Risk management

Laid-back or slack?Keith thought he had a good rapport with his staff.

He tried to adopt a light-hearted approach and didn't want to appear to be breathing down their necks.

He worked on the basis that they would come and ask him if they didn't know what to do.As a busy criminal practitioner, he wasn't in the office much and, although his mobile phone was turned off when he was in court, everyone had his number.

He made a point of telling staff, 'my door is always open - you can come and see me any time'.

He prided himself on running a friendly, informal practice.Keith's assistant solicitor Marion could have told a different story.

She was often the only fee-earner in the office, and found that she was fielding all the queries from support staff.

Sometimes she thought she was taking on too much responsibility.

At other times she took the view that Keith was not delegating work to her because he simply didn't know what she was capable of doing.

He rarely had time to read her letters or review her files.When Keith wasn't out at court he was usually seeing clients or taking calls, so his office door was closed.

If she did manage to catch him, he was signing letters or the telephone would ring just as she had started to talk to him.

She knew how busy he was, and although it was meant as a joke, Keith's greeting of 'Hello trouble, now what have you done' made her think she was being a nuisance.

The outcome was almost inevitable - when a problem arose, Marion believed she had to cope on her own.

By the time she approached Keith for help, the problem was no longer capable of being resolved, and he had to notify his insurers.

He thought that his low-key approach had failed, and concluded that in future he would have to adopt a much stricter approach to all his staff.

Marion also felt let down and unsupported.

She lost confidence in her own judgement and began to refer every query to Keith, increasing his workload still further.When supervising:l Make sure that you are available for at least a part of every day, or that someone else is available to supervise in your absence;l Try to be approachable - give positive feedback and encourage discussion;l If criticism is needed, be constructive - don't let feelings of anger or irritation influence what you say;l Beware of jokes which are really subtle put-downs;l If you are too busy, say so - and give a time when you can deal with the matter.

It is unfair to agree to see someone and then cut them short, or make them rush;l Supervise pro-actively - don't wait for problems to come to you, and review staff progress regularly.l This column was prepared by the St.

Paul risk management team.