Take a lead from Nick’s tour of duty

ARMY veteran Nick Gould credits his two tours of duty in Afghanistan for giving him the perspective to run his Brisbane conveyancing company with compassion and understanding.

“I think I have definitely learned lessons from my army days that have played well in corporate life,” says Nick, managing director of Colwell Conveyancing Group, who spent ten years in service before becoming a lawyer.

“My time in the army was my first exposure to that world of post traumatic stress – I’ve had friends who suicided – and, as such, I’m an advocate for mental health. 

“I sit on the board of RSL Queensland and one of our services is to provide mental health support to veterans and the veteran community.

“So I’m a big advocate and I feel the same way about mental health in the workplace. I think it’s critical to our business and critical to our people. We have a duty of care to our people and I take that duty of care seriously.”

With a staff of ten – including four conveyancers – Nick says it’s important to keep an eye on his workforce for the signs and symptoms of burnout.

“We are very big on implementing systems and processes that monitor people’s mental health,” says Nick. “It’s about culture, it’s about leadership and it’s about creating that environment that allows people to safely put their hand up when they’re starting to feel they might need some support. For me creating a good culture is your biggest risk management tool.

“Law is a fast-paced industry at the best of times and it’s a high pressure environment. These days we have to move away from some of the old school conservative approaches in some law firms and really create that good culture and team environment where people feel that it’s okay to not be okay.”

Nick says recognising what his staff members are dealing with – whether it’s a heavy caseload or something happening in their personal lives – is key to tackling the problem of burnout.

“It’s a matter of understanding what they are struggling with because without understanding you can’t really help and solve it,’ he says. “If it’s from a work perspective, we look at it and ask what we can do to reduce the caseload?

“Or, is it something outside of the work environment? Then it’s about providing that person with the right support. It might be time off, it might be some flexible working arrangements or some formal type of counselling or support. 

“It’s about really listening to understand because then we can find out what we can do to honestly assist that person. My team is really good at jumping in and helping.”

And Nick says being attuned to his staff and their mental health and well-being is demonstrably good for business.

“Not only is it beneficial to our employees,” he says, “it also benefits the business because if you’ve got a highly functioning team and a well team, then of course your business is going to run better.”

Ends.