Performance coach Charlène Gisèle Bourliout explores why this aversion to coaching exists in the legal sector, and what benefits lawyers can gain by overcoming it.
You have suggested in the past that there are several parallels between the legal industry and sports science. Why do you say this?
One reason for this is that both sectors are performance-oriented. To be successful in the legal sector, one must provide efficient and effective legal services. This also applies to athletes. Therefore, in order to win and maintain a successful career, they must be able to perform at their best.
Another parallel between the two sectors is that they are both hostile and competitive environments. The legal industry is competitive because there are limited opportunities for lawyers to work for large companies or organizations and serve the most sought-after clients. Athletes are competitive because there can only be one winner in each event.
Both sectors have a common goal: to win. Lawyers want to win cases or successfully complete a transaction, while athletes want to win medals, championships or events. Winning is important in both sectors because it enables individuals and organizations to achieve their goals and objectives.
Competition and performance demands put pressure on athletes’ bodies, and combined with the external forces of sport, this increases the risk of injury and psychological burnout. The legal industry places significant demands on attorneys’ mental performance and, when combined with outside forces such as billable hours, client deadlines, vicarious trauma, and socio-economic environment, increases the strain on attorneys’ mental health.
Another parallel between the two industries is that they both rely on data. For example, in the legal industry, attorneys use data to investigate cases and find precedents and metrics such as billable hours. In sports science, athletes and coaches use data to track performance and identify areas for improvement.
Both sectors have a common goal: to win.
Over the past decade, many sports teams have transformed their performance through tracking data. The same can be done in the legal industry when it comes to the performance and well-being of lawyers and teams. I believe the legal industry can learn a lot from sports science, and many performance optimization parallels can be transferred to the legal industry.
Judging from our previous conversation, you mentioned the idea of ”emotional fitness” as important to both athletes and advocates. How would you define this quality?
The ability to maintain focus, intensity, and composure in the face of stress is a critical ingredient for success in lawyers and athletes, as both operate in high-pressure environments.
Maintaining emotional fitness is not just about managing negative emotions like stress and anxiety. It is also about cultivating positive emotions such as happiness, joy and excitement. I use the term ’emotional fitness’ because it is more empowering than ’emotional intelligence’. Intelligence can be limiting while fitness is something we can build, improve and master.
Emotional fitness is being able to identify the event triggers, conditions, and perceptions that influence your emotions and then choose a constructive response to your situation. When you are emotionally fit, you understand your own emotions and how they affect your performance and that of others.
By being better able to deal with emotions effectively, you can stay in control under pressure. This helps you achieve excellence both on and off the playing field or courtroom.
Emotional fitness is our ability to understand and control our own emotions and the emotions of others around us. It directly influences how we behave, make decisions and form relationships. Emotional fitness is the most important predictor of workplace performance and the main driver for leadership and personal excellence.
How can emotional fitness and courage be identified in legal professionals?
Maintaining excellence in the legal field requires emotional fitness. Like an athlete who needs to win, lawyers must understand and manage their emotions to achieve excellence and confidence in their work.
I believe the legal industry can learn a lot from sports science, and many parallels for performance optimization can be brought to the legal industry.
Some emotions are helpful in achieving our goals, such as confidence and enthusiasm. Other emotions can hold us back, such as fear, guilt, and self-doubt. The key is learning how to control our emotions so they work for us, not against us.
Emotional fitness also includes those tasks that are not “hard skills”, such as systematic and software-assisted work. These are the skills that cannot be replaced by software. With much legal work moving towards more AI and software support, the competitive advantage for lawyers and firms will not be in who has the best software, but in how emotionally fit their lawyers are.
Software cannot replace empathy, creativity and authenticity. Software cannot replace the leadership, vision and motivation of a team. Emotional fitness is what will guide lawyers through uncertain times and enable them to manage stress and build resilience effectively.
Emotional fitness may not be the new, bright and shiny piece of software that will revolutionize profitability, but learning to optimize our emotions is essential for an asymmetrical improvement in performance and well-being.
Building on that idea of ”soft skills,” how can companies encourage creativity and tactical thinking in top lawyers?
Creativity and tactical thinking are skills that can be trained. By repeating their work, most lawyers become experts in logical thinking, which is no wonder since it is the foundation of law. In neuroscience, this would be convergent dominant thinking. Lawyers rarely spend much time using their creativity, which is their deviant way of thinking. To expect a lawyer to go from a lifetime of logical thinking to creative thinking at the touch of a button is unrealistic. These kinds of cognitive demands can put excessive mental pressure on lawyers.
Coming back to a sports analogy, if creative thinking is desired, conscious practice is needed. For example, an athlete looking to optimize a specific skill may choose to modify their training schedule to practice a particular skill. They can spend a small or large portion of their training time focusing on that one skill and then measuring and tracking how it improves over time.
Lawyers can do this for creative and tactical thinking. Prioritize time to practice creative thinking. There are simple and powerful exercises that take only one to five minutes. They work by getting you to engage your creative thinking mentally and physically. The more practice they put in, the more fluent lawyers will become at creative thinking and the ease with which original thoughts come to mind.
Emotional fitness is the most important predictor of workplace performance and the main driver of leadership and personal excellence.
What changes have you seen in law firms’ attitudes toward coaching since you started working in the industry?
From my experience, law firms in the United States are more open to coaching and view it as a competitive advantage; however, due to the cultural differences in London, I initially found it more difficult to get buy-in. In recent years, attitudes to coaching have changed and it is now seen as a way to authentically care for lawyers’ well-being and performance.
The stigma that used to be attached to coaching has disappeared. Now law firms are realizing the benefits of using coaching to improve the performance of their attorney and firm. In recent years there has been a dramatic shift in the perception of mental health and well-being, which has contributed to a better attitude towards coaching.
There is also a shift in attitudes toward coaching as companies begin to align business decisions with ESG metrics. Coaching is a powerful way to maximize human capital management as it aims to sustainably improve performance and profitability. The only way to do this is to balance and optimize performance and well-being. Law firms are increasingly calling on coaches for this.
What can legal professionals do to further combat the perceived stigma surrounding coaching?
In law, as in many other professions, there is a perception that coaching is a performance enhancer reserved for people at the top of their field. This perception creates a stigma around coaching that is difficult to remove. However, legal professionals can take steps to overcome this stigma and improve their performance and well-being through coaching.
There was no stigma around seeking advice or mentorship from other attorneys in building my legal expertise – so why should there be a stigma around someone seeking coaching for their professional well-being and performance?
All great athletes work with coaches, and many thank their coaches for their success and proclaim how crucial a coach was to their success. A coach can help you achieve excellence in your performance, give you the winning edge and boost your confidence. A coach can help you develop positive relationships with clients and colleagues. They can provide powerful tools and techniques to manage emotions, build mental resilience, and provide an emotional fitness program. These are the skills that are not taught in law school or as part of a lawyer’s professional development training.
My mission is for performance coaching to become the legal industry standard, not the exception – where coaching is seen as a badge of honor, just like in sports. Coaching is the solution lawyers need to sustain a long and successful career in the legal profession while maintaining optimal mental, emotional and physical well-being.
Charlene Gisele Bourliout
Charlene Gisele Bourliout is a health coach, well-being consultant and burnout prevention advisor called the “Soulicitor” by her clients. Charlène, a former London-based lawyer, coaches her clients in personal and professional life optimization through a combination of high-performance coaching, burnout prevention and mindset optimization.