Looking back, I stunted my growth as a new lawyer by not seeking feedback and being afraid of criticism. Here are some tips on asking for feedback when you’re a young lawyer — though seeking feedback is a good idea no matter where you are in your career.
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Something I wish I had done more as a young lawyer was to embrace a growth mindset and ask for more specific feedback. Instead, I had a fixed mindset — deciding early on what I was “good” and “bad” at — and only sought the work I was comfortable doing. Too afraid of criticism, as an associate I tended to seek work from partners who let me run cases my way (with little interference and generous praise) or who affirmed how I saw myself.
If you are a young lawyer, here are tips to help you tap into the power of feedback. Even if you are not a young lawyer, continuously seeking feedback may help sharpen your relationship-building and business development skills.
Create a Feedback Habit
If you are not a person who usually seeks feedback, it may be difficult to get started and even more difficult to sustain the practice. I suggest calendaring 15 minutes once a week to ask for feedback.
What do you do with these 15 minutes, you ask? This is when you will send at least one email or set up a one-to-one with someone to seek feedback.
Of course, it’s much more natural to make the ask after an assignment is completed, a deal is closed, a matter has ended, or a presentation has been completed. But a regular calendar entry will remind you to practice if you forget and help you create a habit.
Seek a Broad Audience
If You’re a Young Lawyer or Associate
It is easy to go to the partner who assigned you the work, but you may also want to consider approaching a more senior associate on the team or a seasoned paralegal. Feedback is just as valuable from a peer or someone who “reports” to you because we all have our blind spots. All the information you receive is helpful to your career.
If You’re a Partner
It’s easy to go to the in-house counsel who is your relationship contact, but if you want to grow and further your influence, consider asking for feedback from the lawyer who managed the matter in-house. If appropriate, also ask your client’s paralegals and administrative assistants.
I’d also go to your own associates and team. They may have insight that you are not privy to, and candidly, if your associate did most of the work, they may have more insight into the client than you.
Seeking Feedback Is Not Just for Lawyers in Private Practice
If you presume this is only for firm lawyers, it is not. As in-house counsel, I certainly ask my associate general counsel for feedback, but I also ask my business clients, my paralegal, my colleagues and my outside counsel for feedback. For example, after a presentation to executives, I will ask my manager for her thoughts — but I may also seek feedback from peers I know who were in the audience.
Ask the ‘One Thing’ Question to Get Better Feedback
You may be wondering, what exactly are you asking when you ask for feedback? My first tip is to make it easy for the person you’re asking by making your question as specific as possible. It’s not a “how did I do?” because the inclination is to say “great!” and move on.
The better ask is something very specific, perhaps connected to a skill or something you want to improve. My favorite go-to is the “one thing” question:
- What is one thing I could have done to make the presentation 1% better?
- What is one thing I could have done to make our work together easier, more productive and more pleasant?
- What is one thing I could have done to make our argument clearer or more persuasive?
As I’ve written before, asking good questions — whether about the cases you are working on or the feedback you’ve received — demonstrates your intellectual curiosity and shows that you are intentional about your growth and career.
Take Action, Or Not
Of course, asking for feedback doesn’t stop at just collecting feedback. You have to devote time to thinking about the feedback you’ve received, who it’s from and how it fits into your goals. You also have to decide what you’re going to do about it, which could be nothing.
Earlier in my career, a colleague gave me unsolicited feedback that my self-deprecating humor was undercutting my credibility with business clients. Candidly, my gut reaction was to blink back tears. Others may have been defensive, but upon reflection, I considered how she had nothing to gain by giving me her opinion. And, whether I agreed or not, if my actions were landing in a way I did not intend, it behooved me to change so I could be more effective.
Feedback Is a Gift, So Follow Up
Feedback is a gift, and it’s only appropriate to show gratitude when you receive gifts. Despite being a bit unnerved, I thanked my colleague in the moment and followed up a few days later.
Besides gratitude, I try to share what I have done to take action on someone’s feedback if appropriate. That way, the person I’ve asked for feedback knows their time is not wasted and that I truly value their opinion.
This also makes asking for feedback easier the next time you ask.
Image © iStockPhoto.com.
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