19. An Associate Lost In Space Will Be An Associate Lost Forever

If the focus is on what the firm wants from the associate, never what they want for the associate, this associate doesn’t have the toolset, or the mindset to do the best work, or to turn away a call from a recruiter. This associate is lost in space.

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Just as Lean Adviser starts with planning, our short series on talent retention and ‘working wellness’ started with planning. The previous lesson looked at how attorneys who feel good, physically and mentally, won’t just perform well, they’ll also stick. Meanwhile, for others, the daily prospect is daunting and demoralizing. We concluded that real working wellness isn’t about the setting, it’s about how we do the work itself, starting with planning. So, just as in Lean Adviser, after planning comes execution.

If you want to understand the direct link between working methods and associate retention, just consider how an attorney executes a task, any task. Let’s imagine a millennial associate in law firm A, maybe earning the big bucks, but living an unplanned work life. The firm has no career path or development plan. In just the same unstructured way, partners give work to the associate in a vacuum. No context, no project plan, just deliver the task and record the time. The entire focus is on what the firm wants from the associate, never what they want for the associate. This associate doesn’t have the toolset, or the mindset to do the best work, or to turn away a call from a recruiter. This associate is lost in space.

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