How do young women professionals manage their secretaries...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"It's important to treat your assistant like she's part of your team, rather than like "the help" if you want her to be responsive to your needs. "

Do men give a rat's ass about this team shit with female subordinates?

Some do, some don't. I'm the PP you're quoting. Both the attorneys I, the female subordinate, work for are male, and the "team shit" is pretty important to both of them - with the admin staff, the paralegals, the other attorneys, etc.

But I understand the point you're making. I just don't think that the OP is doing anything to fix the problematic gendered behavior in office situations by being fake friendly to her assistant.

Other admin from earlier here: I have also had positive experiences with male managers. My sample is of course limited and totally statistically irrelevant, but if I were to list the best bosses, in terms of mentoring, respect, and team morale, all of my male managers would be above all of my female managers on the list. That is to say, my best female manager wasn't as good a boss in the professional sense as my worst male boss. And I'm not talking about friendliness, or flirtiness, or other reasons one might think up to discount my experience. I'm talking about simple good management, an interest in my professional development, and an all-around professional demeanor without any of the petty interpersonal weirdness to which so many women seem to fall victim.

[Anonymous]

I agree with many others: Stop calling her your "secretary".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"It's important to treat your assistant like she's part of your team, rather than like "the help" if you want her to be responsive to your needs. "

Do men give a rat's ass about this team shit with female subordinates?

Some do, some don't. I'm the PP you're quoting. Both the attorneys I, the female subordinate, work for are male, and the "team shit" is pretty important to both of them - with the admin staff, the paralegals, the other attorneys, etc.

But I understand the point you're making. I just don't think that the OP is doing anything to fix the problematic gendered behavior in office situations by being fake friendly to her assistant.

Other admin from earlier here: I have also had positive experiences with male managers. My sample is of course limited and totally statistically irrelevant, but if I were to list the best bosses, in terms of mentoring, respect, and team morale, all of my male managers would be above all of my female managers on the list. That is to say, my best female manager wasn't as good a boss in the professional sense as my worst male boss. And I'm not talking about friendliness, or flirtiness, or other reasons one might think up to discount my experience. I'm talking about simple good management, an interest in my professional development, and an all-around professional demeanor without any of the petty interpersonal weirdness to which so many women seem to fall victim.

Other admin here - helloooo!

My experience at this firm, with the management styles of various attorneys in various situations, has mostly been that they start out with no skills. The skills that they develop and the kind of manager they turn out to be depends on a lot of things. It depends on what kind of mentoring program the firm/company has. It depends on the person's motivation and interests. The partner that I work for is a very active mentor and he places a large premium on operating in transparent, unified way. He takes the time to get to know the people who work for him and figures out ways to engage them at work in such a way that we actually like coming to work. He does his best to inspire loyalty, and that usually results in higher quality work. I know that I personally am motivated to go above and beyond more with him than with other people I have worked for who show less enthusiasm.

I haven't had the experience of petty interpersonal weirdness with the women here, though I know it exists by word of mouth. For the most part, everyone in my practice group likes each other, and across gender lines, everyone is pretty awesome.

[Anonymous]

OP, you have had this problem in Big Law and now in Govt., look at yourself. Are you condescending, and it sounds as though you are, then you need to give some thought as to how you come across. Most Admin. Asst., nowadays, have a BA or an associate degree, they aren't stupid or ignorant. You should also remember that her supervisor and anyone senior to you has first priority. This is a fact of life and, unless and until, you are top priority, this is probably not going to change. A friend of mine had an AA who never did any work for him and he made a formal complaint. She filed a grievance against him and she won.

[Anonymous]

I often was frustrated with the level of / lack of administrative support and/or lack of respect shown to me by my secretary

Why should she respect you? Simply because you have a JD and she is an admin? Respect is earned and is a two way street. When I was an admin in the legal field, the male attorneys spoke to me like I was a person with a brain. We discussed issues and I was part of the team. Many of them stuck their necks out for me while I worked my way up (though experience & education). One female attorney refused to give me anything other than simple administrative tasks because "she didn't want to lose me as an admin". She was nice enough and would butter me up with flowers - every month. What I wanted was to not be talked down to and to challenge my brain. I made the best of it and I was a damn good admin, but I got the heck out of the admin role as soon as I could.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea if this will work for you, but for me, what worked was to make my admin part of my "team." Meaning, filling her in on what the case/contract/issue was about, and then when there was something I needed her to do, explaining how that task fit into the project. For example, if I'm working on drafting/revising a contract, telling her what the contract is about and who it's between, and when I needed her to type in my handwritten edits, telling her "hey, remember that contract that I told you about? I made some edits and they need to get back to so-and-so by x time...will you please type them in in redline for me?"

this is much better than curt/less friendly - that tactic will backfire in a big, big way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with many others: Stop calling her your "secretary".

What if my secretary calls herself a secretary. Shall I correct her?

[Anonymous]

Is it not a bad idea to give details of a case to a non attorney on the case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with many others: Stop calling her your "secretary".

What if my secretary calls herself a secretary. Shall I correct her?

Don't be such a horse's patoot. No wonder she ignores you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Is it not a bad idea to give details of a case to a non attorney on the case?

Are you for real?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being overly nice in my experience gets you nowhere in this type of situation. She needs to understand that what you ask of her is not optional. Hold her accountable, set firm deadlines and, if itis not your job to manage her, make her supervisor aware that you are dissatisifed with her work. Publicly noting bs has also proven effective. (e.g. Boss: Just letting y know that xyz document has been fully executed. Assistant: please notify us when the originals I gave you to fedex two weeks ago have been delivered)

This may work in the short term, but it's a good way to burn bridges with admins. Especially, publicly shaming. Any sort of disciplinary actions should do in a private, professional way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with many others: Stop calling her your "secretary".

I think you are wrong about this. All of our secretaries here seem to preferred being called secretaries rather than assistants, and I think that is the convention in most law offices. Perhaps I am just swimming against the tide here, but "secretary" is not a derogatory term, that is the proper name for the job, and personally I think "secretary" beats "administrative assistant" with a stick--if it were me, that is what I'd want to be called. However, if your "assistant" prefers to be called that, I'd go with it, it is a zero cost way to help keep morale up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is it not a bad idea to give details of a case to a non attorney on the case?

Are you for real?

NP: I'll assume this was an honest question, and the answer is no. It is very well settled law that attorneys may share client information with personnel such as secretaries -- er, "admins" -- which is necessary to perform their work. Generally all such personnel are required to execute confidentiality/nondisclosure agreements.

[Anonymous]

I had always understood that legal secretaries had a specific skill set. I, as a highly-paid and very experienced admin, could not just walk into a legal secretary position.

I don't think that "secretary" is the correct term outside of the legal professional. Unless she's sitting on your knee and taking dictation or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had always understood that legal secretaries had a specific skill set. I, as a highly-paid and very experienced admin, could not just walk into a legal secretary position.

I don't think that "secretary" is the correct term outside of the legal professional. Unless she's sitting on your knee and taking dictation or something.

I just don't get this. Who decided that "secretary" was a derogatory term, and why do the rest of us have to listen to them? It's nonsensical.