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Effective Performance Evaluations are Essential to a Thriving Practice

Target Audience: Legal Professionals, Professional Service Firms, Partners, Professional Reviews Interest, Human Resources Management

Most managers — senior partners included — dread the words “it’s evaluation time.” Nothing is more important, however, to the professional development of your firm’s attorneys than an effective mentoring and evaluation program that provides associates with a continuous stream of performance feedback.

Elements of a good evaluation system

The keys to a good performance evaluation system start at the first step — with preparation and information gathering. The elements that need to be in place include:

Goals or benchmarks. It’s difficult to evaluate performance without having something to compare it to. Working in conjunction with a formal job description that outlines tasks, get your associates to actively participate in determining their goals for the coming year.

Self-evaluations. This tool promotes the associate’s participation and helps him or her to buy into the process. It also highlights areas where the associate may be unaware that a performance issue exists.

Reliable input from others. Make sure your reviewers don’t rely on their impressions and the self-evaluation alone. Have them gain input from as many reliable sources as possible. (See the sidebar “Get the complete picture with a 360-degree evaluation.”)

Continuous feedback. While the formal evaluation may happen at only six-month or yearly intervals, one-on-one regular feedback is critical. With monthly or quarterly feedback, the associate won’t be blindsided by unexpected criticism at the biannual or annual formal evaluation. As for the reviewing partners, this feedback will force them to keep current with the evaluation process.

Craft a multidimensional evaluation form

As the reviewers prepare the firm’s performance evaluation forms, make sure they look at the associates from every possible dimension. They must remember that associates are being evaluated on their existing skills as lawyers as well as their future potential to become partners and owners.

So be sure the form includes these areas for evaluation:

• Communication skills, both verbal and written,
  
• Analytical skills,
  
• Timeliness of work product delivery,
  
• Ability to handle workload and juggle multiple tasks,
  
• Performance in a team environment,
  
• Commitment to self- and professional development,
  
• Commitment to the profession and the firm,
  
• Interaction with partners and administrative staff, and
  
• Practice management skills.
  
• Create an assessment rating scale for each category so each evaluation is judged
• consistently. Many firms use a scale from “1” to “5,” with “5” being exceptional performance.

Gather needed input

Start gathering data several weeks before the formal evaluation meeting is scheduled by sending out the following documents and information requests:

• Self-evaluations from the associates,
  
• 360-degree evaluation forms to the associate’s peers,
• partners on cases the associate worked on throughout the year,
• internal clients who interact with the associate (such as the firm administrator), and select external clients,
• Goals determined during earlier evaluations, and
• The performance evaluation form to be filled out by the associate’s direct supervisor or mentor.
  
• Going into the evaluation armed with as much information as possible is critical to providing a fair assessment of the associate’s progress at the firm.

Conduct the evaluation meeting

To maintain privacy and avoid interruptions, designate a windowless conference room (or at least one with no windows facing a hallway) for all evaluation meetings. The partner conducting the evaluation should speak first, offering his or her ratings for each performance category and the reasons behind them. And then the 360-degree evaluations should be discussed, with particular emphasis given to any areas where the associate’s self-rating and that of the group deviate significantly. The associate should be allowed to discuss not only his or her self-evaluation, but also impressions on the feedback received. Finally, the reviewer and the associate should create an action plan for improvement goals, along with a timeline for meeting those goals.

Done well, all will benefit

If properly planned and executed, your firm’s evaluation process will become less of a burden and more of a positive investment of time for all involved. The long-term effects will be better attorneys, lower turnover — and no-brainer decisions regarding compensation, promotions and hiring.

Get the complete picture with a 360-degree evaluation

The 360-degree evaluation is a process in which an associate (or partner) receives performance feedback from peers, partners, direct reports, and internal and often external clients. It’s designed to provide a complete picture of how a person’s performance impacts those who interact with him or her frequently.

The premise of the 360-degree evaluation is fairly basic: The subject rates him- or herself on a variety of job-related criteria such as:

• Job knowledge (familiarity with job, industry, firm),
  
• Specific skills (task proficiency), and
  
• Interpersonal skills and behaviors (energy, helpfulness, optimism).
  
• In addition, anywhere from eight to 12 peers, partners, and even clients are
• asked, on a confidential basis, to rate the subject on the same criteria. For
• example, an administrative assistant or paralegal might be asked to rate how well
• a partner assigns tasks, or provides instructions regarding expectations and assignments to be completed.

A peer or a partner may be asked to rate how well a colleague maintains lines of communication between his or her department and other departments. Another question might rate how well the subject leads by example in quality of work. A client would be asked to evaluate the subject in such areas as timeliness of communications and delivery of product or services and the overall satisfaction with the work product delivered.

The major advantage to the 360-degree evaluation is that it provides feedback from a variety of sources. For example, if eight of the evaluators claim you tend to be long winded and a poor communicator, but you rated yourself as concise and to the point, you might be more willing to work on a behavior change than if this observation came from only one source.

To make the process most effective, include as reviewers people who have regular, meaningful interaction with the person being reviewed and who also have been adequately trained on how to give and interpret the feedback solicited.

Find out how our expertise in accounting for professional service firms can add value to your business. Email us or call us at 1 (888) 875-9770.

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