This blog should be read in conjunction with Part 1, published December 2024, and contains 6 additional strategies for overcoming common threats to workplace wellness. Written with female professionals, many of the wellness strategies advanced are still applicable across the board.
All names have been changed in the working examples provided to protect client confidentiality
1. You’re not alone
For the tricky stuff, always keep in mind one of my favourite quotes and use like a mantra: “This too shall pass”. It will.
When it comes to wellbeing, practice makes improvement. The tips that resonate may take time to incorporate on a daily basis. Over time, the positive benefits will undoubtedly outweigh the effort.
Let this and other suggestions support you in your quest to stay well. If in doubt, talk: Someone will be better placed to help if you feel able to communicate and share with them, for example, through Lawcare, promoting and supporting good mental health and wellbeing in the legal community.
2. Positive Mindset
Adopt a positive mindset. Whether individually or collectively, look at thoughts, words AND behaviour and consider whether there are positive adjustments to be made which would more positively influence workplace wellbeing. Law firms, Chambers and other organisations can work together on inclusive, supportive cultures through positive values and shared mission statements from business support teams right up to the CEOs and Equity partners to achieve similar, collective outcomes.
3. Confidence
From time to time, career break returners and those experiencing imposter syndrome can experience dips in confidence which negatively impact on their wellbeing at work. By recognising that self-limiting beliefs hinder wellness, work on strategies to increase confidence and happiness. I’ve written about these many times before, including becoming aware of, and making strides to silence, negative internal chatter by changing your self-talk. Focus on, and remind yourself daily of, your strengths. Keep the company of a supportive, encouraging network, the perfect segue into networking and connecting.
4. Network and Connect
Fifteen years ago, after working on Jamaican Capital Murder cases then returning to a UK child sexual abuse case practice, I hit a career crossroads. Did I want to continue in a career with such grave responsibility and depraved subject matters? What could I do to make my everyday working life more palatable and edifying? I sought assistance from a coach. Another wellness strategy, then, is to connect by recognising the need, and not be afraid to ask, for support. Far from a sign of weakness, it demonstrates a significant degree of emotional intelligence and is a matter of good sense to preserve a healthy state of mind.
This support can come from any number of valuable sources. If not a coach, perhaps you are a member of a women’s networking group or have access to a mentorship programme? Either way, talking is a helpful outlet to keep perspective and avoid overwhelm. As a result of my early coaching experiences, I continued in my career for at least another ten successful years.
Network to build your practice area; likewise, network to create a supportive team around you. Your pupil supervisor or managing partner may be the first and obvious port of call; but as your practice develops further, think of other important relationships: with instructing solicitors, court staff, senior colleagues who may invite you to be their junior or the next promoted partner, even the judiciary when it comes to writing a reference for when you apply for silk or the judiciary.
Special interest groups also offer important Peer to Peer support e.g. The Criminal Bar Association, Family Law Bar Association, Women In Criminal Law, Women In The Law UK. These organisations can be credited with helping to combat the negative effects of lengthy commutes, long working hours, reducing time with family and friends, the challenges of committing to social engagements, even loneliness.
Contributing to The Bar Council Wellness initiative, Mr Justice Henry Carr said: “It is vital to recognise that sharing your anxieties isn’t a sign of weakness.” Keep channels of communication open to share any bumps in the road with trusted confidantes. Tap into available resources such as again through Lawcare, Wellbeing at the Bar, even the Samaritans.
5. Priorities, Planning and a Change of Focus
Prioritise workloads and plan the working week with care. It is so easy in this 24/7 digital world to become needlessly distracted. A clear plan of your day and week, with tasks put in order of importance, the less likely it is to have to course correct, even when the inevitable interruptions occur.
Isabelle, international barrister, was a classic example of this: her poor working conditions became exacerbated by an inability properly to identify what her working day should look like and how she could communicate this effectively to her clerks. She was too busy, taking on more work than she could manage and fast becoming drained, exhausted and overwhelmed. A clear plan of her day and week, with well-established and non-negotiable boundaries around working hour,s enabled her to regain control and composure, having an obvious knock-on beneficial effect to her wellbeing, both physically and emotionally.
Finally, shift your focus: focus on performance, not the case result. Harking back to the advice of Mr. Justice Carr: “Maintaining a healthy life balance helps keep work triumphs and disasters in perspective.”
6. Preserve Authenticity
Finally, and most importantly, be authentic. It’s so easy to get caught up in life’s busy-ness, working hard to climb the ladder of success, only to discover that all that time, the ladder’s been leaning against the wrong wall. Put your ladder against the right wall before start climbing. At all times “live a life true to yourself, not the life others expect”.
Without authenticity, the risk of internal conflict is high, and likely to cause unnecessary frustration or stress.
This puts me in mind of Susan, who had recently changed role from solicitor to senior barrister, but who was without clerking support and needed to source all her own work. It took some time to work out a clear idea of her own brand and offering, and indeed it was tweaked and altered a number of times as sessions progressed. She moved from stuck to unstuck, however, when we spent a session considering her values and beliefs and seeing how they aligned to how she was conducting herself at work. Once there was congruency between her at work and outside of work, she was more readily able to identify her message and assert it confidently and win business from it.
What easy wins for wellness do you now see? What will you implement today, with authenticity, to ensure improved workplace wellbeing both for yourself and those around you?