How chief legal officers can lead through the pandemic

Dr. Larry Richard is both attorney and psychologist. He has spent his career focused exclusively on the psychology of lawyer behavior. He suggests that all humans have three basic needs: the need for predictability, for control, and for connection. COVID-19 has disrupted all three, he argues, and many lawyers are more deeply affected than many others.

Lawyers have a higher need for predictability; they are, as a group, more skeptical and suspicious. It is reasonable to expect that current events have thus frustrated lawyers’ ability to find the requisite level of predictability. When it comes to control, lawyers generally prefer a high degree of autonomy. For anyone who is in this high autonomy category, COVID is more disruptive because it has removed choice, and thus control. Finally, lawyers tend to deprioritize social connection because the profession has traditionally been less collaborative and more focused on individual contributions. This deprioritization of social connection is compounded by social distancing and shelter-in-place orders.

To be clear, this characterization of lawyer behavior is not a criticism; these traits make lawyers effective at the work they do, but are also making COVID-19 more challenging to navigate.

Dr. Richard says, “For the last 25 years my research has shown that lawyers have depressed levels of resilience. COVID-19 can amplify the potential consequences of low resilience.” ^4,5 But not all hope is lost. Our experts agree that it is possible to build resilience; in fact, the Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as the Navy SEALs, have proven it using mental toughness training techniques. The SEALS focus on what they call the “big four” techniques.⁶

Goal-setting – Concentrating on goals to bring structure to chaos. Explained more fully, this technique encourages SEALs to stay focused on things they can control.

Mental rehearsal and visualization – Envisioning a future encounter allows you to feel more natural and react more appropriately when you are actually in the situation.

Self-talk – A focus on your thoughts and an emphasis on positive messages can help to override fear.

Practice arousal control – Slow and deliberate breathing can combat panic, and large exhales mimic the body’s relaxation process.

By focusing on these techniques, the SEALs have raised their selection program pass rate for one of the most difficult selection programs in the US military from 25 to 33 percent.⁷

Give your team permission to not be OK. Let them know that they have the time and space they need to adjust to evolving demands. Encourage them to reach out for help if they need it and make sure resources are known and available. It is important to have regular connection points and check-ins so you can gauge whether or not someone is checked out or nonresponsive. As a leader, you set the tone for new team norms—but you can take this moment to be inclusive by asking the team what they want the norms to be, what their needs are, and how they want to communicate, especially if there is an emergency. For some teams, it makes sense to have weekly connection points, just to catch up with each other and check in on how people are adapting without focusing on work.

Be open and authentic about how it’s going for you. Share how you're dealing with your situation, what you're struggling with, how you're coping. This requires a degree of vulnerability that you may not be used to, but one of the beautiful things I’ve observed through this is a sense of collective vulnerability. It is bringing the stress conversation to the forefront in a way that it wasn’t before because it was so stigmatized previously. But now, everyone is dealing with more than normal stress, more than normal worry, and we have a collective permission to talk about those things.

Understand that there will likely be a long-term impact. I am really worried right now about anyone with an existing mental health illness, and I think we are going to see an increase in the need for trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety treatments well after the pandemic has passed. Plus, if the economy does go into a recession, we will likely see a surge in mental health needs—one of the top drivers of suicide is financial stress. I encourage leaders to think long-term about the support that is available to their teams and about their own long-term self-care.

Right now, we are all experiencing grief and loss—loss of the norms as we knew them, loss of routines, loss of special events or traditions, and for some, loss of loved ones who get sick or die as a result of COVID-19. None of that is good, but what gives me hope is that this collective experience is empowering a more open dialogue about well-being, about mental health, about self-care, and even about work-life integration. I am really hopeful about the continuation of that conversation beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and what it could mean for the future of work and health. I am also really encouraged by the progress I am seeing around telehealth. The relaxation of some state board standards related to telehealth could create greater opportunities for mental health treatment in communities that in the past did not always have great access.

As Jen suggests, managing your own well-being is just the first part of exceptional leadership; next comes engagement with your colleagues and teams.