4MEASURE SUCCESS ;ere are two approaches to measuring suc- cess. First, you and your team could take
the assessment test again and note improvements in your
responses. ;is approach could be an ongoing process to
foster long-term improvement. Second, you could create
your own assessment questions by conducting a survey of
your team. Questions could be asked about the frequency
of MBWA, success of using the methods recommended
at educational sessions or other questions relating to the
skills you and your team are working on. Simple, free
survey tools such as SurveyMonkey or Zoomerang can
be used to measure the success of your communications
skill improvement program. You could also consider an
occasional survey on communications within your o;ce
to learn even more about what is important to employees
in your work environment, and then develop additional
action plans to address their comments.
A SAMPLE OF A TRAINING PLAN
Communication
Skill
Action Plan Review Results
Daily
interaction
Team practices
MBWA
Team reports on
frequency, what
new information
was learned and
usefulness of
activity
Feedback,
day-to-day
Feedback,
performance
evaluations
Engage a
professional
educator to provide
ideas on constructive
feedback to practice
group leaders or
other groups
Create a
performance
evaluation guide for
use during lawyer
and staff evaluations,
including suggested
time for feedback
from employee
Review session
evaluation forms
and follow up with
discussion at group
meetings
Discuss results of
evaluation, what
evaluator learned
from employee
ASSESSMENT TESTS AVAILABLE ONLINE
Assessment Purpose Why Employers Use
Personality
Test
Tests certain key personality
traits, e.g., attitude, perception,
judgment and lifestyle
Used to determine the most
effective way to work with
others
Emotional
Intelligence
Measures emotional
awareness and behavior
consisting of four fundamental
capabilities: self-awareness,
self-management, social
awareness and social skills
Effective way to understand
and work with our emotions
and those of others
Strengths-
Finder
Focuses on building strengths
rather than concentrating on
weaknesses
Surveys have shown that
managers who build on
strengths were more successful
managers, retained employees
and succeeded
at productivity measures
DiSC
Focuses on four different
personality traits: dominance,
influence, steadiness and
conscientiousness
Helps leaders be more
effective by taking the
various aspects of each type
into account when solving
problems or assigning work
IN CLOSING
A;er working through the action plans, it’s likely you and
your team will note improvements in the skills that you
sought to develop, with the added bene;t of a boost in
o;ce morale. You’ll be convinced that communication
skills that were once less than optimal can be recalibrated
and honed—and it will be well worth the e;ort. ;e
results will be better working relationships as well as
improved recruitment and retention of lawyers who will
bene;t your ;rm well into the future. LP
Carol Fox Phillips is a certi;ed profes- sional coach specializing in leadership development. She is an active member of the ABA Law Practice Management Sec- tion and currently serves as vice chair of the Law Career Paths Task Force and as a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
carolfoxphillips@aol.com
