Take This Job and Morph It!

When we accept a position, we are accepting the dream that life will somehow be better and that upward mobility is ours if only we “prove ourselves”. Rarely do we attribute disappointment or growing frustration in the position with our own lack of personal responsibility for career planning.

There are a myriad of excuses for frustration, stagnation, or lack of advancement including: “the firm doesn’t let paralegals…..”, “only associates can……”, and my all time favorite: “we’ve always done it this way.” While there’s no easy path for growth, paralegals face an additional conundrum. Above average in intelligence, they very often are given routine and repetitious assignments. Talk about being handed a great formula for burnout! And supervisors don’t always have the best advice for getting ahead. The most common response to, “How do I get better assignments” is “Go knock on doors.” Yeah, right. That oughta do it.

Since seeking a higher level of assignment is often a developmental activity, paralegals may, in fact, be inexperienced in the “how-to’s” of securing more sophisticated assignments. Not knowing how to ask for more challenging work can lead to monotony, flatness or leaving an otherwise perfectly good firm. Not always the best of choices in a trembling economy.

Part of the process of making changes includes asking ourselves hard questions. If you find yourself getting shortchanged when it comes to raises, consistently experience tedium or a feeling that you are outgrowing your position in any way, it is time to take a good look at what you are doing and why. One of the primary reasons we fail to grow in our jobs is that no new thought or creative process has been applied for a long time. Have you fallen into a rut? Here’s a great test: The next time you go out to eat, read the entire menu. If you can summarize it in two minutes or less, go directly to Orbit.com and book a long vacation.

Even if you are one of a large group of paralegals experiencing tremendous job satisfaction, you may be wondering just how to advance in a field that is only in the beginning stages of defining career paths. Many paralegals enjoy an intellectually stimulating environment, have challenging work and are part of a team. It is the push forward to other areas that many paralegals find difficult. These areas include higher salaries, moving up in a firm with no vertical climb, negotiating for more sophisticated assignments, breaking that glass ceiling or getting off the sticky floor.

Waiting for attorneys to train you doesn’t always work either. What most people fail to recognize is that teaching is an acquired skill. Not everyone has that skill and it is unrealistic to expect attorneys to automatically understand how to train, much less have the desire. Let’s face it. To ask someone to train you is to ask them to perform additional work. So…………how can you morph your job to your vision? In order to increase responsibilities and receive upgraded assignments, you need to have a clear idea what those assignments are. Waiting for attorneys to decide on a more difficult assignment for you doesn’t always work. Your first step is to identify additional assignments you could and would like to be handling. One effective tool is the Calendar Memo™, one of the most important tools for saving time, scheduling, upgrading your assignments and educating attorneys about your capabilities in a non-confrontational manner. Presenting a memo on a regular basis reinforces your position, telling attorneys (1) what you can do, and (2) exactly when you expect to do it.

A Calendar Memo is based on the firm’s master calendar. If you are not receiving the master or departmental calendar on a regular basis, get on the routing now! Why many firms give copies to attorneys and secretaries but exclude paralegals remains a mystery. By checking the master calendar, you will be aware of all events well in advance of their occurrence. You will also see events that could involve paralegals. Let’s say that you see that a document production in the Acme case will occur in the 3 weeks. Send a standard document production calendar memo to the attorney on the case. The memo lists all of the assignments a paralegal can perform in regard to a deposition. The memo also includes assignments that paralegals in your firm do not yet perform but could.

You can use a Calendar Memo in every area a paralegal can and should be involved with, such as trial, pretrial, pleadings, post-trial, closing, meetings, mergers, document productions, securities transactions, due diligence, probate filings, hearings, motions, tax court, witness interviews, client intakes and more. By keeping the form extremely simple (all attorneys need to do is check off those areas in which they may need assistance) the form does not become time-consuming. The memo form itself can be sent via e-mail.

The memo: Acts as a forerunner to a work plan, Gently gets the attorney to think ahead regarding your involvement and Alerts you in advance of what’s coming.

The memo is an effective tool for advance planning and upgrading assignments for firms of all sizes. The impetus behind this tool is simple: If it’s written, it must be so. If members of the firm see in writing that paralegals are supposed to be performing certain assignments, why, it must be so.

The trick is to keep sending the memos on a regular basis. Depending on how your firm’s paralegal program is structured, someone needs to be appointed to review the calendar on a regular basis. The reviewer may be a paralegal manager, senior paralegal or anyone else who will be able to follow through on a consistent basis. Remember: you are listing assignments that not only do you do in the normal course of your job but assignments you don’t necessarily do and want to.

Another great way to morph your job into something more interesting and challenging is the 10-4 Memo™ which takes 10 minutes to write and no more than 4 minutes to read. This simple technique not only helps eliminates crisis and miscommunication, it gives you an opportunity to request or suggest the next step. Particular attention should be paid to the following:

Update: Give a concise update on what has occurred. Example: “Completed deposition summaries of 10 deponents.”

Needed to complete this assignment: What do you need in order to complete this assignment?

Are you waiting on someone else before you can finish? Example: “Have not received last 10 depositions. Need by Thursday to complete assignment.”

Estimate of time billed: 20 hours Estimate of time remaining to be billed: 6 hours.

Suggestions for follow-up assignments: Prepare an analysis of testimony inconsistencies from all deponents. I can have it on your desk by Tuesday. Please approve assignment before Friday.

Now you have laid out what has been accomplished, what remains to be done on the assignment, appropriate approvals and, most importantly, suggestions for what you can do beyond this assignment. Shows initiative? Shows awareness of what needs to be done? Shows a team player? You betcha.

With just these two simple techniques, you can morph your job into a more interesting, challenging and exciting position. You have also educated attorneys as to what further assignments paralegals can handle and established a method for obtaining those assignments. Although the term “proactive” has become trite over the years, it still has tremendous impact on how we succeed in our careers. Being proactive does not translate into rebelling. It simply means that you take charge of those circumstances that are within your control. Yes, there will be instances in your career you cannot control, as in any other aspect life. However, being master at the helm can allow you to enjoy, profit from, and steer your career at your own choosing. Now there’s a healthy concept!

Chere B. Estrin, Ph.D., is the CEO of Career Coaches of America, a Los Angeles based career coaching organization. She is the author of 8 career books including The Paralegal Career Guide 3rd Edition and The Successful Paralegal Job Search Guide (available on amazon.com). A lively national seminar speaker, she is co-founding member of the Legal Assistant Management Association and has been interviewed by Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Working Woman and more. You can contact her at: CareerCoaches@aol.com or visit her site:www.CareerCoachesInternational.com. © C.B. Estrin. Reprints by permission only from C.B. Estrin.