By Kathleen Curran Ph.D.
The legal sector has grown exponentially in the past few years. Along with growth comes new challenges – AKA problems to address!
According to Congneesol, a global professional services specializing in business process improvement for increasing agility (https://www.cogneesol.com), sources of key pressures felt by legal firms can be traced to many things, among them shifts in communication infrastructure, early legal career talent development, and simply embracing adaptations compelled by an increasingly competitive, hybrid, AI augmented working environment. Underpinning this business process issues, however, is an even more significant one: The legal profession dilemma. As a profession that is founded and grounded on truth, fairness, and commitment to client support in times of need, the uncertain configuration of dynamic variables can be overwhelming and exacerbate some interpersonal tendencies.
Based on first-hand experience, Brian Quinn, of LawLine (https://blog.lawline.com/attorneys-battle-imposter-syndrome-and-how-to-deal-with-it) affirms that the legal profession is synonymous with exceptional expectations, intolerance of mistakes and risk avoidance. For example, as classic overachievers, lawyers tend to set impossible-to-meet standards for themselves, are trained to be on the constant lookout for problems, and hold responsibility for taking care of clients. An inherent pessimism and fear over what might go wrong create a sense that problems are everywhere, the true urgency of which becomes exaggerated. They also often fail to seek out help when needed, not wanting to appear weak. Finally, they also face constant deadlines set by the courts, other parties, clients, and their senior colleagues over which they have very little control, which in turn, compels control-freakism and the feeling that if they want something done right, they have to do it themselves. What does all this look like? Procrastination, putting off an assignment out of fear that he or she won’t be able to complete it to the necessary high standards. Or, delay by over-preparation, spending much more time on a task than is necessary.
These dramatic yet quite realistic descriptions, especially pertinent to the legal profession, can lead to individuals in chronic overwhelm, burn-out, and a sense of being continually “in the mud”, the state messy place of I-Don’t-Know-ness (IDKN).
The mud, a part of every developmental landscape, is uncomfortable as well as deep, given the scenario just described. At the same time, the being in the mud is state where strategies and practices that support creative thinking and innovation are generated.
A messy climate: A little story to illustrate
A legal firm felt that junior employees tended not to take responsibility for their performance, which was causing missed expectations by superiors as well as clients, thereby damaging trust. Given the tendencies just cited, some hypotheses have to be posed: Perhaps the junior level employees didn’t understand the processes to follow well or did not have nor ask for training, and was afraid to raise a hand for help. Perhaps the assumption was that in this relationship dynamic with overachieving experts, the junior level lawyer may not be seen as up to par? Or perhaps in this culture of high standards and perfectionism, saying “I don’t know” would not be acceptable behavior?
It’s important to point out that being in the mud is not only an individual issue. It’s all over processes, relationships, and embedded in any organization’s taken-for-granted culture, too. Looking at this landscape, we can see deep mud at the individual, relational and cultural levels.
It’s human to prefer to appear competent, so sometimes a fear of not knowing and feeling that one would be caught out as an imposter if that uncertainty was revealed is a huge deterrent, a significant trigger that sends the person right into the mud. A general estimate is that about 70% of all people will experience the imposter phenomenon at some point in their lives! The US Supreme Court judge, Sonya Sotomayor has suffered the feeling of not being good enough or belonging.
Developing the self-awareness of triggers that send one into the mud, and techniques for climbing out into a space of curiosity and expanded perspectives can unclog the communication infrastructure.
What to do?
Here are a few simple but powerful steps for getting out of the mud and into the magic!
- Recognize when you are triggered and fall in the mud, but don’t fight it! Appreciate it!
- Pause to explore possible sources, but don’t blame or beat yourself up. Interrupt that emotional reaction. Quinn highlights the need to develop a healthy response to failure and mistakes and avoid comparing yourself to others
- Reframe. Look at the mud from a new perspective of curiosity, which increases possibilities from which to choose an optimal next step.
- Respond with clarity and confidence, because you’ve thought about it! You know your choice is the best for the purpose, context, and client you are serving.
Increasing clarity in those sometimes “fossilized” processes, cleaning up relationships and the communication by senior staff who may need to let go of feeling a need for being right and are resistant to being questioned, and cultivating the psychologically safe climate that thrives in the space of IDKN are crucial ways to address that big muddy issue of communication infrastructure. By doing so, one of the main challenges in legal firms today can be alleviated.
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