Promote vulnerability and authenticity within your team
While the legal world may not initially seem like a place for vulnerability and authenticity, these qualities are in fact key elements of any successful team. When team members feel comfortable enough to allow themselves to be authentic and vulnerable with one another, they can unlock their full potential, increase their productivity, and improve overall team performance. Our third secret for building a productive legal team comes from Daniel Coyle’s bestselling book, ‘The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups.’ Coyle emphasizes the importance of promoting vulnerability and authenticity within your team.
It is easier said than done. The legal world, especially the IP industry, provides a context in which it may be difficult to be vulnerable and authentic. Attorneys are often trained to be analytical and rational, which can create a culture that values logic and reason over emotions and vulnerability. In addition, the legal profession is known for its adversarial nature, which can create a competitive environment where team members may be hesitant to show vulnerability or share their thoughts and ideas openly. Lawyers are often under pressure to deliver results and meet strict deadlines and comply with regulations, which can leave little time for reflection and self-awareness. In some cases, there may be a fear of judgment or retaliation for expressing vulnerability or authenticity, which can create a culture of silence and conformity. These challenges can make it difficult to create a safe and supportive environment where team members feel comfortable taking risks, asking questions, and sharing their thoughts and ideas openly. To build a successful legal team, it’s crucial to create an environment of vulnerability and authenticity, which may require extra effort but is worth it in the long run.
Doing this takes time, consistency and comitment, so here are a list of practical actions you can take to promote vulnerability and authenticity within your team on monthly or bimonthly meetings.
Have fun together
To build stronger rapport within your team, consider involving a small group of members to plan team-building activities, both in person or virtually, that require collaboration and reliance on one another. By doing so, you can foster trust and encourage team members to be more vulnerable and authentic with each other. There are plenty of resources available online for team-building activities, including downloadable games and activities from companies like Team Bonding. Additionally, you can make the planning process more inclusive by rotating different team members to take part in organizing each meeting.
Share personal stories
In the second part of your meeting agenda, team members share personal stories about their life experiences. To ensure that the exercise goes smoothly, you can choose from a variety of topics such as hobbies and interests, childhood memories, travel experiences, cultural traditions and customs, family and personal milestones, accomplishments and challenges, inspirational figures or role models, favorite books, movies, or music, pet stories or experiences, and personal goals and aspirations.
To create a safe environment for sharing, it is essential that you share your own personal story first. This can encourage other team members to open up and share their own experiences. However, it’s important to remember that not everyone may feel comfortable sharing personal information, and that’s okay. Never pressure someone to share if they don’t want to. Sharing personal stories is an important exercise, as it helps build new narratives in team members’ minds about who they work with every day, fostering greater trust and connection between team members.
Celebrate Success
Another strategy you can implement is to lead exercises where team members share their appreciation and recognition for each other’s work. This can help build a sense of camaraderie and support among team members and can also serve as motivation to continue working hard and striving for success. Celebrating success doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. It can be as simple as sending out a group email congratulating team members on a job well done, or as elaborate as organizing a team outing or event to celebrate a major achievement. Whatever form it takes, make sure celebrations are inclusive and recognize the contributions of everyone on the team. This can help build a sense of unity and collaboration and can also serve as a reminder of the power of working together towards a common goal.
Inner knowledge
Getting to truly know yourself is a very important factor for team productivity. If you know yourself well, you can be a stronger team player, you can know your own strengths and weaknesses, and learn to work on them and compliment them with others. There are many exercises for improving your inner knowledge. One is called the Wheel of Life. Using the template from Mind Tools you can do this exercise with your team. Each team member should do it individually; however results do not have to be shared amongst everyone, in the end the goal is for each of them to know themselves better.
Keep your team engaged
Building a culture of vulnerability and authenticity takes time and patience. Consistent effort and encouragement can help team members become more comfortable sharing their thoughts and experiences. Incentives can help keep your team engaged in these activities, but they don’t have to be expensive. consider learning opportunities with guest speakers or experts to lead discussions or activities related to the topic of the meeting. Food and beverage definitely help create a relaxed atmosphere. Team outings that could be related to hobbies, for instance. Finally personalized gifts that show appreciation and encourage participation. For example, if the theme is pets, consider giving out custom pet portraits or pet-related merchandise.
This extra effort will make your team stronger and have better results. Promoting vulnerability and authenticity is important as it can lead to increased trust, communication, and collaboration. When team members feel safe to be vulnerable and authentic, they are more likely to share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns openly, which can lead to more productive and effective discussions. This can also foster a culture of openness and transparency, where team members feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback, which can ultimately lead to better outcomes for clients. Additionally, promoting vulnerability and authenticity can help team members to feel more connected and engaged with their work and their colleagues, which can lead to greater job satisfaction and retention.
We hope these strategies work for your team. Next week we will give you secret #4! Stay tuned.