I'm 41 years old. For the past 8 years, I worked as a marketing director for a law firm in an area of the US that legal marketing wasn't quite ... well, it wasn't as embraced as it is on the East and West Coast. In March, 2010, I was laid off. (I saw it coming about 5 months prior and I was part II of defatting the calf.) I was HIGHLY HIGHLY fortunate to find another similar job within 2 months...except, it is vastly different. Same concept - law firm, but 5x the size and only a brush of familiarity with the conept marketing and public relations for a professional services firm.
The firm, or rather 8 or 9 attorneys within the firm, have been working with an outlying consultant for the past 2 years. Although he -- the individual -- may be competent, in my few months with the firm, he tends to assign items to his employees which I find I have to follow up on. Regardless of the competency factor, he has developed relationships with these 8 or 9 attorneys who ideally would serve as the most progressive in business development, ergo my "go-to" people to make things happen and to vocerfiously support my validity within the firm.
And while it has been just short of 6 months with this firm, and the overwhelming trend of those 8 to 9 attorneys latching on tight to the teat of this particular consultant, it is painfully obvious TO ME that they can let go and rest their worlds on my Atlas shoulders. (It's really a whole lot simpler than what it has been made out to be for these attorneys. But when someone works from a distance, and it takes a team of 10 who meet monthly to make a final decision about minute details, well - simplicity, and effectiveness, seems to fly out the door.)
Now, it is not as though I am not up for a challenge -- love those! But what it is, is I'm posing the challenge, offering the solution and getting back checked by this guy who has no real vested interest in this law firm other than gaining a $2K paycheck each month for being a "consultant". How do I get them to transition from a part-timer, throw-the-easy-meat-to-the-dogs consultant to full-time to an effective, efficient onsight staffer for marketing and business development with understanding for the market and client-centric driven messages?
Thursday is gonna be tough. I need to just listen.
