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Embracing non-traditional leadership to improve wellbeing
In a dynamic legal environment, Bree Knoester emphasised the need for firms to move away from traditional leadership and recruitment practices to promote longevity and the wellbeing of those in the legal industry.
Grace Robbie
In a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, Bree Knoester, the founder and principal of Brave Legal, highlighted the importance of law firm owners embracing non-traditional mindsets in their leadership approaches and recruitment.
“One of the things that I thought would happen when I started Brave Legal is that I would always operate in a sort of a very modern, non-traditional way and encourage a lot of flexibility and family involvement in the firm and encourage people to have really active lives outside of their legal work,” she said.
However, she encountered a significant challenge that tested her dedication to her vision when confronted with the possibility of one of her senior associates, Jyoti Haikerwal, taking an extended leave of absence to study overseas.
“But when I was confronted, I’ll use that word, by the possibility of our senior associate taking a leave of absence. I found myself in a very narrow, traditional mindset that if you wanted to take a leave of absence, then our boutique firm could not really accommodate that,” she said.
“Unfortunately, despite being a superstar and central to our medical negligence practice, I could not see a way where I could remain connected with Jyoti if she wanted to have an overseas experience, a prolonged one.”
Knoester admitted she was taken aback by her own traditional and somewhat narrow-minded perspective on the matter.
“I really surprised myself that I was so traditional and probably a bit narrow-minded in how I thought about that,” she said.
However, Knoester revealed how she proactively shifted her perspective regarding Haikweral’s leave of absence by focusing on the wellbeing aspect of this decision.
“One of the things that drives my decision making at Brave Legal is the wellbeing of our staff and our clients,” she said.
“And so, after a long time, I can’t say that this happened automatically, but I decided to look at it from a wellbeing perspective because that influences how we work here and the programs we offer our staff and the people that we recruit.”
By embracing this mindset, Knoester was able to view this situation as an opportunity to support the longevity of those in the profession rather than as an obstacle and a detriment to Brave Legal’s functioning.
“I really saw this as a way in which I could support longevity in law, and I really want strong women to have really long lives in the law and have families and have full lives outside of nine-to-five as well,” she said.
“So I thought, actually, maybe here’s an opportunity where I can really support, from a distance or another continent, Jyoti’s wellbeing.”
Knoester explained that embracing a wellbeing-focused mindset, which may be considered unconventional, has not only promoted the personal development of her employees but also improved the firm’s reputation as a supportive and forward-thinking workplace.
“It was having that wellbeing mindset that made me see it as an opportunity for the firm in the long term. You know, how wonderful to be able to facilitate this for someone and then say to them, your practice will be back here for you,” she said.
