This article was written by the team at Totum Partners, a market leading recruitment company focused on sourcing exceptional business services talent for the professional services market. It follows an event at which we explored the unique mindset of the lawyer.
In this article, the team at Totum Partners recap their most recent event ‘Inside the mind of a Lawyer’, a seminar which saw Gavin Sharpe deliver his unique perspective on coaching lawyers for peak performance in a rapidly changing market. Gavin is a former lawyer, ex-CEO and co-founder of the legal recruitment company SSQ, as well as a therapist and performance coach.
The stereotype of a lawyer is that of an argumentative, cynical perfectionist. And while these traits might make for an excellent legal brain, they don’t always translate well into leadership and managerial positions. So how can we unpick this and help top lawyers become even better leaders?
This was the theme of a recent breakfast seminar held by Totum Partners, featuring a lecture by leadership coach, award-winning recruitment company founder and one-time lawyer, Gavin Sharpe.
Held at the London headquarters of Harbottle & Lewis, Sharpe opened the event by asking attendees what percentage of people achieve their full potential. According to renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow, the answer is just 2%. So how do we tap into the vast reserve of wasted talent?
For Sharpe, much of this is about mindset. He gave the example of the four minute mile, which until 1954 had been thought of as beyond the capabilities of humans. Then, scientists explored the possibility and suggested that such a feat was possible, given the right conditions. Shortly after, Roger Bannister ran the first four minute mile. A few weeks later, the feat was repeated. Then a few months later, another athlete completed a mile in under four minutes.
“The only thing that changed was the belief that they could do it and that it had been done before,” said Sharpe. “If we can shift our mindset, the possibilities are limitless,” he added.
But first, we have to know what we’re dealing with. Dr Larry Richard is a leading expert on the psychology of lawyer behaviour. He set out to examine the key personality traits of lawyers, with his research finding that lawyers are dramatically different from those in other professions.
For example, said Sharpe, one of the attributes that lawyers score extremely highly in is cynicism. Lawyers are incredibly judgmental and highly suspicious, questioning the motive behind everything.
Other traits for lawyers include needing autonomy and independence, being result oriented, analysing everything and having a sense of urgency, with Dr Richard memorably describing it as “every lawyer acts as if they are on their way to a fire”.
Conversely, lawyers score less highly on some of the more emotionally intelligent skills, according to Dr Richard. They tend to be less sociable than those in other professions, preferring information to people. Lawyers are also less resilient and less open to criticism than others.
One area lawyers score particularly low on is empathy, struggling to understand others’ perspective and motivations. While they may be able to demonstrate these skills with a document, they can’t do it with people.
Great lawyer, great manager?
For those of us who work with lawyers, much of this will be unsurprising. Yet the challenge lies in how these skills – or lack of them – stack up in the new world of work.
“The skills that make great lawyers may have made them great managers too, ten years ago – but that’s changed,” said Sharpe.
“In this new world of work, leaders need to be resilient. Leaders need to be open to taking risks. They’ve got to be able to connect to different generations. As Marshall Goldsmith says ‘what got you here, won’t get you there’,” he added.
To help lawyers change their behaviour, first you have to help them understand what is going on in their brains. Our brains are wired for survival, dealing with the primitive flight or flight urge needed to outrun predators when we sense a threat. While there aren’t many sabre-toothed tigers chasing us today, the perfectionism and cynicism of lawyers means they spend much of their day feeling under threat.
This continued stress leads the amygdala – the brain’s alarm system – to overwhelm the prefrontal cortex, which is the decision-making part of our brain. When this happens, an individual can no longer make the same rational choices as they did previously because they are so stressed. And if an individual is permanently under stress, their ability to serve clients, build teams and be a good lawyer also comes under threat.
“When stressed and angry, lawyers spend way too much time reacting, rather than responding,” said Sharpe.
Creating lasting development
So how do you take a sceptical, cynical lawyer and get them to let go of that?
For Sharpe, the key to any coaching development is to be explicit about the change in behaviour you want to see.
“To get coaching right, something has to change. How do you measure that change? What will someone be doing differently than they are doing now? When will that change happen? Accountability is key to lasting change,” he said.
A good way to build that accountability is to have lawyers work in group sessions on leadership development, with Sharpe suggesting that lawyers respond and change much faster in a group setting. When a commitment to change is made, the group can hold individuals responsible.
Next is to break down that initial resistance to change by naming that first step to solving a challenge. For example, if someone is being asked to develop a million pound practice, what is the smallest step they can take to achieve that? Rather than contacting 100 new people on LinkedIn, perhaps they could follow up on the two conversations they had last week with potential new clients. That first step is good enough and is how change begins to happen, argued Sharpe.
Lastly, Sharpe took the group through four pillars he says inhibit individuals from reaching peak performance.
- Limiting assumptions
What are the stories we tell ourselves that limit our potential? These can be things like ‘I’m not good at networking’, or ‘I’m not a natural rainmaker’.
“The first thing I do in any session is to reverse those assumptions,” said Sharpe. “I’ll ask: ‘If you were good at networking, what would you do?’. Or, ‘if you did deserve success, what would you do differently?’”
“The response might be something like ‘I’d go to that event I was invited to’, or ‘I’d ask when I would be considered for Partner status’. That’s a great first step,” said Sharpe.
- Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is key. Can you read the room? Can you be aware of your own emotions? Often, this is about slowing down your thought processes and taking time to think.
“A lot of the work I do is helping lawyers to connect to their self-awareness. Once they know what is happening, they can manage themselves better,” Sharpe told the group.
- Cognitive distortions
Too often, lawyers get stuck in black and white thinking. They catastrophise, jumping to a negative conclusion. While this might be a trait that makes them a good lawyer, it can be damaging to other parts of their life. How can they identify when this is happening and use it in the right circumstances?
- The Three P’s: Perfectionism, people pleasing and procrastination
As with the above, a lawyer’s need for perfection in their work can be paralysing and lead to procrastination. This, when combined with their innate need to please clients, can lead to negative consequences in their relationships.
“Not only do I have to be perfect, but so does all the work my team brings me. We can lower the expectations on ourselves without affecting the quality of what we do,” said Sharpe.
To find out more about similar Totum events, contact Sarah Broad at [email protected].
