Values beacon: Core values that change behaviours

 

Most law firms’ websites promote their core values to prospects, clients and recruits. But, like so many management ideas that are on the soft side, they are often more talked about than actual reality.

For too many firms, their espoused core values don’t actually represent what the firm stands for and don’t guide individual behaviour. Often, in fact, neither the partners nor the employees know the firm’s core values and no one in the firm is evaluated or rewarded on how well they live them.

But, in our over 20-year association with professional service firms (PSFs), one of the things that we have found time and time again is that the truly best firms have a core set of values that they live by. Their values do describe what the firm stands for and do influence what people do and how they do it.

The partners are the culture in a law firm; what they say, what they reward, what they do and how they do it determines what and how things get done. So, it should go without saying that the values that underpin the partners’ behaviour are central to every firm’s success. Without consistency of values and, especially, partner behaviour, no firm will ever be able to line everyone up behind its vision and maximise its potential.

Given this reality, here is how law ?firms can ensure their core values make ?a difference.

Define values

There is no point in a firm having something as a core value if it’s not important to the way the firm operates or the firm’s systems don’t support its use.

For example, nearly every firm quotes teamwork as one of its core values but, ?in too many firms, the reward system focuses on individual rather than collaborative behaviour.
Unsurprisingly, therefore, most people believe that doing things themselves is more important than collaborating with their colleagues.

So, how do you ensure the firm has values that actually drive the behaviours the firm wants its people to exhibit?

The best way to achieve this is to get the partners and employees to spend some time thinking about which values are important to them. The typical ones like integrity, client service and respect for others will ?probably come up, but there may be ?some surprises; one US firm listed ‘belief in the foundation of family’ as one of its core values.

The critical thing is that the values fit with the firm’s vision and strategy, as they drive the behaviours that deliver them.

Clarify behaviours

Words on their own aren’t enough. It is the values in action – in the everyday interactions between people – that are key.

So, people have to know what the values actually mean in practice. If these behaviours are ill defined, don’t exist or are not shared across the firm, one of the ways to generate the list of behaviours that underpin each of the values is to ask groups of people to provide two or three examples of what people would be doing if the value was being lived in the firm.

For example, some of the behaviours relating to living the core value of integrity might be:?

• refraining from office gossip;

• keeping client information confidential;

• showing respect for others, even if they disagree;

• taking responsibility for bad judgment;

• admitting mistakes;

• accepting responsibility for own actions;

• not taking sides in ‘political’ situations;

• treating people equally;

• not bearing grudges; and

• sharing clients with others.

When the behaviours that underpin each core value are defined and shared across the firm, everyone knows what the values mean in practice and which behaviours are acceptable.

 

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Some common core values across law firms

• Exceeding client expectations

• Investing in our communities

• Teamwork

• Excellence in everything we do

• Strength through diversity

• Mutual respect

• Integrity

• Openness

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Set equal standards

As the owners of the firm, the partners need to embrace and constantly live the values. Again, the partners are the culture of the firm. What they believe, what they reward, what they do and how they do it determines what and how things get done. Core values are for everyone in the firm – with no exceptions!

Don’t compromise

Core values don’t bend to fit the circumstances: this is key. Values must not be compromised at any time.

A story included in the US Air Force’s Little Blue Book (a guide to its core values) illustrates this perfectly. Admiral James B. Stockdale, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, writes: “In 1965, I was crippled and I was all alone (in a North Vietnamese prison). I realized that they had all the power. I couldn’t see how I was ever going to get out with my honor and self-respect.

“The one thing I came to realize was that if you don’t lose your integrity you can’t be had and you can’t be hurt.Compromises multiply and build up when you’re working against a skilled extortionist or manipulator. You can’t be had if you don’t take that first shortcut of ‘meet them halfway,’ as they say, or look for that tacit deal, or make that first compromise.”

Make history

In the same way that core values don’t bend to fit the circumstances, they don’t change every year or every five years.

While visions may be adjusted and circumstances force a change in a firm’s focus, the firm’s values are the bond that holds the firm together through good times and bad.

Occasionally, it may be necessary to make one of the firm’s values more externally explicit (‘strength through diversity’ is a recent example), but such ?a move should be about presentation, ?not substance.

Reward good behaviour

As the teamwork example earlier illustrated, the old adage still holds true that people do what management inspect (and reward), not what management expect. So if a firm wants its values to dictate behaviour, then the way people behave should be a part of the firm’s evaluation and reward process.

Using an evaluation process like 360-degree feedback and ensuring there is a mandatory sharing of the output between the team members is one of the most effective ways of ensuring the espoused behaviour becomes reality.

Spread the word

Let the firm’s markets know what your values are and why they are important. Clients and prospects often refer to a firm’s values in determining whether they want to work with it. Equally, firms should be proud of their values and want others to judge them by what they are and how well they live them.

But, what about the firm’s other ?market – the market for people? In Good to Great, Jim Collins tells us that we need ?to get the right people on our bus. This ?is especially important in law firms, ?where differentiation is only achievable through delivery. But, before people will get on the bus, they will want to know what the firm’s owners value and what is important to them. Core values help to get the right people on the bus, because they tell the recruits the price of admission to the firm.

 

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How to ensure your firm’s core values make a difference

• Your firm has to live the core values, so make sure they are important to both staff and owners

• Give examples of how the values are actually lived in the firm

• Core values apply to everyone in the firm – employees and owners

• Core values don’t bend to fit the circumstances

• Core values don’t change every year

• Tie core values into the firm’s evaluation system

• Let your markets know what the firm’s values are and why they are important

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The right direction

Core values point everyone in the firm in the right direction and give them a clear fix on what is acceptable and what isn’t.

To quote Admiral Stockdale again, “core values serve as beacons vectoring us back to the path of professional conduct”. They drive the firm’s culture and underpin everything that the firm’s people do both, internally and externally. They are as integral to the firm’s success as its vision and its strategies, as they drive the behaviour that delivers them.

?Rob Lees is a founding partner of ?Møller PSF Group and consultant to ?PSF leaders worldwide ?(www.mollerpsfgcambridge.com). ?August Aquila is an international speaker, writer and consultant to PSFs ?(www.aquilaadvisors.com).