How to Become More Proactive in Your Legal Role

August 8, 2024

In the competitive Legal space, getting ahead at work and achieving your career goals demands more than an ability to meet your performance expectations. The dynamic and unpredictable world we live in means employers are prioritising candidates who demonstrate adaptability, resilience, and intuition, which means you will need to be proactive to thrive.

Proactivity is valuable, ensuring you can anticipate and overcome challenges as they emerge, consistently demonstrate the right skills to your employers, and stay one step ahead in an evolving industry.

In fact, several research studies show proactive employees have greater job satisfaction, more successful careers, and a reduced risk of burnout.

Understanding Proactivity in the Workplace

Being proactive means taking a self-initiated, future-focused approach to everything you do. It’s not just about ensuring you’re always busy in the workplace or taking regular risks. Proactive employees are reflective and strategic about every action they take.

Proactive people know how to recognise challenges before they emerge, solve problems creatively, and constantly develop their skills to remain productive.

Rather than simply responding to situations as they arise, proactive employees actively look for opportunities to contribute to the workplace and drive progress positively. They’re curious and confident and embrace personal agency in their roles.

The Importance of Proactivity in Your Legal Role

A proactive approach can benefit both your personal and professional life. When Legal employees are proactive, they will be more satisfied with their careers because they constantly search for valuable opportunities. They don’t just wait for promotions and new responsibilities to present themselves; they map and implement their path to success.

Proactive employees are more valuable to employers, too. They can positively impact business results, helping organisations to overcome challenges rapidly, remain agile, and explore new methods for growth.

Embracing a proactive personality can:

Differentiate You From the Competition

Proactive people stand out because they regularly innovate, solve problems independently, and show their value to existing and prospective employers. Fact: Proactive people are likelier to access excellent job offers and promotions than competing candidates.

Enhance Resilience

The Legal space constantly evolves, presenting new challenges and opportunities to employees. As a proactive person, you can pre-empt changing dynamics and prepare for them more effectively. You’ll be better equipped to change and evolve consistently, seize opportunities, and remain agile in your role.

Unlock Leadership Opportunities

Proactivity is a common characteristic of effective leaders. Showing proactivity at work can boost your chances of accessing greater responsibilities. One report from the Journal of Applied Psychology found that proactive people are more likely to be promoted to leadership roles and make more money.

Strategies to Develop Proactivity

While your upbringing can impact how proactive you are as a Legal employee, proactivity is still something you can build yourself. Some of the best ways to nurture your proactive skills include:

Taking Ownership

Embracing personal empowerment is a significant factor in proactivity. You can’t be proactive if you don’t take ownership of your career and work. Rather than waiting for opportunities to present themselves or reacting to things as they happen, actively look for opportunities.

Embrace chances to take ownership of tasks and projects and act as a leader for other members of your Legal team. Take accountability for your actions and the outcomes of projects, and regularly review your strengths and development areas to find growth opportunities.

Predict and Anticipate Needs

Part of being a proactive Legal employee is nurturing a future-focused mindset. You’ll need to develop a habit of anticipating challenges and opportunities, even before they arise.

There are various ways you can do this.

Tuning into industry trends, tracking market changes, and staying updated on developments by following industry leaders can help.

Another way to become more future-focused is to envision your goals and what you want to accomplish and work backwards from there. Identify your company’s and personal goals, and ask yourself what you will want to accomplish or overcome.

Be Solution Focused

Anticipating challenges is useful, AND to be proactive, you also need to take action. Don’t just present problems and opportunities to your manager or team members; propose creative ways of approaching them. Look at issues from multiple angles and collaborate with colleagues to drive positive results effectively. Learn from your previous strategies and grow.

Don’t wait for someone else to step in and offer a solution. Make it a priority to confront challenges and handle problems before they escalate.

Commit to Continuous Learning

Proactive Legal employees are constantly evolving. They know the importance of developing new skills as the market changes, whether technical skills are linked to A.I. and automation or soft skills like emotional intelligence.

Rather than relying on your employer to offer the right training opportunities, look for ways to develop skills yourself. Seek out courses and certifications, find a mentor who can help you hone your abilities, or network with other experts in your industry.

Proactivity: Steps for Success

Developing a proactive personality isn’t enough; you must also constantly demonstrate that attribute to your Legal employers and colleagues. Here are some of the ways you can present a proactive mindset.

1. Make Long-Term Plans

Proactivity is all about looking ahead. With this in mind, think about your future in terms of long-term and short-term targets. Ask yourself where you want to be in your career five or ten years from now. Do you want to be part of another Legal team or lead your own?

If so, which skills will you need to develop, and how will you show your employer that you deserve these opportunities?

Do you need to take on more responsibilities, volunteer for difficult projects or learn new skills?

Organise your plans with SMART goal setting. Break the steps you need to take down into simple targets that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

For instance, if your goal is to become a Legal team leader, you may need to start by developing better time management and organisational skills over the next few months.

Keep track of your progress and record your proactive contributions, including successful initiatives, problems resolved, and outcomes.

2. Organise Your Time Effectively

When you take control of your schedule, you can plan activities and ensure you’re spending your time in a way that drives you towards the results you want. Part of being proactive is identifying what you can and can’t control in your life and career.

Determine what you can take ownership of in your Legal career and what you need to prioritise to reach your goals.

3. Communicate and Collaborate Consistently

Good communication is crucial to success in the Legal workplace. Communicating and collaborating regularly with team members will help you to examine your work from different perspectives, solve problems more creatively, and anticipate a wider range of challenges.

Collaborating with team members will also allow you to showcase your proactive nature to your employers by volunteering for cross-functional projects, mentoring other team members, and sharing your skills. Additionally, effective communication will ensure you can keep everyone informed of your initiatives and accomplishments.

Ask for regular meetings or performance reviews so you can show how your proactive approach has made a positive impact on the team. Ask regularly for feedback to become more self-aware and in tune with your strengths and development areas.

4. Be actively Involved in the workplace

Studies from Harvard Business Review show that quiet, reserved employees are often overlooked for promotions and opportunities, regardless of how effective they are in their roles. As a proactive employee, you must find opportunities to show Legal managers and leaders how involved you are in the workplace.

Subscribe to internal newsletters to keep track of upcoming business opportunities and offer assistance in launching new initiatives. In meetings, speak up and deliver contributions; don’t blend into the background.

When challenges and opportunities emerge in your work, be the first to raise your hand and ask to contribute. Even if a challenge is outside your comfort zone, showing a willingness to contribute will help to highlight your proactive nature.

5. Develop a Growth Mindset

Finally, remember that being proactive is often associated with having a growth mindset. Proactive people don’t give up when they face a challenge or something goes wrong. They learn from their mistakes and commit to constant improvement.

Allow the success of other employees to inspire you rather than make you envious. Regularly use self-reflection to assess your weaknesses and look for opportunities to grow. See negative feedback as a chance to improve your work and become a more valuable Legal employee.

Be a Proactive Legal Employee

Developing your proactivity muscle in the Legal workplace ensures you can make a lasting impression on your employer and team members. Embracing a proactive mindset demonstrates your value as an employee, helps you to innovate and adapt faster, and ensures you’ll be first in line for new promotions and opportunities when they arise.

Look at your current work strategy and ask yourself where to apply proactive strategies, whether proposing new ideas in meetings, seeking additional training, or offering to take the lead on a new project.

You might even decide the path to proactivity starts with finding a better role in an environment more suited to your needs. In that case, your journey could begin by contacting a Legal recruitment company like ourselves.

Staying Motivated in Your Current Office and Commercial Role: 6 Strategies That Work

March 21, 2024

Motivation is essential to career success. The more motivated you feel in your Office and Commercial role, the more likely you are to unlock superior levels of productivity and efficiency. Plus, highly motivated employees are generally more satisfied and fulfilled by their roles.

However, motivation can be difficult to maintain as Office and Commercial roles grow more challenging and complex. While the Gallup State Of The Global Workforce Reports 2023 revealed that employee engagement is rising, many employees are still “quiet quitting” due to lacking motivation.

Discovering how to re-ignite and retain high motivation levels could give you a crucial edge in your career, pave the way for progression, and boost your professional brand. Here are some top strategies you can use to find your drive.

Strategy 1: Setting Personal and Professional Goals

Setting clear, achievable goals impacts your motivation and productivity levels as a Office and Commercial employee. Several studies show that by setting goals and giving ourselves specific targets to work towards, we boost our chances of achieving what we want.

Goals can even help deter procrastination and enhance your confidence at work. In your career, it’s essential to have short-term and long-term goals that align with your personal and professional aspirations and the broader objectives of the organization you work with.

Set aside time to complete a self-assessment to define what matters most to you in your career and personal life. In the short term, you might want to focus on becoming more efficient at work to complete crucial tasks faster, or you might like to master your influencing and persuasion skills.

In the long term, your goals might be to earn a promotion in your current Office and Commercial business or take on specific new responsibilities.

Remember, long-term and short-term; your goals should be “SMART”: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

For instance, a long-term goal might be:

“Within the next five years, I want to apply for an executive position as [job title]. To do this, I’ll work on developing [specific skills] to show my value to my employer based on the organizations long-term goals of [target].”

Strategy 2: Seeking Feedback and Growth Opportunities

Feedback is a powerful resource for any Office and Commercial employee. Negative feedback, as it is often referred to can be hard to hear. It’s more helpful to consider it as “developmental feedback” as it gives you a clear insight into the specific skills or behaviour to improve, which will contribute to you achieving your desired goals.

Several scientific studies show that regular feedback can keep us motivated by showing us our work, efforts, and progress are being recognized. With that in mind, seek feedback from your peers or colleagues in the workplace, your managers, and mentors.

Based on the feedback you get, look for ways to develop yourself consistently and proactively. Formal training, workshops, cross-departmental projects, and more can all give you excellent opportunities to improve your skills and Office and Commercial knowledge.

Not only will committing to professional development help you progress towards your goals, but it can also reinvigorate your passion for your role, helping you discover new and exciting parts of your job. Plus, self-development will boost your intrinsic motivation levels by paving the way for career advancement.

Strategy 3: Cultivating a Positive Work Environment

Your work environment can affect your work motivation in various ways. A poor working environment, a competitive or unsupported culture, or a limited focus on employee wellbeing can harm mental and physical health, increase stress levels, and lead to disengagement.

In some cases, a sub-par work environment in the Office and Commercial industry can result in burnout, causing you to disconnect from your role and feel less passionate about your career. Alternatively, a good working environment and positive company culture drive motivation.

A Harvard Business Review study found an excellent company culture and working environment minimises emotional pressure and inertia while improving “total motivation”.

While your employer is partly responsible for creating a positive work environment for team members, you can help shape the landscape, too. Consider how changes to your workplace or office, your schedule, and your day-to-day use of systems and processes might improve your experience at work.

Present these suggestions to your employer and explain how they might impact motivation for you and your team members. Highlight the value of a diverse, inclusive, and equitable culture to business leaders to drive them towards positive changes. For instance, several McKinsey studies show diverse workforces perform better financially.

Strategy 4: Maintaining Work-Life Balance

When striving towards ambitious goals in your Office and Commercial role, it’s easy to lose track of work-life balance. One study found around 40% of employees neglect crucial aspects of their lives when focusing on work. However, while feeling “committed” to your role is pivotal, looking after your mental and physical health is also vital.

Think about how you can optimise how you balance professional responsibilities with your personal life. Can you set boundaries with your employer and colleagues, such as establishing when you won’t be willing to work overtime or respond to messages outside of office hours?

How can you improve your work-life balance by finding ways to manage your time more effectively so you’re less likely to feel you need to work through lunch breaks or commit to overtime to adhere to employer expectations?

If you feel overly stressed at work or believe your work-life balance is faltering, speak to your Office and Commercial manager about your options. Ask whether they can help with more flexible scheduling options or offer access to wellbeing initiatives.

Strategy 5: Leveraging Mentorship and Networking

Building relationships with peers in the Office and Commercial industry is another excellent way to increase motivation. Creating strong connections with your colleagues can help to give you a sense of accountability, reminding you that your performance impacts others.

Your peers can also provide support and guidance when your motivation dips, offering positive feedback or words of encouragement. Networking with professionals in the Office and Commercial industry also gives you a great way to cultivate your passion for your sector.

You’ll be able to learn about trends and changes in the landscape from other like-minded people and could even attend exciting events and training seminars that nurture your interests.

Working with a mentor is an excellent option to support your continuing development. A mentor can offer advice, make introductions that expand your network and open doors to new opportunities. They will also be an invaluable sounding board when you are experiencing frustration, demotivation, or disengagement.

Strategy 6: Embracing Challenges and Innovation

Finally, one of the best ways to improve your chances of staying motivated in your current Office and Commercial role is to continue to develop your mindset. Adopting a “growth mindset“, as pioneered by Carol Dweck, means changing how you think about yourself, your skills, and your failures.

People with a growth mindset are more likely to feel motivated because they see everything as an opportunity to learn, develop, and improve. If you’re constantly looking for ways to enhance your role, you’re more likely to feel passionate and engaged by what you do.

Additionally, a growth mindset means you’re less likely to let failures or mistakes diminish your confidence or motivation. Look for opportunities to nurture your growth mindset by seeking new responsibilities or projects in your Office and Commercial role to push you out of your comfort zone.

Take advantage of opportunities to explore innovative new solutions and technology in your sector, experiment with creative problem-solving strategies, and see every challenge as exciting. Embracing this mindset will re-ignite your enthusiasm for your role and could help you achieve a wider range of goals.

Stay Motivated in your Current Office and Commercial Role

Maintaining motivation is crucial to staying productive in your Office and Commercial role, achieving your professional goals, and unlocking new opportunities. However, motivation can be difficult to preserve, particularly in a challenging working environment.

Regularly reflect on your motivation levels at work, and use the strategies above to re-ignite your drive when it starts to diminish.

Alternatively, if you feel that no matter what you do, you can’t rediscover the motivation you need in your current role, work with a Office and Commercial recruitment agency to find a new position that aligns with your priorities and strengths.

At Everpool Recruitment, we have been helping Office and Commercial job seekers find their ideal roles for numerous years. If you want us to help you find your ideal role, call us at 0151 556 2090 or email us here info@everpoolrecruitment.com