Career Nightmare: When You Can't Take The Lead In English Discussions

When Speaking English Turns into A Career Nightmare

😱You’ve been reading English legal documents for years but you still can’t be trusted to take the lead in important discussions in English! This is a career nightmare.

Make a choice.

Improve your English or close the door to international law.

Right now the legal industry is going through a massive change.

Competition is tough and law firms expect their assets to make bank.

Notice how lawyers are assets. “Asset” is a horrible word as it dehumanises lawyers. When you become a company asset you no longer exist as a human, you are simply a number on a financial spreadsheet. You either add value and make them money or you don’t.

If you’re male you will enjoy more protection than if you are female. This is because men form groups and if one man gets promoted or moves he will look after his group. This means that as a male if your English is bad and you have a good relationship with your boss and your colleagues, you can hide and stay as a support for much longer.

Females don’t have that same level of protection.

Understanding this system is key to your career development.

Knowing that you are a number on a financial balance sheet allows you to plan and strategies and work on your own self-improvement.

Choosing to improve your English may not be the easy option but it is a good option.

Why You Should Improve Your English

When you can speak English as well as you can read it, a number of things happen:

• Your confidence will improve, because your skills will finally match your job title.
• Your ability to connect will improve – this is vital for developing relationships.
• Your understanding of the English language and its many nuances will increase which will help you to understand communication more accurately.
• Your colleagues and clients will regard you as their equal and not as their inferior.
• Your reputation will increase.
• Your value to the company will go up.
• You won’t feel like you are constantly being judged.
• You will get better quality work.
• You will have more time to do the work you enjoy.

What Happens If You Don’t Improve Your English Skills

Based on my experience working with many professionals there are a number of negative things that happen when you don’t improve your English skills. Here are the main ones:

• Lawyers feel like they are being judged negatively by colleagues and clients
• They are never allowed to take the lead in important discussions. This sends a subtle message to everyone (including their subconscious) that they are not the best lawyer.
• They experience high levels of stress before English meetings. They often sleep badly the night before an important call.
• They strongly criticise themselves after a meeting and replay their mistakes over and over.
• They feel high levels of anxiety after meetings because they worry they have not understood points or did not make themselves clear.
• They spend hours writing long emails to people trying to make sure they have understood the context of the conversation.
• They are afraid to give legal advice in case they have not clearly understood what was said.
• Their mental health suffers.

There are many important reasons to work on your English skills. It’s not just about the money and improving your career, it’s about your mental health and the quality of your life. LawCares report of 2020/21 found that 69% of solicitors experienced mental ill-health and that they were also at high risk of burnout. Not being able to speak English confidently is a factor that adds to mental and emotional pressures.

Make a choice and make it the right choice.

If you have any of the negative experiences above and you want to change and improve then maybe it’s time to work on your personal development and improve your English skills.

Work with Caryn

When you’re ready, book a chat with Caryn and end your career nightmare in just 10 weeks.

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