1. Looking back over the past 12 months, what contributions have you made to your workplace that are not in your job description (e.g. cost-saving ideas, helping co-workers in need of an extra hand without being asked)?
2. Do you make an excessive number of personal calls during the workday? What about personal emails?
3. How would co-workers most likely describe your office personality (grumpy, happy, productive, efficient, resourceful, energetic, bully, holier-than-thou, wimpy, rude, positive, negative, I-do-no-wrong-ever, whiner, gabby gossiper, sour puss, team player, chatty Cathy)?
4. Are you a 9 to 5 clock watcher or willing to go the extra mile no matter what or how long it takes to get the job done?
5. Do you have any unresolved conflicts with co-workers? If so, do you make the effort to resolve conflicts, disagreements quickly? Or, do you just quit speaking to the co-worker, talk about them behind their backs and/or refuse to face the real issues?
6. Do you share a good (and appropriate) sense of humor at work?
7. When instructions are unclear, do you seek clarification sooner than later? If you give instructions, are they clear, timely and prioritized for your employees…or are you a poor planner and ask for everything to be done ASAP?!?
8. Is your attitude one that sets a good example for others (e.g. positive, resourceful, uplifting, helpful, thoughtful) or one that can darken a room quicker than a full scale, nighttime power outage?
9. Do you respect and show respect to all employees regardless of their title, job, seniority or lowness in the pecking order?
10. Would you like to work for someone like yourself? Why or why not?
NOTE FROM NANCY RE HER SELF-AUDIT LIBRARY:
Can’t or don’t want to pay consulting fees?
Prefer to take a hard look at what’s working and what’s not on your own?
If your answer is “Yes or Maybe” and you’re interested in purchasing one of my self-audit e-books* ($35 each or $100 with forms, checklists and NBJ articles included, or $150 to include the extra materials plus a call with Nancy to discuss how to get started and how to maximize your self-auditing efforts).
If so, please send me an email and I’ll notify you when the newest versions are available for purchase on-line…and many thanks for your interest….your courage and wisdom to stay in touch with the realities of your office’s strengths and weakness is admirable.
*NBJ’s Self-Audit Library includes such topics as Self-Audits for Law Offices Big & Small, for Professional Firms, for Conflict Resolution, for Career Building, Risk Management, and many more. Or, want a customized self-audit developed by Nancy for your firm or office? We welcome those requests as well.
P.S. Here’s a what a former section chair of the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section had to say after he reviewed my first nationwide book of self-audits waaaay back in 1999:
“…[Easy Self-Audits…] one of the most valuable books I have read in 20 years on practice management”
(J. Bennett, Attorney, District of Columbia Bar Association Book Review, August-September 1999)
(Self-Audits for the Busy Law Office, by Nancy Byerly Jones, Pub’d by ABA, 1999…and still being requested and sold by the ABA!)