Letter from the President

At the beginning of my term as Head Coach of this chapter, I announced that ALA is not a spectator sport.  Board members were asked to get in the game, and as a team, we accomplished a great deal (and certainly had fun doing it).  In summary, we developed the following game plan:

•  Members’ level of knowledge will be enhanced as a result of quality educational programs and scholarship opportunities available within the chapter.  In the last 12 months, the board has awarded more than $40,000 in scholarships.  This allowed 31 members the opportunity to attend regional and annual conferences where education is abundant.  In addition, our Professional Development committee focused on monthly meeting topics that would best benefit the majority of our membership, including a panel of experts on Religion in the Workplace, and featuring nationally recognized speakers Michael Cohen and David Freeman.  The HR Section committee provided presentations on healthcare reform requirements and workplace wellness programs.  

• More resources and communication engines will be introduced to chapter members.  Communications and resources have improved as the result of a chapter Communications Plan created in 2012.  We focused on increasing awareness of the chapter’s mission, events and activities and adopted a “quality over quantity” approach to the messages emailed to busy chapter members.  In addition, a LinkedIn page was developed, and the Communications and Website committees are in the process of upgrading the functionality of our website. 

• Strong connections with other legal organizations will be cultivated, and there will be an increased effort to network with our business partners.  In the last year the chapter teamed up with the St. Louis Paralegal Association to sponsor a CLE program; the Legal Marketing Association to sponsor a presentation on Driving a Business Development Culture; and the Kansas City ALA to produce the first annual Missouri Leadership Summit. The Gateway 2012-2013 business partner membership package incorporated additional opportunities to connect with chapter members through community service projects, social events, and panel discussions (such as “How to Sell to Law Firms”). 

Working as a team, the Gateway Board and committee chairs accomplished all that we outlined in the Playbook last April.  Coach “Bear” Bryant once said, “If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it.”  So, thanks to all of you for your support and enthusiasm as we scored numerous touchdowns: 

Patty Barbachem (President Elect) was a huge support as Assistant Coach, kept her pom-pons ready at all times, supplied us with valuable statistics, and  readily takes over as Head Coach next month! 

As Defensive Coordinator, Lisa Waligorski (Vice President) represented the second level of command.  She organized events with our strategic alliance partners, participated in the CLM study group, and was responsible for the unique gingerbread house decorating contest at the holiday celebration. 

Lisa Lange (Secretary), as Offensive Coordinator, kept us up to date on chapter requirements and protected us at the line. 

Paul Dalziel (Treasurer) maintained the chapter’s operations and treasury as Sports Operations & Finance Manager.

Donna Sobkoviak (Past President) assisted the entire board as the Team Advisor and official social event planner. 

Jennifer Sloop (Bar Liaison) represented us in the Pro Players Labor Association while strengthening our connection with BAMSL.

Cheri Meier (Business Partner Relations) handled Club Level Sales and maintained our business partner program. 

Paul Atkinson (Communications Chair) managed Team Marketing and promoted our activities in order to increase participation.

Ana Helton and Joe Taylor (Community Connections) were the Strength & Conditioning Coaches, who assisted the “injured,” or those less fortunate than us.

Michelle Martin (Diversity & Inclusion) led numerous diversity efforts as Special Teams Coach.

Mary Jennings and Angela Schaefer (HR Section), in charge of Player Personnel, supported the team by teaching, training and caring for the players.

Sherry Smith (Membership) increased the number of players on the roster and served as Team Recruiter, with the assistance of Pro Scout Brenda Deertz. 

Kristi Simmonds (Newsletter) was our official Sports Writer, keeping us entertained and updated with news in the world of ALA.

Sherry Hurst and Debra Holland (Professional Development) were responsible for Player Development, fostering an environment that promotes training and development.

Sarah Allen (Salary & Benefits Survey), as Game Day Manager, oversaw the inventory of industry jobs and, with the assistance of Donna Sobkoviak (Team Advisor as mentioned earlier), provided first-hand experience of team operations especially on game day.

Kara Brostron (Website) played an incredibly important role on the team as Equipment Manager, ensuring our gear and tools were in stock, easily accessible and repaired when needed.

It was fun playing with all of you!  But now...it’s time to settle in on the sideline. 

Julie S. Hill, SPHR

Gateway ALA Chapter President, 2012-2013

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Who's News?

Please welcome the following new chapter members:

Derek Cisler, Training Manager, Husch Blackwell LLP

190 Carondelet Plaza Suite 600, Clayton, MO 63105

314.480.1500

Janet Steck, Office Administrator, Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC

1010 Market Street Suite 950, St. Louis, MO 63101

314.231.2925

Mary Hindley, Office Administrator, Littler Mendelson, PC.

1900 16th St., Denver, CO 80202

303.629.6200

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Kudos!

Congratulations to Angela Louis, Firm Administrator, Pitzer Snodgrass P.C., who recently passed the Society for Human Resources Management certification -  Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).

This certification indicates that she has mastered the core Human Resources principles which include strategic management, workforce planning and employment, human resource development, total rewards, employee and labor relations, risk management.

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Spotlight Member

My name is: Derek Cisler

I work for: Husch Blackwell LLP

The firm's practice is: Litigation and Business Services

My title is: Training Manager

Before becoming a legal administrator, I was: a Training Manager at Premier Knowledge Solutions.

I entered the field of legal administration because: it allowed to me focus on a more specific type of training and management and employee development. Training programs for all levels of employees that include not only technical skills but also interpersonal and personal effectiveness content.

I have been working in the legal community for: 8 years

I decided to join ALA because: after presenting at the past two regional conferences and meeting many of you in Kansas City or Minneapolis, it was time!

The hardest situation I have had to deal with: not necessarily hard, but more challenging, was realizing, after three years, I made the wrong career decision coming out of college.

The best advice I've received: if your boss ever asks you to attend a meeting on a Friday afternoon that happens to be a payday, say you are busy.

Advice I would give someone just entering the legal management field: is the same advice I would give anyone in the corporate world...don't forget about adaptive skills like getting along with people, being assertive, flexible, confident, patient and a million other things. And, it's OK to be productive AND have fun!

I try to motivate my staff by: giving them an environment where they have the professional flexibility to exercise their judgment on how to best handle most situations. And, trying to give them a fun environment...one where they look forward to show up at work each day.

If I weren't a legal administrator I would be: working at REI in Denver.

Three words which best desribe me: are tall, cheesehead and beard.

I recommend ALA membership to others because: whenever you think you are the only person to have a certain question, concern or problem, there's a really good chance you aren't. ALA is an organization that helps connect people to gain knowledge and make them better.

In my free time: I like to travel to National Parks with my family, climb 14,000'+ mountains in Colorado, and coach my son's basketball and soccer teams.

Last good book I read: was Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain.

Last vacation I took: was in California with my wife and son. Three days in San Francisco and four days in Yosemite National Park.

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Legal Industry Trends

How much time are you spending chasing down employees’ completed goal forms, mid-year, and annual appraisals? My hunch is too much.

Most HR professionals would like to spend less time trying to get managers and employees to utilize their organizations’ performance management tools. When done well, employees request performance management tools and use them without being prodded. Done poorly, employees see appraisals and goal setting as a check-the-box, must-do activity. 

If your employees are not seeing goal setting and appraisals as valuable, perhaps it’s time to change a few things. 

When I managed training and succession planning for a mutual fund company I worked closely with our HR generalists. The first year we worked together one of the generalists said to me, “My clients think all these forms are a waste of time. If you can give them a one page performance appraisal, they’ll use it.” From that moment on I was on a mission for all performance management tools to be one or two pages and be so simple that they could teach themselves.

Here are a couple of questions to assess the effectiveness of your performance management tools:

1. Are your performance management tools short, simple and easy to understand?
2. Do employees believe that they an impact their annual performance rating and compensation by writing and achieving agreed-upon goals?
3. Do your performance management tools help create meaningful dialogue and help managers and employees strengthen their relationship?
4. Do the tools help employees ask for and receive useful and timely feedback?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, consider changing your performance management tools. Make them shorter, simpler, and easier to use. Put questions on the forms that will drive good conversations that employees and managers are not having now.  

Give your employees tools that will help them to have different conversations. We tend to get what we ask for.  If an employee isn’t doing what you’re expecting, take a look at what you’re asking. Managers get the performance they allow.  If managers want different performance, they need to reset expectations and require a higher level of performance. 

Here are a few steps you and the managers you support can take to motivate better performance:

• If managers aren’t having regular one-on-one meetings with employees, institute those meetings now.
  • A 30-minute, semimonthly meeting led by the direct report will do the trick.
  • The direct report schedules the meeting and sends the agenda.
• During each meeting the direct report should talk about what s/he is working on that is going well and what s/he is concerned about.
• S/he should ask for help where s/he needs it.
• And the manager and direct report should give each other feedback on what’s gone well and what could be improved since they met last.
  • Giving bite sized pieces of feedback frequently makes giving and receiving feedback easier, more useful and more likely.

The most frequent complaint I get from managers is about employees who aren’t performing, and there is nothing the manager feels s/he can do.  Managers say things like, “My employees have been with the company forever. They are so-so performers, are at the top of their pay grade and aren’t going anywhere.”  Or, “my employees are three years from retirement and have no incentive to improve their performance.”  And most frustrating is this complaint, “HR won’t let managers do anything about employees who are not producing results.”

We know that these things are not true. There are many things managers can do to raise every employees’ performance.

My greatest recommendation to managers with unmotivated employees is to demand a higher level of performance by setting meaningful goals and managing to these expectations. By managing to those expectations I mean, talk with employees every time s/he performs below expectations. That’s it. Getting better performance is simple, but not easy.

No one, not even your worst performing employees, enjoy being told when they don’t meet expectations. No one likes to be told s/he is wrong. When managers address subpar performance as soon as it happens and every time it happens, they will reverse the performance trend. Employees will either step up or step out. Hopefully they’ll step up.

***Shari Harley is the author of the business book How to Say Anything to Anyone:  A Guide for Building Business Relationships that Really Work and is founder and President of Candid Culture, a Denver-based training firm that is bringing candor back to the workplace, making it easier to tell the truth at work. Learn more about Shari’s training programs and read an excerpt from her new book at: www.candidculture.com. This article was originally published in the ALA Capital Chapter's newsletter.

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Business Partner Benefits - Cintas Document Management

Cintas Document Management specializes in a complete document management solution that includes: document storage, scanning/imaging, document shredding, hard drive destruction, x-ray destruction, online backup for disaster recovery, and online employee compliance training. Cintas Document Management is a certified PCI Vendor, Privacy Plus + Certified, and was the first document management company to become AAA NAID Certified Nationwide. Our certifications, policies, and procedures allow us to provide the highest level of security and compliance to ensure ALA members are provided with a program that helps to increase compliance with regulations such as: FACTA, HIPAA, HITECH, The Red Flag Rule, SOX, and GLB.

We are pleased to announce our newest service, online employee compliance training. Cintas will provide companies with online training programs that are customized by industry. These online training courses help to keep your company in compliance with training courses such as, FACTA “Red Flags”, Fraud Awareness & Detection, Safe Harbor Privacy, Preventing Discrimination & Harassment, Protecting Personal Information and Record Management. Our training is designed by adult learning experts to be highly engaging so that employees are more likely to remember the critical information necessary to help protect your business. For questions and more information on this exciting service, please contact Tobin Willhite at: 314.280.7733

Cintas has worked with the ALA Gateway Chapter for several years as well as several other Chapters such as, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Due to that relationship we have been able to offer a broad range of document management solutions for its members. We are honored to have partnered with them over the years participating in numerous charity events that greatly benefit our communities. If you would like more information in regards to our services please do not hesitate to give us a call at 314.595.5217. Mention this article when you call to receive $50 off your next purge of $200 or more.

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Community Service

If you cannot assist with the basket creation during the day, hop on over to meet fellow members at the Bunny Hop Bar Hop in the evening.

4:00 p.m. - Over/Under, 911 Washington Ave. St. Louis, MO

5:00 p.m. - Mosaic, 1001 Washington Ave. St. Louis, MO

6:00 p.m. - Copia, 1122 Washington Ave. St. Louis, MO

Each stop is sponsored by one of our valuable Business Partners. We hope to see you there!

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Calendar of Events

3/20 - Chapter Meeting: The Power of ALA Leadership and Installation of Officers. Steve Wingert, ALA National President, will be the featured speaker. Moulin, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

3/22 - Operation Bunny Hop, Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard, P.C. - 11th Floor, 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

4/14 - 4/17 - ALA National Annual Educational Conference & Exposition, Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center | National Harbor, Maryland (Washington DC area)

4/24 - Chapter Meeting: How to Lead Positive Change with Confidence. Bill Mech will be the featured speaker. Westin Hotel, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

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Photo Gallery

To view photos from our Social Connections SuperBowl Bash CLICK HERE:

To view photos from our Business Partner Appreciation event CLICK HERE:

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ALA Resources

The 2013 Annual Conference for National Harbor is fast approaching - April 14 to 17, 2013.  The conference is at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center, in National Harbor Maryland!

The conference has gone hi-tech this year and there will be no printed brochure.  The brochure is online and includes a new “Flip Book” brochure conference application.  This can be located on the National Harbor Conference page at http://www.alanet.org/conf/2013/default.html. In addition, they have put together a very good and active conference blog at http://alaconf.wordpress.com/.

Please feel free to contact our very own committee members Mary Jennings at [email protected] with any conference questions.  

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