A2: Memo With Negative Message

You are an attorney and run your own practice. Your specialty is divorce and family law. Your clients are coming to you at the worst times in their life. Your practice is situated in a very small town — so everyone knows EVERYONE and all their business. Confidentiality is a must. Years ago, you hired Melissa Ramirez to manage your practice. At the time, Melissa was coming off a long-term stint as the PTO for all three of the schools her kids attended in town. Melissa is well respected in your town and knows everyone. Melissa has worked for you for almost 15 years and knows the business inside and out, including billing, scheduling, supply management, and handling confidential and sensitive issues. She has unmatched credibility and seemingly boundless empathy for clients, as well as the solid technical skills to do the job. The clients and the opposing attorneys and court officials find her personality engaging and pleasant. Unfortunately, lately, she hasn’t been as attentive as he needs to be when it comes to communicating. You’ve been getting complaints about voice-mail messages gone unanswered for days, confusing emails that require two or three rounds of clarification, and reports and bills that are haphazardly thrown together. As valuable as Melissa’s other skills are, she’s going to cost the practice if this goes on much longer. The soft skill relationships are vital to your practice’s survival, and she’s the employee most involved in the channel. As an added complication, Melissa has also been coming in just a little later each day and seems to be taking just a bit longer at lunch. You have always trusted Melissa to get the work done — you don’t track her time — but now, it’s getting in the way. Your task: Without restating the passage above, write a memo that includes an informal performance appraisal and improvement plan for Melissa. Be sure to compliment her on the areas in which she excels. You must also address and highlight the areas in which she needs to improve: punctual response to client messages, including clear writing and careful revision, production, and proofreading, as well as attendance and punctuality at work. Your plan must include a path to success, a time frame for that path and how Melissa will be evaluated for success on that path. It must be SPECIFIC as to the expectations — this is an essential part of effective business communications: specificity. Specific means DETAILS with clear expectations — nothing vague. The plan must be concrete, or the communication does not have the necessary requirements. Use what you have learned in this class so far to supply any additional advice on the importance of these skills. (Use proper Memo Formatting!) A note about this assignment: This assignment is assessing your skills in writing with appropriate TONE as well as an understanding of your AUDIENCE. Content must be specific in order for the communication to be effective. Before you write, consider who is in control in this situation. Is it you, the boss? or is it really the employee? Your goal here is to rehabilitate her, not alienate her. Tone will be the first thing Melissa hears/feels, and that will drive her entire reaction. Assuming the tone is appropriate, the content must be specific to a path to success for an employee of so many years. Many students fail this assignment because they threaten, scold, or use harsh tones. This is not effective communication. ALWAYS remember the purpose of the writing.

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