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We have created a psychometric test that helps HR & Managers to understand individual needs to increase team efficiency by reducing stress & burnout.
“Despite the importance of resilience for attorneys and clients, lawyers have notoriously low levels of resilience. Larry Richard, a psychologist and former trial lawyer who has studied attorney personality traits extensively, reports that 90% of attorneys score below average in resilience.”
Kiser, R. (2017). Soft skills for the effective lawyer. Cambridge University Press. Page 92.
Exhaustion – i.e. early stage stress and burnout – is very unevenly distributed among business lawyers. 25% of the associates report 215% higher exhaustion than the remaining 75%.**
20% of the consultant firms’ juniors fits into the profile of this persona.
Higher risk of burnouts compared to average
30% of the consultant firms’ juniors fits into the profile of this persona.
Higher risk of burnouts compared to average
30% of the consultant firms’ juniors fits into the profile of this persona.
Lower risk of burnouts compared to average
20% of the consultant firms’ juniors fits into the profile of this persona.
Lower risk burnouts compared to average
**The data comes from an unpublished study of 250+ associates in three Swedish business law firms by Jens Näsström, which was concluded in January 2020.
This minority tends to be maladaptive (negative) perfectionists who strive hard but often are insecure overachievers (or anxious overachievers, as they also may be termed) who have performance-based self-esteem, making them much more vulnerable to stress. The core issue is directly related to an inadequate sense of self, which is sought to be compensated for by performance. While this creates a strong drive, it also means that the individual is stress-prone and psychologically inflexible. This is the worrying kind that cannot let go of work, and that reacts disproportionately negatively to setbacks, criticism, and failures.
The organizational DNA of law firms tends to generate uncertainty amplification, which may exacerbate the latent insecurities. Below are some of the factors that drive uncertainty amplification – and thereby intensify the insecurity in these individuals.
Feedback is one of the cornerstones in talent development in law firms, as it facilitates the steep learning curve necessary to achieve success as a business lawyer. Because of the difficulties in accepting and internalizing successes, anxious overachievers tend to be uncomfortable with positive feedback; it does align well with their struggling self-esteem. On the other hand, critical feedback can leave them devastated, confirming their (exaggerated) worst fears. To lead these individuals effectively, the partner must be aware of this trait and skillfully adapt their leading style.
In law firms’ pursuit of the most ambitious candidates, this personality type is a terrific fit in the traditional recruiting profile: super motivated, competent, talented, and with a strong CV. They are difficult to identify in interviews since they – just like any other candidate – understandably tend to downplay, or not reveal at all, any vulnerability. Thus, they are, for instance, very unlikely to disclose a history of mental health issues (which a disproportionate number of them have). Thus, they are perfectionists, which fits the recruiting profile, but of a kind not well suited for a career in a law firm. The distinguishing characteristic being that as maladaptive perfectionists they consistently focus on their failings, real or (often) imagined, rather than on the effort, the top performance, itself.
Because individuals with this trait are particularly uncomfortable with their shortcomings in this regard – as it is strongly linked with their poor self-esteem – they are less likely to seek help and support. They usually don’t go to HR for help until it is too late. They are risk-averse, and the very idea of leaving the firm typically fills them with dread, as it comes with significant psychological, social, and economic costs for them. This is also partly because working in the firm is a big part of their identity, of who they are, and their sense of worth. Despite their strong CV, their very low self-esteem makes them feel like fakes, and they harbour deep doubts that they will not be able to make it somewhere else.
This assessment asks questions about ambition, making it more or less impossible to spot which ones are of a positive and negative nature. Indeed, current best practices would probably deem all items as positive by most lawyers – and yes even by many recruiters. The assessment helps management improving resilience in at the law firm.
While insecure overachievers may perform quite well at the beginning of their job position, they tend to increasingly struggle as time wears on and score substantially worse on most of the key HR metrics such as:
*** M. Hill. 2011. Inside McKinsey. Financial Times, 25 November. <Source link>
** S. Mandis. 2013. What happened to Goldman Sachs: An insider’s story of organizational drift and its unintended consequences. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press. 4. M. Hill. 2011. Inside McKinsey. Financial
Variable | Doubts about mistakes | Self-doubting maladaptive perfectionism | Self-critical maladaptive perfectionism | Socially based maladaptive perfectionism |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Professional efficacy | -.29 | -.42 | -.28 | -.08 |
Job satisfaction | -.11 | -.13 | -.15 | -.31 |
Exhaustion | .24 | .24 | .25 | .43 |
Intention to quit | .03 | .05 | .04 | .28 |
Stress | .35 | .40 | .41 | .38 |
Work-life balance | -.17 | -.08 | -.25 | -.34 |
Leadership support | -.08 | -.16 | -.12 | -.38 |
Table A. Correlations between four types of maladaptive perfectionisms and key metrics in associates.
Negative numbers indicate negative correlations. For instance, a high score on Doubts about mistakes maladaptive perfectionism is correlated with a lower score on Professional efficacy. Red numbers indicate that the outcome has been statistically validated, ‘proven’ in layman’s parlor. There are no set rules for what constitutes a strong correlation, but I would assert that anything more than 0.2 is substantial, and over 0.3 is, in my opinion, strong.
Note how strong the negative correlation is between Socially based maladaptive perfectionism and Leadership support. That is, individuals with high Socially based maladaptive perfectionism tend to rate their leaders substantially lower. Leadership in a law firm is, of course, essential, as evidenced by the next table. It seems as if these individuals are struggling more in their relationships with their leaders and experience less support.
The level of pessimism found in these higher ranking law students was even more extreme than the pessimism one typically finds in people with major depression who are receiving inpatient psychiatric treatment. This is significant because pessimistic beliefs are thought to contribute to or cause depression…
Interestingly, however, of the four subscales making up the social support scale, self-esteem was the variable most associated with attorney job satisfaction. This odd finding suggests that, despite the link between satisfaction and social support, attorney job satisfaction might have more to do with internal self-esteem than with external factors.
Know Thyself: A Psychological Analysis of Personality Strengths and Weaknesses
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