(Note: No Order of Priority Intended….I Consider All These Red Flags as Needing ASAP Attention!)

(c) Nancy Byerly Jones 2010 

• Excessive/chronic telephone & email message pileups
• Regular client/customer complaints about unreturned telephone calls
• Trying to keep up with it all without short hot list (“cheat sheet” or “road map”) re highest priorities for each day or week
• Keeping clients waiting for service/meetings too long (and too often!)
• Refusing to change outdated, inefficient habits, systems, policies
• Holding irregular or non-productive employee/staff meetings
• Offering too little or no effective training
• Treating employees arrogantly, disrespectfully, rudely
• Chronic disorganization, do-it-at-the-last minute chaos
• Failing to assign priorities to employees’ tasks/cases/projects
• Unclear or incomplete instructions to employees/customers
• Failure to properly supervise fairly, consistently, resourcefully
• Insufficient file documentation (e.g. no client engagement agreements, signed customer contracts)
• Disorganized, sloppy files and paper management (or lack thereof!)
• Failing to keep clients/customers/employees timely informed
• Unexplained and excessive absences
• Refusal to learn and use appropriate technology tools
• Not teaching all employees how to be effective (and willing!) marketers 24/7
• Failure to realize receptionists are Marketers of First & Last Impression
• No long range plan for office/business/firm
• Poor personal care (e.g. no exercise, unhealthy diet, no vacations)
• Excessive reliance on employees for things only supervisors should do
• Too many personal calls, Twittering, Facebooking and/or emails
• Failing to maintain own work and personal calendars
• Poor team player (e.g. “What’s in it for me?” attitudes)
• Failure to show every employee he or she is valued and needed team member (or worse, not purging team of unnecessary, improperly placed employees
• Competitive attitude with partners/other managers/principals/everyone!
• Behind-the-back talker about other employees
• Sloppy time manager
• Failing to talk fully and clearly about costs/charges/fees with clients/customers
• Excessive drinking or other substance abuse
• Flirting or otherwise sexual harassment
• Allowing personal relationships to influence business decisions
• Rubber-stamping employee’s work product without careful review
• Angry, hostile attitudes – bullying of any kind
• Inconsistent and/or unfair enforcement of policy & procedures
• Works with “cloud” overhead; brings and leaves trails of negativity
• Stretches the truth, frequently misleads or outright liar

DANGER SIGNALS – EMPLOYEES

(Note: No Order of Priority Intended….I Consider All These Red Flags as Needing ASAP Attention!)

 (c) Nancy Byerly Jones 2010

• “I’m here just for a paycheck” attitudes
• “It’s not my office/business so why should I worry about mistakes, sloppy work, disgruntled customers/clients, etc.”
• Unprofessional, rude or otherwise improper telephone manners
• Chronic, excessive complaining
• Trouble sticking to task
• Refusal to learn and use appropriate technology tools
• Talks spirit of cooperation with co-workers, learning new systems/procedures while actions prove otherwise
• High-schoolish behind-the-back gossiping re co-workers and others to other employees
• Frequent bad moods (e.g. brings and leaves behind a negative aura in the workplace)
• Poor team player (e.g. “What’s in it for me?” attitude)
• Overly defensive with constructive criticism or mistakes made
• Chronically messy, disorganized work area
• Poor personal care (e.g. no exercise, unhealthy diet, no vacations)
• Excessive, repeated errors
• Frequent absences
• No interest in continuing education or self-improvement opportunities
• Flirtatious behaviors, sexual harassment
• Personal relationships with customers/clients
• Sloppy work product
• Failure or refusal to follow directions
• Disregard for protecting confidential client/customer information (e.g. loudly discussing client matters within earshot of other clients, third parties, carelessly leaving confidential materials in common areas)
• Frequent filing errors and/or habit of allowing documents needing to be filed to pile up
• Never willing to “go the extra mile” for company/firm
• Frequent delays, endless excuses in completing assignments
• Failing to create and follow priority task lists
• Treating customers/clients as unwelcome interruptions to their work
• Failure to follow through (i.e. ensuring all enclosures in envelope, keeping supervisors properly updated, etc.)
• Unprofessional, sloppy or otherwise inappropriate attire for office
• Excessive visiting with other employees during working hours
• Too many personal calls, Twittering, Facebooking and/or emails
• Frequent tardiness including extended breaks and lunch hours
• Chronic “It’s 5:00 I’m out of here” attitudes
• Repeated refusal to follow company/firm policies & procedures

If multiple danger signals are being ignored by the powers- that-be, then there’s no doubt that productivity and resulting profits, a positive workplace morale and quality control and risk management efforts have a high potential of becoming as frozen as the 7′ icicle shared here.  This 2010 granddaddy of an icicle finally succumbed to warmer temps and overdue sunshine.  We all need to ensure the timely and complete meltdown of any repetitive negative behaviors in our offices…putting our heads in the sand dilutes our efforts to build solid and lasting success stories for our clients/customers, our firms/businesses and ourselves.

Please add to these starter lists via your comments and as always, many thanks for visiting LawBusinessTips.com.  Wishing you a great rest of the day in spite of any jerks or lousy situations that try to mess it up!

Nancy

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know low morale = stressed employees = a lower quality of work product including more mistakes are made.  Management and leadership who fail to put a stop to workplace bullying of any sort often bury their heads even further in the sand these employees just happen to be major income producers.

Bottom line is this — if verbal violence and other bullying behaviors are not stopped in their tracks, there is an obvious absence of smart, effective and progressive leadership.  In my opinion, this makes leadership and management as guilty as the actual bullies are for causing the resulting and ongoing widespread negative effects.  Thanks for “listening” as always and let me know if you want me to tell you how I really feel!

All the Best,

Nancy

Far too many business and law firm partnerships go the same route unfortunately.   We must never underestimate the dark side of the greenback (e.g. greed and/or desperation) or longstanding unresolved disputes both of which seem to raise their devastatingly destructive heads even more often in the midst of  tough economic times.  It is indeed tragedy over tragedy when partners or families experience the ugliness and wide-ranging “costs” (financial and otherwise) generated by plain ol’ greed or the failure to timely and civilly settle our disagreements or misunderstandings.

Listed below are a few tips regarding family or partner disputes that are on my mind as I write this late night blog:

(1) if you have an “issue” or disagreement with a partner or family member, talk it over sooner rather than later AND with your imaginary “thick skin” on so as to minimize emotional eruptions and progress stoppers.  In other words, go directly to the source vs. depending on often malicious rumors or incorrect/false information.  Give these discussions your undivided attention and commit to acting with class and respect as you work through the painful issues that must be addressed.

(2) if you don’t have the emotional stability or necessary communication skills to work toward resolution with all concerned parties then hire a third party neutral such as a mediator to help you navigate through the waters of awkwardness, miscommunications, false impressions, the pain of conflict and/or points of strong disagreement; and

(3)if you choose to handle family or partner conflicts disrespectfully, hastily or harshly (without first trying to do really get to the truth of the matter or to resolve things in a fair and respectful manner) then brace yourself.  There will be consequences and fallout for there WILL be long lasting consequences as a result of your choices and actions. many of which you may never have anticipated.

I address this subject from my perspective as a mediator, former practicing attorney, and southern gal who has seen firsthand what runaway greed and unresolved conflicts can do to a  law firm, family or business.  It’s never pretty, always costly and there are no winners.

All the Best,

Nancy

RT@TulsaBankruptcy Wishing you a happy & safe 4th of July. How about some Recession Fireworks? http://tinyurl.com/lbzqqo

Great cartoon although the painful truth behind it is sad.  I wish you and yours a 4th of July weekend that’s full of fun, good times with family and friends and a safe one.  Also hope we all take time to reflect on why we celebrate this special day in the history of our great country.  And, as we enjoy the surprise, beauty and excitement of all the firework shows this weekend, I for one am going to make some quiet time to think about any “fireworks” that I may be creating within my office and family….even if they are relatively small ones, I am committed to defusing it (or them) asap.  We can create personal fireworks in as many ways as pyrotechniciams can design exciting firework shows for us.  Some examples would be:

• blowing a gasket before we have all the facts about a situation;
• assuming the worse as only a true drama king or queen knows how to do;
• talking excessively loud in a restaurant or other public place;
• raising a ruckus over a really minor event in the big scheme of things;
• taking the most extreme, formal steps to settle a conflict with a colleague, family member, another individual or entity before trying to resolve the matter via alternative dispute options (e.g. plain old fashion sit down and talk session; mediation, etc.)
• last minute chaos at work or home due to our own lack of planning;
• yelling at our kids or spouses for small “stuff” after being professionally polite all day those certifiably real bullies in our workplace;
• being the office troublemaker….you know the type…they LOVE to keep trouble stirred up among the troops, they relish look for the failings of others and are almost always the ones who are super defensive whenever their mistakes are duly noted;
• publicly reacting to what employees did wrong, but rarely acknowledging all they’ve done right (When I’m right, who remembers and when I’m wrong, who the heck forgets?!); and
• overreacting to any hint of a problem, challenge or unexpected change in plans.

This is, of course, just a starter list off the top of my head so I encourage all of us to make a list of the destructive kind of “fireworks” that we personally may be imposing upon those around us.  If we are being brutally honest with ourselves and discover a few “explosive” habits that could stand some changing, let’s  fix it…..we can’t control a lot of the things that happen in our lives, but we can ensure that the only fireworks in our lives are those we enjoy on the 4th of July, New Year’s Eve, and other international celebrations.

Have a super, safe and fantastic weekend ahead and as always, thanks for stopping in for a few minutes…your comments and input are always welcome and enjoyed!

Nancy

The End(s!)

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time.  You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

(H. Jackson Brown, Jr., Author…including Life’s Little Instructions Books)