3  Working effectively with colleagues

The following video highlights different forms of interactions with colleagues in legal workplaces.

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Transcript: Video 5  Working with colleagues

STEPHANIE BELL

Yeah, so I think colleagues in chambers can have a massive part to play in supporting healthy mental health because it's your colleagues in chambers who might know the solicitors that you're working with. They know your clerks. Your peers will know the difficult QC in chambers who you've been working for, the little issues that come up. It's that safe base to go back to after court.

But on the flip side, if your chambers isn't that, if your chambers is a toxic, competitive, difficult environment where people don't really talk. People come in, go to their room, go home or don't come in after court, and people just complain about their fees or compete over cases, if that's your chambers, then that's very difficult. You don't have that safe base to work from.

VLAD VALIENTE

Now, in terms of the healthy professional, I think it's someone that ultimately is happy in their job, enjoys what they're doing, and that kind of enthusiasm is infectious for the rest of the team. And so that creates the right environment and the right healthy environment for everybody to work in. And that's what, I guess, we should all be striving for as much as possible.

PAUL NEVIN

In both the legal workplace and other workplaces that I've been in, it has been my experience that if you have a person who, for whatever reason, is not in a good place or is not expressing positive feelings or is maybe perhaps even suffering mental health difficulties themselves or all of these things, they can bring a team down. One person can bring a team down very quickly. They can reduce the morale of a team. And a whole team can find it very difficult to bring that one person up. It's not so easy.

So an unkind way to put it is, I think, in this life, there are people that sometimes who can be mood hoovers and they entirely change the feeling of a room and upset the fine balance. And often, you need to find balance to get the good work done because we are distractable creatures. So there is always conflict in workplaces. And sometimes that can go on for years and sometimes techniques can help, but sometimes it can't be fixed. It's tough sometimes.

PATRICIA WHITE

Within the profession, we have to adhere by high standards and professional obligations. And I think it can be quite difficult if, perhaps, you have a colleague that maybe is not reaching those standards as high as you would expect them to do. So that can cause some frustration in trying to work with someone who perhaps is not achieving quite as a high standard as expected. And therefore, the frustration can lead ultimately to mental health issues where one is perhaps in a situation where they're suppressing how they really feel and just accepting a particular set of circumstances and scenarios.

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Video 5  Working with colleagues

Legal professionals often work closely with a range of colleagues. This can include other legal professionals within their workplace, colleagues externally at other workplaces, support staff and also professionals in other fields, such as expert witnesses. In-house lawyers will also work closely with non-lawyers in their workplace.

Working with such a range of people will have an impact on your emotional wellbeing and also the wellbeing of your colleagues. For example, if you are under significant pressure you could end up forgetting to include courtesies such as ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in your interactions with colleagues and perhaps be more irritable with the people around you. This can lead to colleagues reciprocating or distancing themselves. As a result, individuals may end up feeling more isolated and less well-supported in their work. This could lead to them feeling less engaged and motivated.

The next activity is designed to help you assess your current relationships with your colleagues.

Continue to 3.1 Working in a legal team.

Many legal professionals, particularly those who work in medium or large-sized law firms, will work on larger client files as part of a larger team within that firm. Each member of the team will bring their own emotions to their work and interactions.

Within a team, it is likely different members will also contribute in different ways. The work of Belbin (1981) identifies nine different roles within teams (although it was initially eight). It suggests some individuals will naturally gravitate to certain roles, although this may be influenced by particular circumstances. The nine roles are as follows:

More information can be found here on each of these roles and their potential strengths and weaknesses, e.g. a ‘teamworker’ may be good at collaborating and averting arguments, but may struggle to make unpopular decisions.

Belbin’s work is only one way to identify different roles in a team and has been criticised by some, however, it does provide a useful way of identifying and interpreting different team dynamics. This demonstrates that individuals are likely to have different emotional responses depending on the role they play within the team. It can therefore help in understanding and interpreting your own emotional responses and those of your team members.

As well as influencing the emotions of individuals, there is some effort that teams will collectively generate emotions and that these can influence the success of the team, either negatively or positively (Barsade and Gibson, 2013). These team emotions are generated in a number of ways. One way is via ‘emotional contagion’ where one team member’s emotions and moods triggers similar emotions and moods in other team members. Another way is via a team member actively displaying certain moods and emotions to encourage others to respond similarly. These processes illustrate the importance of acknowledging and thinking about emotions within team settings, e.g. a team leader may wish to model appropriate emotional behaviours to encourage other team members to do the same. Likewise, if you leave a meeting where the emotional contagion is negative due to a situation like a colleague or manager being angry and annoyed, you may want to take a few minutes to reorient yourself towards dropping these unhelpful emotions as they belong to another person and may not serve you well that day. You can try recognising this emotion and then engaging in a short activity that helps to diminish this emotion, such as deep breathing or listening to calm sounds or music you like for a minute.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of virtual teams. These are teams where individuals are geographically dispersed but work together via digital means, such as email and video conferencing. Often the non-verbal cues that are present in face-to-face teams are not present (or at least not as easy to interpret) in online interactions. However, there are ways to promote emotional awareness online, including using webcams, using icons and emojis and using both written and verbal communication methods to avoid emotional misunderstandings.

There can be advantages to displaying, rather than stifling, negative emotions within teams. If a project fails in some way, it is important for the team to experience a sense of loss to motivate them to learn from the failure and explore ways of resolving the issues that resulted in it. However, if the negative emotions involved become overwhelming, they can contribute to a toxic culture and inappropriate decision-making (Stephens and Carmeli, 2016).

Appropriate ways to deal with conflict can include:

• Fostering a positive workplace culture overall – This may well reduce levels of conflict. Of course, wider factors such as the attitudes of management will impact on culture. However, there are small steps that individuals can take to promote a healthy culture, like speaking courteously even when under pressure, bringing in a card or cake for someone’s birthday and acknowledging and thanking people for contributions they have made.
• Set ground rules early on, and stick to them! – At the start of a project it’s a good idea to have ground rules in place, including how to deal with any conflicts that arise. Even if you do not have them in place from the start, you can always have a discussion and set some if/when it appears a conflict is likely to arise.
• Stay alert – Spotting the early warning signs of conflict, from crossed arms and hunched shoulders to an aggressively-worded email can assist you in tackling the issue at an early stage, before it escalates and individuals’ positions become more entrenched.
• Defuse emotional responses – It is important to acknowledge individuals’ emotional responses to a conflict. However, it is also valuable to encourage individuals to regulate their responses appropriately. This could involve depersonalising the conflict (focusing on the issues rather than the personalities that are involved), modelling more neutral language and responses or even facilitating a session to ‘clear the air’.

• Ask for help – If you are struggling with a conflict within a team, whether as a leader/manager, team member or observer, it is important to feel able to ask for assistance in resolving it. This could be from a more senior person, your Human Resources Department or perhaps even someone external who could act as a neutral sounding board. It could also involve requesting specific training in conflict management and resolution.

If you are a line manager, supervisor or lead a team, it is important to be acutely aware of the wellbeing of those you are responsible for. This video highlights the influence leaders and managers can have in determining the wellbeing of colleagues.

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Transcript: Video 6  Leadership and wellbeing

VLAD VALIENTE

Think you will also hear about jobs that are described, for example, as, oh, that's not a healthy environment, or that's not a happy ship. When you hear these phrases, you already know that something's gone wrong, and the leadership isn't there. And that's not somewhere you want to work because you know that unhappy ships will lead to unhappy people and, ultimately, a lack of productivity, a lack of teamwork, a lack of everybody pushing for the same thing.

KHYATI JOSHI

You are being taught by people who know - or who think they know-- how to teach or train. But they may not. They're human. This is how they have learned, so they pass the same methods of teaching to you. It may not be appropriate to your method of learning. But that's how it is. And if you're not on the same level as them, you may find it difficult to appreciate law and its practice.

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Video 6  Leadership and wellbeing

Many legal professionals in senior positions have been trained as lawyers, not managers or leaders. This can mean that they become line managers, supervisors or are given other leadership roles which they are not necessary trained and equipped for. When offered such a role, it is important to think about what training and/or support you require and what skills you need to focus on developing.

Ways to tackle these issues can include:

• Ensuring before you begin the role that there is relevant support in place, e.g. if you are expected to manage a team of five individuals to ensure they complete a workload meant for eight individuals, it is clear that there is a need to bring in additional team members or reduce the team’s workload. If a leadership role is going to lead to a large increase in administrative work then you may want to negotiate for some more secretarial or IT support. Negotiating these issues is an important part of preparing to take on a leadership role. It helps manage your employer’s expectations and sets appropriate boundaries in place.
• Asking your employer to fund relevant training for you. This may involve accessing training courses not specifically targeted at lawyers – a wide range of training providers offer leadership development training.
• Doing your own research and learning. There are lots of great resources available for free online, e.g. via edX.
• Seeking regular feedback from members of your team/individuals you supervise to assist you in identifying any issues at an early stage. This means you can deal with them proactively and it also fosters an environment where there is plenty of two-way communication.

There may be times when taking on a new role can feel challenging or even overwhelming. You may also have a sense of ‘imposter syndrome’ – a feeling that you were lucky to get the role and do not really deserve it. If that is the case, you may find this free online course helpful.

A recent survey by the Junior Lawyers Division of the Law Society of England and Wales (2019) found that many respondents commented on the need for employers to tackle the root cause of work-related stress by addressing workloads, how work is allocated and ensuring sufficient qualified and support staff are available to assist with the volume of work.

If you are in a leadership position, you may find that part of your role involves advocating broader changes to your employer, for example, where there are issues with workload allocation and measurement. It is often possible to make a strong business case for change in terms of long-term economic benefits, particularly a reduction in staff absences and attrition rates (Deloitte, 2017; Reich, 2020).

Everyone, no matter what role that are in, can have a part to play in supporting colleagues. This can involve some really simple things such as asking how someone is (and meaning it!), offering a cup of coffee and stopping at someone’s desk for a chat. In the same way that it is important to be attuned to the emotions of clients (see Section 2), it is also important to be aware of your colleagues emotions so that you can respond appropriately.

Some tips on this include:

• Allowing time for ‘small talk’ so you can gauge an individual’s mood and emotional state.
• Paying attention to verbal and non-verbal cues throughout interactions.
• Being aware of personal events which may impact on people’s work (e.g. a bereavement or anniversary).
• Do not dismiss someone as ‘over-emotional’ or ‘emotionless’. It is likely that they simply express their emotions in different ways than you.

If you are in a leadership or managerial role, in terms of support for colleagues, it is important to be aware of the types of support that are available and how colleagues can access it. A recent IBA (International Bar Association) Presidential Task Force survey of lawyers globally (2021) indicated that there was a gap between the number of employers who identified wellbeing as a priority and the perceptions of employees who felt too little was done.

If appropriate policies, procedures and support for wellbeing issues are not in place at your firm, part of your role may be to advocate for the development of these. It will also be important to ensure you are aware of external sources of support, such as LawCare. If they are available, being able to direct colleagues to them can be very valuable. As can being able to communicate clearly and regularly about ideas and initiatives. Some ideas on ways to start include:

• Putting up relevant posters and fliers in your workplace.
• Sending around a ‘support for staff’ or ‘wellbeing’ email once a week or month.
• Developing an intranet page with relevant information and links.
• Consider organising inclusive social events, e.g. a team coffee break.
• Ensure you regularly remind colleagues about the existence of relevant policies and procedures in meetings and other settings.
• Consider building in one-to-one chats (outside any appraisal process) to allow staff to raise any concerns.

Each year one in four people will experience a mental health difficulty in England (Mind, 2022) and it is likely that one or more of your colleagues will have a diagnosed mental health condition, such as anxiety or depression, which they may be private or open about. It is important to recognise that many people with mental health conditions manage them well and have good levels of wellbeing.

Training courses are often available though the workplace, like Mental Health First Aid, which can help you support your colleagues at work. If this training is not available, a simple technique to start a difficult conversation can be to ask twice, for example: ‘How are you? How are you really?’. Additional resources are available from the charity Mind and the Mental Health Foundation.

Responding to a colleague in mental distress

If you are spending a lot of times with a colleague, you may be the first person who identifies something is wrong. Some signs to look out for include:

• Sudden changes in behaviour or routines for no apparent reason.
• A sudden change in the standard of work produced.
• A lack of willingness to engage with other colleagues.
• Erratic responses by email or in meetings.

This flow chart gives some guidance on how to approach a situation where you have identified potential warning signs or cues:

Maximise

Figure 3  Responding to colleagues in mental distress

Continue to 4 Working with other professionals.