The third and final part of my discussion with Dr. Larry Richard, an expert on the psychology of lawyers, on wellness and mental health in our industry. Click to read the first and second parts of our discussion.

MATT: You talk about how important autonomy is to workplace satisfaction, which makes sense intuitively. I worry again that creating autonomy is harder inside a law firm than inside a law department. 

For one, at least in my day, most lawyers emerged from law school largely ignorant of the realities and demands of the practice itself. Law school was where you went to “think like a lawyer,” and the law firms were multi-year apprenticeships in how to practice. That model, which has been around for decades, seems to conspire against autonomy. 

By contrast, most legal departments only hire experienced lawyers who can hit the ground running and need to work autonomously given the business model and economics of the company. My own personal experience has been that lawyers moving in-house who cannot transition rapidly to having a lot of autonomy tend to be the ones who don’t succeed. 

LARRY: Fair point, though I would also add that creating autonomy does not require momentous or disruptive change. The key is that the individual has the freedom to regularly exercise some control over his or her own experience.

...the more people trust others, the more collaborative they are, the more engaged ... the higher the profitability.

Social connection is also deeply important. Feeling connected to others produces copious amounts of the hormone oxytocin. And the more oxytocin, the more people trust others, the more collaborative they are, the more engaged, and the higher the profitability.

You can cultivate social connection in several ways. You can create a culture that encourages people to form authentic relationships, foster a culture of collaboration, and feel safe being their real selves at work. 

MATT: I believe this may become even harder to build in the years to come. Workforce trends generally seem to be pulling us away from each other. 

LARRY: Yes, the increasingly virtual workplace poses big challenges to establishing and maintaining social connection. All the more reason to put social connection near the top of the priority list, and to make conscious efforts to regularly promote it.

Lastly is the notion of competence. We have 75 years of research indicating how powerful it can be to focus on one’s strengths. People are motivated by the feeling that they are progressively mastering a skill, and growing increasingly competent and effective in using that skill.

When the skill is also something that they enjoy using, and they get to the point where they do it effortlessly, it can be considered a “strength” as well.

MATT: This resonates strongly with me. Starting years ago, our entire team started working with the Strength Finders assessments and tools. Everyone has strengths that can be leveraged both personally and in team settings (name it, claim it, aim it!), and working to leverage one’s strengths is vastly more effective than toiling to improve marginally a weakness that is somebody else’s deep strength. 

Indeed, we just spent time on our individual and relative strengths last week in team exercises designed to show how we can best use all of our various strengths collectively. 

LARRY: Research shows that when managers place more emphasis on cultivating strengths as opposed to repairing deficiencies, workplace engagement soars, and what Gallup calls “active disengagement” drops from 22% to zero percent! 

...when managers place more emphasis on cultivating strengths as opposed to repairing deficiencies, workplace engagement soars

When people get to use their strengths every day, it leads to high levels of engagement, work satisfaction, and overall well-being. People are motivated by the feeling that they are progressively mastering a skill and growing increasingly competent and effective in using that skill. In fact, the cover story in the current issue of Harvard Business Review is about a similar finding regarding the giving of feedback – it’s much more effective when we provide feedback about what’s working, rather than about what you’re doing poorly.

Skeptical lawyers find that counterintuitive, but there’s a long history of research supporting that finding.

MATT: You’ve laid out important focus areas for organizations seeking to create or strengthen their wellness culture. It sounds like, in the end, we all want some common things from our work and workplace. 

We want to experience positive emotions, feel connected to the work and our co-workers, enjoy some autonomy over our actions and choices, and have the opportunity to build and express our skills. It sounds simple, but of course it can be quite complex to influence and shift a culture in any direction.

Any final thoughts for leaders who are reading this and want to commit to a wellness program?

...the upside of being in such a disruptive climate is that most of your people are more likely to be receptive to internal change

LARRY: I know this can feel overwhelming. I would just remind them that they need not implement everything I just listed in order to create a positive culture.  But whatever they do implement needs to cascade throughout the firm culture in a saturating way. They must be encapsulated in overall policy considerations, embedded in firm-wide messaging, captured in cultural artifacts and symbols, conveyed through stories, taught and role-modeled by leaders, and constantly reinforced among rank-and-file lawyers and staff.  These new principles need to be so pervasively present in the culture that the average worker in the firm can’t escape their daily influence.

One saving grace is that we are now living in a time of greater change than any of us has ever experienced. And the upside of being in such a disruptive climate is that most of your people are more likely to be receptive to internal change initiatives now than at any previous moment.

So, take advantage of this window. Not only can you reduce lawyer loneliness, depression, and substance abuse, but you can increase everything good about working together, including worker satisfaction, client satisfaction, and the bottom line.

MATT:  Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom with us, Larry. Hopefully our profession will take heed and make meaningful progress in this critical area.

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