I hate my Project Manager! The legal game is time & quality driven. The stakes are high and mistakes can lead to exorbitant penalties and/or sanctions. At the end of the day, there are a handful of individuals directly responsible for the expediency and quality of the productions: the project manager on the vendor side, and the review coordinator at the law firm. While the buck ultimately stops at the Partner on both sides, it is your head and mine on the chopping block. We are the ones overseeing operations on a day-to-day basis and are the ones that have been hired to prevent defects during the review and production process. Let's face the facts. Our seniors and staff associates hate us. We ask them to work after hours, weekends, & holidays. During the most intense periods we deny them any semblance of a work/life balance. You can see the inexorable stamp of disappointment on their faces, "I didn't sign up for this".

The only way I know to lessen the pain is to fill your seniors and staff in on the big picture. Let them know how their role facilitates the task at large and elicit their feedback on how things can be done better or more efficiently. The old "I did the shit work, too, and now it's your turn" pitch, just doesn't work. It will only build up resentment and, if they don't quit, only perpetuates the same type of treatment with new seniors and associates as they move up the ladder.

Buy them lunch & dinner and let them know their work is appreciated. Communicate the calibre of projects that they are working on and help them understand how getting their hands dirty gives them the first-hand knowledge necessary to move on to the next level in their career path.

Labels: career path, motivation

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