Seven steps to change the culture of your law firm

Bringing about true culture change within a firm requires a well-considered strategy that starts with leaders at the top of the firm and which should be incorporated as part of the business’s day-to-day operations, writes Julian Tatton.

It is no secret that the legal profession is facing new and significant pressures to stay ahead in a rapidly changing industry landscape.

Many firms recognise the warning signs and have put together strategies to combat or mitigate the challenges they are confronting. However, even great strategies, in many instances, are failing due to the wall of resistance that is the organisation’s culture or current ‘way of working’. Anyone who has worked in a poor culture knows how damaging the effects can be on employees, clients and performance, but when significant change is required these effects can be amplified. Culture change is hard enough, but it can seem almost impossible in many law firms when compounded by:

• multiple senior stakeholders and partners with competing priorities;
• deeply ingrained traditions;
• highly intelligent staff who are trained to be problem-focused, sceptical or argumentative; and
• a tendency to rely on ‘logic’ as the primary tactic to drive behavioural change.

How can law firms develop cultures that enable the strategic changes they need to make? Here are some starting points.

 1. Ensure culture and strategy are inextricably linked

Setting up a ‘culture-change program’ is the first problem that many organisations create. It brands the initiative as separate to strategy and everyday operations. This causes leaders and staff to focus on cultural change ‘when they have time’; in most organisations, this is rarely or never. Work with your key leaders and partners to define what culture or ‘way of working’ is required to achieve your strategy and incorporate it as an integral part of the business.

2. Keep it simple

Culture change is hard and, for many, it seems too ethereal to make real progress. Trying to do too much causes decision paralysis and as a result people then default to previous patterns of behaviour. Agreeing on a simple cultural objective in line with strategy makes it easier for people to understand and adjust accordingly. Focus on the critical few aspects of your culture, rather than trying to fix everything or looking for a panacea.

 3. Develop leaders who build the right culture; address those who do not

It is well known that leaders need to display the behaviours expected of role models and encourage them in others. Good conversations between leaders and their people can go a long way towards building a strategically enabling culture. That said, no amount of communication, training, system updates or structural change will build a culture if leaders conduct themselves poorly or at odds with cultural ambitions. Within a partnership model, conversations about leadership behaviour can be very tough, but if handled properly they can have a significant impact.

 4. Involve everyone and explain why

Leaders are critical to culture change. For it to work, though, the majority of people must support the initiative and make small adjustments to reach a cultural ‘tipping point’. Explaining why change is needed and ‘what’s in it for me’ helps people to see the rationale behind the move, but encouraging and involving staff in being part of the change goes much further to change behaviour.

 5. Systemise cultural change

Culture change needs to be kept simple, but not simplistic. Real and systemic work is needed to change a culture; otherwise it tends to be little more than ‘lipstick on the pig’. The cultural messages that we receive come from many sources (leaders, peers, our physical environment, the systems and processes we use, the structure, rituals and events, the stories we hear and our own core beliefs and values). Without a systemic approach, the outcomes are often hit and miss; multiple sources of cultural messages need to be worked on, consistently, over time.

 6. Keep it cost-effective

Culture change, if done properly, should make clear financial sense. It should reduce or only add a fraction to planned strategic and operational costs; and the returns should far outweigh the investment. Sadly, many organisations have not had this experience and appear to have fallen for the promises of overpriced consultancies with powerful marketing arms. As a result, culture-change initiatives can be one of the first areas to be cut from the budget and momentum is lost.

If organisations focus on the basics and view culture change as a logical means to achieve their strategic ambitions, the returns should be self-apparent.

 7.Measure, reward and maintain positive momentum

Trying to effect culture change by bringing in a new ‘measurement tool’ is akin to seeking to lose weight by buying new scales. However, measurement of the right things is important to drive focus, accountability and monitor progress.

Once measures are set up, culture change needs to be communicated, managed (and celebrated) as an ongoing and critical business process. Many organisations overcomplicate culture change when simplicity is critical to success. Stick to the basics and uphold standards – and positive change will follow.

 Julian Tatton is director of the Mind Group, a group of experienced business psychologists which helps assess and develop leaders and organisations, including ASX 100 clients and multinationals. He is a registered psychologist and can be contacted directly at julian.tatton@mindgroup.com.au. To find out more about Mind Group, visit www.mindgroup.com.au.