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Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Bad Boss?

Chere Estrin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:44:48 +0000

We’ve all had bad bosses – creepy, crawly, hair-raising, crazy – making ones. They come in all shapes and sizes: yellers, fumers, passive, aggressive, obsessive, oblivious, and egotistical. But have you ever considered that you might be a bad boss? Chances are, the answer is no.

While working for a litigation support company, I once had a boss whose determination to improve the bottom-line was so single-minded and narrowly focused that he failed to realize the company was suffering as a result. As president of a division of the parent corporation, I participated in regular but painful executive meetings. My anguish was compounded by the fact I had to fly 2,000 miles across the country to attend these anxiety-ridden “let’s-beat-up-the-managers” conferences, sometimes trekking through heavy snow storms and icy runways to be there. At one meeting, a shaking vice-president took a big gulp and bravely pointed out to this so-called billionaire, this self-centered Chairman of the Board with the iron fist, that employees were consistently working 90 hour weeks, not paid overtime and stressed to the max. His response? “Drive the horses harder.”

“They’ll drop at the finish line,” I retorted. It was out of my mouth before I stopped to think. (Yep, true story.)

We all like to think that when we’re the boss we’ll run our firms the way we always imagined a well-oiled team is supposed to work: we’ll give lots of positive feedback, maintain an open-door policy, and eschew harsh criticisms. We imagine ourselves well liked with an adoring staff, and tell ourselves we will make few bad decisions. Promotion to the top of the career ladder—here we come!

Hel-loooo!!! Are we all on the same page here?

Are You A Bad Boss?

In A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses, author Gini Graham Scott writes that employee perceptions can be difficult for a boss to judge because employees are naturally—and understandably—reluctant to criticize their employer’s behavior, even when asked to do so. “Getting reliable feedback from your employees will be very hard,” Scott says. “Even if they like you, even if they trust you, they are still dependent on you for a paycheck and most won’t risk that to tell you the truth.”

In large firms, the effect of a single bad boss is mitigated by the firm’s sheer size. There’s always someone else to go to, a committee to complain to or a different department into which to transfer. The smaller the team of employees, the greater the impact employee disaffection with the boss can have on day-to-day functioning. Tension between the team leader and staff can dramatically hurt the entire firm through reduction of employee productivity. And those in law firms know what that means: fewer billable hours—the real career buster of most revenue-generators.

In their book, First Break All the Rules, authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman analyzed the results of a Gallup survey of 80,000 managers and one million employees. Their straightforward conclusion: Bad bosses hurt their companies. The worst effect of bad bosses was to drive good people away. “So much money has been thrown at the challenge of keeping good people—in the form of better pay, better perks and better training—when, in the end, turnover is mostly a manager issue,” the authors write.

To avoid becoming a bad boss, watch your staff’s behavior. Rapid employee turnover is the number one sign of management problems. If you notice that your firm has a revolving door of paralegals, secretaries and other staff with whom you directly interact, that may be a sign that you are difficult to work for.

Bad Bosses Come In Four Varieties

There are four types of bad bosses, explained below, along with some advice for avoiding the traps they set.

#1: The Micro-Manager

This boss won’t let her employees do their jobs. She generally requires employees to obtain permission for every little action. Some problems stem from the fact that many paralegals are promoted from within. They have built up their territory, established procedures and spent a good deal of time running the office themselves. So when the firm expands and more paralegals or staff comes on board, they resist letting others make the decisions they’ve been making themselves for so long. While it’s understandable that no one wants a newcomer to rock the boat, you limit the possibility of expansion if you don’t let anyone else do the work.

The best way to avoid falling into the Micro-Manager trap is to hire the best paralegals, legal assistants and other staff you possibly can and let them do their jobs. When you have confidence in your team, you’ll be able to focus on your own job and not hover over others. However, if you aren’t confident that your staff will make good decisions, you probably haven’t hired the right people.

#2: The Mini-Manager

Can’t make decisions? Put off making decisions that are not directly related to assignment areas? Not interested in anything but productivity and quality? If you answered yes, you’re a mini-manager, which is the opposite of the micro-manager. Employees depend upon their boss for quick decisions that directly impact their work and ultimately impact their personal lives. If as a manager you drag your feet, especially on critical issues such as raises, reviews, seminars and scheduling vacations, employees tend to get just plain angry because they conclude that you don’t care. Once your staff realizes that nothing is urgent for you, their work will reflect the same lack of urgency. Timely decision-making and paying attention to decisions affecting home life all factor into your reputation as a boss. Don’t hang your staff out to dry simply because you can’t or won’t make a decision outside the scope of the assignment. Find the time, resources or support to make your staff’s issues matter.

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Our Way Of Doing Business Isn’t The Only Way

Robert Ellis — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:46:05 +0000

By “doing business” I mean either going to a foreign country on behalf of a client, or advising a client on some aspects of doing business in a foreign country, or both.

Cultural issues

There are many cultural issues one needs to be aware of in a professional/business context:

The American approach to doing business is not the only way, and not necessarily the best way. Don’t go to a foreign country expecting to find the same contract drafting methods, the same time frames for getting things done, or the same level of formality. Above all, don’t go expecting that the deal will be done your way or not at all.
On the other hand, business transactions in virtually any country have many things in common that can be recognized by any professional in any country.
In countries where drinking is part of the business culture, unless you don’t drink at all, always down the first drink with gusto and a smile. After that, you can merely sip and allow refills of just a little more. Never allow yourself to become intoxicated.
In many countries, business transactions (between the clients) are a game of power, and bestowing expensive gifts is a means of exercising power. Power generates respect. Buying an obscenely expensive dinner for 10 is power. Renting a top-of-the-line Mercedes rather than a Ford Focus when overseas is power. Allowing the other side to borrow it is power. Be careful. On the other hand, testing people is also sometimes part of the game, and that is less power than it is pure bullying; it is a delicate art to play along without making a fool of oneself and without becoming subservient. Without saying a word in advance, foreign counsel or clients will take you along to a restaurant and order a group meal; the second course will invariably be some sort of exotic food like snake blood. They will partake with gusto and scrutinize your reaction. They will take you to a sauna to see if you will get naked and roll around in the snow with them. They will take unreasonable positions to see if you waver. Never be part of such an atmosphere alone; always have another team member with you and do a reality check. When refusing something, always do it with a smile and if possible a short quip.

Working with lawyers in another country

Lawyers have different educational levels, types of training, and degrees of status. In Europe, for example, a “notary” has a higher status than an attorney because notaries are attorneys who (among other things) have the power to approve real estate deals. Because they get a percentage of the transaction value, notaries tend to be wealthy.
Lawyers in many countries must have a valid power of attorney to represent a client.
Attorneys in many countries bill clients based on a fee schedule supposedly mandated by the government. Don’t believe it. There are always ways to negotiate fees. Most attorneys in other countries have no qualms at all about charging outrageous fees for minor things. It’s extremely important to get the fee agreement in writing, and to keep the retainer in your trust account, not theirs.

Working with clients in a foreign country

The era during which America was held in awe and respect, when the world looked up to us, is over. To much of the world, America is just another country. While Americans as individuals are still treated with the usual courtesies by foreign clients, America has lost its magic. Again and again I hear how we treat our business visitors with hostility and overblown security idiocy. I have clients who refuse to come to the U.S. now. The dollar has lost so much value that foreign clients can’t sell industrial goods here, and don’t seem much interested in buying real estate. Nonetheless, professionalism is always respected, and being an American attorney, while no longer an advantage, is not a disadvantage either.

Dos and don’ts

Where to begin? Some basics: Know and follow the punctuality rules in the country. (Germany = be on time right down to the second. Eastern Europe = being late often means being more powerful.) Don’t dominate the conversation; listen at least as much as you talk. Accept foreign ways of doing things uncritically. If you want to inject additional (American-style) clauses, always explain why they are beneficial. Never make jokes or criticism about any aspect of the host country; let the hosts do that. You joke about and criticize your own country.

Corruption issues (if any)

Know the difference, under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, between “grease” money and “bribe.” The former is legal (and tax deductible); the latter is a crime.

Legal issues

Remember that service of process generally has to be effected by means of the procedures set forth in the Hague Convention; otherwise, it is void even if there is actual notice.
Foreign litigation is substantially different than ours—judges often rule the proceedings, they are not transcribed, there is no comprehensive discovery, and there is a huge home-turf advantage for the non-American local party.
For bilingual contracts, specify that both languages have equal validity, but then try to add a clause that the English version controls only in the event of disputes.
Do not assume that because you are an expert in your area of law, that your expertise will suffice when doing deals in another country; even a clause stating that U.S. law will apply or an arbitration clause may not be valid. Consumer protection laws are substantially different in different countries.
Do not assume that the courts will enforce an agreement as they would in the States—overseas deals have to be almost self-enforcing, self-repairing.
Notarized documents from our country generally have to be apostilled for use abroad.
For commercial transactions, most clients know only enough about INCOTERMS to be dangerous. Know precisely what INCOTERMS you want to use, and be able to explain precisely that they cover costs, carriage, and risk, NOT transfer of title.
Be prepared to counter horror stories people have regarding liability.
In the non-common-law countries, it sometimes seems that every transaction, every transfer of rights, has to be registered (and sometimes approved) by some governmental authority. That’s probably why grease money is legal under the FCPA.
Intellectual property rights “there” may be similar to what they are “here” but don’t expect enforcement to be similar.

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