360 MENTORING: THE LAWYER'S EDGE©

Jack is a shareholder in an old line firm with over 150 lawyers. When his firm hired PeopleWealth, Jack told us, "I've been with this firm for ten years and firm management has never talked to me about my job satisfaction here. If they asked me, I wouldn't tell them how unhappy I am because I don't feel it's safe to talk about it. I expect some form of retaliation would result."

Sally, a twenty-year lawyer and shareholder in another large firm, said "You don't see very many 50 year old women practicing law. I sometimes wonder whether it's possible to be a woman in an American law firm, long term. I want to work with other women, too. The way it's turned out, I'm the most senior woman here. It gets lonely."

Frank, a member of the management team of his large firm, put it a little differently. "We've become so involved with the numbers, we've forgotten about the human side of the practice. I don't feel valued here. I'm planning to move on."

Jane's comments were the most telling. "Once you become a shareholder, the only feedback you get from management is in the form of your compensation package. If that compensation package isn't the maximum every year, that's the only evidence we get that they don't value us and what we do. No one wants to go to work every day feeling as if you're unwanted. Not when there are so many other opportunities out there offered to us all the time."

When firms hire PeopleWealth, one of the things we do is to talk directly and confidentially with the firm's lawyers. Firm management is often astounded to learn that in today's best law firms, lawyers experience significantly low morale, which leads to reduced productivity. Often, associates and partners fear losing their jobs, think they can't possibly meet their firm's demands, and hop from one job to another.

The firm's limited formal and informal communication systems and lack of mentoring for all lawyers compounds the feelings of dissatisfaction and malaiselawyers report. To paraphrase the Wizard of Oz when he told the scarecrow that he'd always had a brain, but lacked a diploma, what lawyers lack is not excellent opportunity in their current work environment. Rather, they lack confidence in management, themselves and their abilities, which is directly attributable to the absence of successful mentoring.

Sheila Wellington, president of Catalyst since 1993 and previously the first woman Secretary of Yale University, believes that the single most important reason why--among the equally talented--men tend to rise higher in business and firms than women is that most men have mentors and most women do not. If men don't have mentors, our work has shown that their progress is limited, too.

In law firms today, mentoring is viewed as something the senior lawyers must do for associates. Firms have ineffective formal or informal mentoring programs designed primarily to placate GenXers who demand mentoring programs before accepting jobs at top law firms. Mentors are expected to perform the mentoring role without monetary compensation or relief in billable hour requirements. The chair of the mentoring committee is often selected by management and is usually a white male. The chair is expected to accept the appointment, regardless of his level of ability or enthusiasm for the task. Often, he views the job as thankless and devotes a minimum amount of effort toward it.

As for the individual mentors, they, too, are usually appointed and expected to fill the role, regardless of time demands, enthusiasm, ability or compensation. How much energy mentors put into the relationship is a direct indicator of how successful the mentee will be. Yet, firms offer little real reward for the mentor role. PeopleWealth's 360 Mentoring is something completely different: