Exclusive: The Psychology of Working As a Legal Team

Jenny Holt

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) surveyed legal teams from 73 countries and found that lawyers benefit from emotional awareness and relationship building techniques. Working as a lawyer entails so much more than the intellectual work of knowing the law. To be successful, a lawyer must understand how to reason with others, develop empathy, and work as a part of a team.

Teamwork 101

Teams work best when everyone knows the mission and purpose of the group. Also, experts suggest setting ground-rules in a way that doesn’t block creativity. One way to do this is by developing a charter or set of rules, and encouraging members of the team to speak up when they have an idea. Each member of the team needs to know his or her specific responsibilities.

The Psychology of Teamwork

In addition to teamwork basics, it is essential to understand the psychology behind working as a team to ensure that no employees feel disengaged. One crucial psychological facet of teamwork is that every member has a unique personality. Psychologists have studied distinct personalities for years, and one well-known method for speaking about personalities is the Myers Briggs Personality Types.

Within this system, there are sixteen distinct personality types, and each type has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Judging personality type likes to have closure on tasks while people of the Perceiving kind are good at coming up with new ideas. The Judger, therefore, would be good at checking off boxes on a to-do list, while the Perceiver is better at getting the ball rolling.

To create a team that functions on a high level, use personality type information to your advantage. Assign tasks to individual team members according to their strengths and weaknesses. This will create an environment where each member feels that they are contributing in the best way possible to the team as a whole.

Build a successful legal team by following basic strategies of strong teamwork. Make sure that your team has a mission and firm ground rules, yet allow for creativity. Give each member the opportunity to contribute based on individual strengths and weaknesses. Information about personality-types may help you figure out each team member’s strong suits.