Lack of Feedback

One of the biggest complaints I heard from associates in my time in Big Law: Lack of feedback.

You get your annual review.

Maybe, if you’re lucky, you work with one partner who is good at giving feedback (but probably only sporadically). 

Maybe you only get indirect feedback - the kind where you run the redline yourself and see what changes were made and try and decipher why they were made. 

Maybe you get the occasional “thank you” or “good job.”

Maybe you only get your annual review.

And you most certainly get lots of redlines and comments the rest of the year that make you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing.

And lots of radio silence. That leaves you wondering if you’re crushing it, average, or failing. (And I’m guessing you’re assuming the latter).

Yes, the people managing you could do better. Yes, firms should do a better job training people to be managers. But your partners and senior associates are also absurdly busy, and unfortunately, giving feedback can easily be forgotten when you’re just trying to get through the millions of things on your checklist.

It will make things feel so much better for you if take control over your experience. It is your experience after all.

There are a few ways to tackle this without waiting around for the feedback system to change:

-Expressly, regularly, and effectively ask for the feedback.

-Be okay with the amount of feedback you’re getting and validate yourself.

-Find a new place where there are people who are more invested in your growth. 

Maybe the first one makes you uncomfortable right off the bat or you don’t know how to do it effectively. 

Maybe the second one sounds impossible.

Maybe the third one sounds like a unicorn job.

But they are all options for you. 

I work with clients to help them decide which of these options they want to pursue and how to pursue them. Ask for what they want in an effective manner, and learn how to validate themselves, evaluate their own work, and continue to grow in their profession regardless of the amount of feedback they are getting. If this sounds like something you want, get started by sending me an email (jenn@jenndealcoaching.com) or signing up for a consult at jenndealcoaching.as.me/consult.