidentialdocuments or medical waste. One way to check the delegate’sunderstanding is to ask him to summarize the important points ofthe assignment, as he understands them. You can then clarify anyfuzzy points.

Third, make yourself open and available for questions andclarifications that come up. You will spend less time answeringquestions than you would spend cleaning up a project that wentoff in the wrong direction. Have an attitude that rewardsquestions. If you make them feel stupid or bothersome for asking,they won’t ask when they need to.

Written Instructions

Fourth, create documented step-by-step systems for redundant tasks. As a young associate in a big firm I carefully trained my new paralegal all about how to set up project specific corporations for our very active client. A partner then “stole” that now skilled employee. After the same thing happened with the next paralegal, I got smart and created a step-by-step “how to” notebook. From then on I could delegate that work to any paralegal with minimal instruction time on my part.

Follow-up

Fifth, if you delegate multiple tasks or to multiple persons, have a way to keep a record of who’s supposed to do what by when. High-tech lawyers can use project management software, Outlook’s task management feature, or flagged emails in project folders. Low-tech lawyers can use a carbon less memo notebook that copies the note jotted to the delegate. Whichever way, follow-up periodically and request completion reporting. If you truly follow all of these delegation guidelines, and “delegation still doesn’t work,” you may need to consider whether there has been a hiring error.

The Biggest Bang for Your Management Buck

Debra Bruce, JD, PCC

She tried to maintain her composure, but one large tear betrayed her as it slipped over the brim and slid down her cheek. “Why don’t they ever tell me that?” she asked plaintively. She had just received a positive annual review with quotes read by the firm administrator of the complimentary assessments by the attorneys she worked for. Like that legal secretary, most of us hunger for feedback, yet we are terrified of receiving it.

We have heard a lot over the years about what we do wrong from parents, teachers, bosses, spouses and even strangers. How often do we hear what we do right?

Studies show that the most powerful employee motivator is timely personal acknowledgment for a job well done. Employees will even stay at a lower paying job if they feel their contributions are valued. What an excellent management tool!

Since acknowledgment is so effective and carries no financial cost, why do lawyers use it so rarely? One significant reason maybe that, like most of the rest of the world, we just don’t know how to do it. Effective acknowledgment hasn’t been modeled for us enough. Another reason may be that an effective acknowledgment must be sincere, and sincerity tugs at our heartstrings, making us feel vulnerable and perhaps out of control. A third possible factor is that as lawyers we are conditioned to focus on what could go wrong, in order to protect against the risk, or on what did go wrong, in order to assign blame. What went right seems almost irrelevant from that perspective.

Regardless of the reason for our past actions, we don’t have to keep wasting valuable opportunities to increase productivity and get quality work from our lawyers and other team members. How do we make an appropriate acknowledgment? One lawyer had the tendency to tell his staff they were “doing a great job” one day, and complain irritably about something the next day. The staff felt confused about what they had done well before, and lost trust in the integrity of his words. Morale sagged, and employees often wasted time fretting amongst themselves about what he wanted.

To avoid such pitfalls, keep in mind the following four points in crafting an effective acknowledgment:

Be timely. To enhance performance, the acknowledgmentshould come soon after the behavior we want to reinforce. If someone does an exceptional job in April, but we wait until the year-end review to acknowledge the effort, two unfortunate results can occur. One, by December we mayhave forgotten the April efforts, or the magnitude of them. Two, between April and December the employee may have become disheartened and perhaps even sour. The employeemay get the impression that his extraordinary efforts werenot noticed or appreciated, so why bother?
Be specific. Accolades such as “great job” without further information do not provide any guidance as to whatbehavior we would like to see more of from the employee.Was it great because the turnaround was quick? Becausethere were no typos? Because it solved a perplexing andongoing problem? Because the efforts demonstratedinitiative and original thinking? Let them know specificallywhat you liked and why.
Be sincere. Effusive praise (unless it is truly and extraordinarily warranted) may do more harm than good. Ifour praise outshines the employee’s effort, she will tend todistrust either our judgment or our honesty. Employees canalso discern mere lip service from the real thing, especially over time. We can give credibility to our acknowledgmentby supplying the specifics and keeping the tone genuine.
Acknowledge ordinary success. Acknowledgments don’t need to involve trumpets heralding extraordinary events. Acknowledge any behavior that you would like to maintain or see more of. “Alice, I appreciate that you almost always arrive at work on time. It makes me feel like I can count on you.” “Jeff, you got all these photocopies back to me in the right order. I appreciate your conscientiousness.” “Karen, that was a perceptive idea you suggested at the meeting this morning. The client wants to follow up on it.”

If acknowledgments feel a little uncomfortable or foreign to you, you just need more practice. To keep the daily urgencies of practicing law from distracting you from this important but often overlooked activity, set up some goals or structures to hold the focus on it. Start small and “increase the reps” as you build your acknowledgment muscles. Initially you might aim to deliver an acknowledgment to at least one person per day. Here are a few structures that might help you remember:

put your acknowledgment goal on your task list;
leave yourself a voicemail;
put a stone or trinket in your pocket as a reminder; or
get an accountability partner.

If you get off a long conference call at the end of the day and discover everyone else has left the office, leave someone a note of acknowledgment. If you forget to give an acknowledgment at the office, give one to your spouse or kids. They won’t mind a bit!

DISCover the Behavior Patterns of Clients, Potential Jurors

DISCover the Behavior Patterns of Clients, Potential Jurors

Does someone in the firm just rub you the wrong way? Tempted to snarl, “Get to the point!” to that smiley, gabby assistant? Does it drive you crazy that someone works slowly and methodically on one project at a time? Or do you feel like firm co-workers are cold and abrupt? You may be experiencing the friction of your firm co-workers’ differing behavioral styles.

In 1928, William Marston, a Harvard University psychologist, published
a study that demonstrated that most people tend to have behavior patterns that fall into one or more of four different categories, together known as DISC: D for dominance, I for influence, S for steadiness and C for conscientiousness. The DISC behavior patterns are easy to learn and easy to recognize. Lawyers who understand DISC behavior patterns are better able to eliminate some of the friction in working relationships at the firm, enhance jury selection and improve rainmaking skills.

Here’s an example: By understanding DISC, John Doe, one of my lawyer clients, revolutionized a struggling relationship with his boss. The boss rarely had time for Doe to brief him on the status of projects. Then he would appear unexpectedly, ask a lot of pointed questions and tell Doe to change his course of action. The boss seemed suspicious and distrustful of Doe, who in turn felt boxed in, criticized and undervalued. Doe’s dominant DISC behavior pattern style was influence. T folks are people-oriented, talkative and friendly. They like to motivate and persuade. Often, they are good communicators, although they may tend toward telling long-winded stories. In fact, Doe’s boss once complained to him, “I ask you what time it is, and you tell me how to build a clock.” “I” people like flexibility and freedom from control. They dislike following up on details, and their greatest fear is personal rejection.

Like 75 percent of my lawyer clients, the boss’ predominant DISC behavior patterns were dominance and conscientiousness. People with those two behavior patterns are alike in that “Ds” and “Cs” are task-oriented, but “Ds” and “Cs” differ in how they approach tasks. Those with the dominance behavior pattern are direct, decisive and strong-willed. They often talk fast, have a need to make tilings happen and accomplish results. They prefer brevity and sometimes are impatient. They fear being taken advantage of if they don’t have control.

Those with the conscientiousness behavior patterns are concerned about accuracy and order. They are analytical, reserved, private and want the facts for proof. They fear criticism, so they take pains to avoid making mistakes. They tend to evaluate everything as right or wrong, or black or white with little gray in between.

Because Doe gave long-winded reports, the boss in his “D” mode avoided meeting with Doe. From time to time, however, the boss’ “C” behavior pattern would engage and his fears of being criticized for not knowing enough would propel him to micromanage Doe. In turn, Doe’s “I” behavior pattern spawned need for freedom and flexibility, and caused him to feel controlled, offended and defensive.

By understanding DISC, Doe learned to make one adjustment to communicate
more effectively with his boss. He got to the heart of the matter promptly and gave his reports in bullet points. That triggered a number of improvements in the relationship. When status meetings took only 10 minutes, the boss began to meet with Doe more frequently. As reporting frequency increased, the boss’ fears -decreased, so he cut Doe more slack. Doe felt more respected and valued. In the end, a relationship originally marred by suspicion and strain became cordial and comfortable, and it made the team more productive.

Take it to Court

Understanding DISC also helps lawyers in the courtroom. The power of DISC extends beyond familiar faces. Some lawyers successfully have used their awareness of DISC behavior patterns during jury selection. For example, a lawyer who wants jurors with a strong sense of right and wrong can be on the lookout for those in the jury pool who exhibit “C” behavior patterns. Although a lawyer can’t ask potential jurors to take a DISC test, the lawyer can observe the venire panel for signs of DISC behavior patterns. The “Ds” and “Cs” usually are more formal, rigid. Those with influence and steadiness behavior patterns are more relaxed, friendly. When trying to determine a dominance from a conscientious pattern, the “D” will speak more rapidly and decisively, perhaps even brusquely; the “C” will speak slowly and tactfully. So, for example, an astute lawyer trying to find jurors with the “C” behavior stylewill choose the juror who doesn’t interact with the others a lot, thereby remaining formally distant; wears a poker face; and answers voir dire questions slowly with precision.

Understanding DISC also helps with firm marketing. Successful firm business development depends a great deal on first impressions. A lawyer’s knowledge of behavior styles can help him or her during that first contact with a prospective new client The lawyer will be able to garner important clues about how to deal with the prospect even before being introduced. If the client has a formal style and a quick pace, she is probably a “D.” She won’t want you to waste her time, so stick to business and don’t ramble. Ask her what she expects when it comes to representation. Talk about bottom-line results and give her several options. She usually will decide quickly.

If, however, the potential new client has a relaxed, casual demeanor and a slower pace, she is likely to be an “S.” She may be turned off if you get right down to business, because it will seem cold and impersonal, and she may feel pressured. She will want you to create a relationship jvith her. Demonstrate a sincere interest^ in her as a person before talking business. “S” types will appreciate an explanation of how the process will work, assurances of the lawyer’s continuing availability and support, and knowing the lawyer’s reliable track record. If the lawyer does a good job for an “S,” she will be a loyal supporter on a long-term basis.

In the increasingly complex and competitive legal world, lawyers who know how to develop effective relationships have an edge in business development, firm management, negotiation, conflict resolution and jury persuasion. Becoming familiar with DISC behavior styles will help lawyers get ahead of the pack.

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