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Maintaining ‘human talent’ in the face of change
While new laws can be difficult to navigate in the workplace, the Right to Disconnect should be seen as “a moment for potential growth”, says this College of Law lecturer.
Lauren Croft
Earlier this year, new laws were brought in around the Right to Disconnect and safeguarding employees from being contacted outside of working hours.
Following this, speaking on an episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, produced in partnership with the College of Law, Florence Thum recently discussed the Right to Disconnect, new communication structures that are needed moving forward and how firms can keep up with new laws.
Thum is a lecturer and assistant director in NSW for PLT at the College of Law. She’s also a psychotherapist and coach – and was previously a litigator for 20 years. The new Right to Disconnect laws, she explained, have “pressing changes to how legal workplaces operate” and require a “back-to-basics” approach.
“In terms of bringing things back to basics, this kind of correlates to the idea of mindset that as an organisation, then we build upon a foundation of respect and trust. So, respect, recognising the humanity in the other and responding to individual needs. So, it’s that central to care. There’s a whole discourse on ethics or care in the law and building trust,” she said.
“So, setting boundaries, being reliable, and setting norms for accountability being the vault for all the communications that could happen, and that it may include private conversations, particularly in the context of right to disconnect when staff and stakeholders contact you with information that gives them, [the right to] exercise that right, this idea of non-judgement and approaching with that generosity of spirit – the benefit of the doubt, if you like.
“This foundation of respect and trust, which, in turn, creates a psychological safety for people to have the necessary conversations, knowing that they will be heard.”
Given the new laws, law firms and legal teams across the country may struggle to make necessary adjustments – although Thum said it’s likely to be subjective across different workplaces.
“I hesitate to comment on the degree of difficulty, but certainly a shift in paradigm. So, to state it really simplistically, in the industrial age, where we’re looking at hierarchical ways of leading and management, process-driven measures of productivity and efficiency, we’ve now shifted to what many have called information or knowledge age with high connectivity,” she added.
“So, we’re looking at a networked approach, we’re looking at project-driven outcome focus. So, measures have changed as well. So, shifting that paradigm, then we’re looking at what is our human talent? How do we maintain that human talent in the face of all this change, whether we see the world?”
Despite this, Thum was optimistic that law firms would be able to keep pace with these new laws, depending on their leadership.
“It is said that the law is very conservative and traditional, etcetera. And of course, in the last 30 [to] 40 years, we have moved from a professional model to incorporate business models in legal operations and practices,” she said.
“So, I am optimistic that we will change the rate of change – [but] the speed of that change will be very much dependent on the organisation itself and to the leaders within that and how adaptable or agile they are.”
As such, there are a few fundamental and philosophical questions that legal organisations need to ask themselves moving forward, Thum concluded.
“The first thing [is] to see these Right to Disconnect laws as a moment for potential growth, so to see it as understanding collectively, that there is an empathy around the perceived intrusion of technology and connectivity into our personal lives. And so, as organisations, how can we then bridge the gap, solve the problem however we wish to … asking ourselves, are we being human-centred? Are we fostering connection? Are we building trust?” she said.
“Are we giving opportunities for our human talents to thrive and flourish, which, in turn, we know contributes to our business objectives? Are my actions or my policies respectful? Does it create psychological safety and trust in the organisation to even enable that conversation to be had? So, it is taking a step back and understanding why we’re doing what we’re doing as a profession.”
The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Florence Thum, click below:
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
