FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER FIRST APPROACHED US TO HELP THEM DEVELOP A CODE OF CONDUCT. LEADING A SERIES OF WORKSHOPS WE DEVELOPED A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE BEHAVIOURS THEY WERE TRYING TO SHIFT AND THE CULTURE THEY WANTED TO CREATE.
What became clear was that they certainly didn’t need more rules. As one of the largest, oldest and most renowned law firms in the world, with over 5,000 people globally, they already had plenty, both legal and corporate. Yet there was still a feeling that something wasn’t working. So, we recommended a purpose.
Our first focus was to shape and articulate their story, ensuring that every element aligned to create a high-performance environment at Freshfields. We suggested moving from a ‘rule book’ approach to defining a set of foundational behavioural principles to form the basis for all relationships at the firm. We drafted these, but knew in order to truly land them, we needed to engage as many people across the organisation as possible in shaping them.
We brought together 1,500+ employees across 28 global offices in both in-person and virtual workshops. We asked for feedback on how the draft behavioural principles resonated, and crucially, what was getting in the way of each principle being lived today. Using these insights, we created a summary report offering recommendations for language and suggesting the behaviours and principles that people believed reflected a high-performance, inclusive culture. We also described what it looks like when these behaviours and principles are applied well. And when they’re done less well.
Having successfully partnered with Freshfields to shape their behavioural principles globally, we began to co-create their purpose and values.To create ownership, we developed engagement activities and resources driven by leader conversations. To reinforce this, we developed an annual culture measurement cycle, focusing on how the new behavioural principles, values and purpose live across the firm.
This global survey allows us to see detailed trends of what's improving and what needs more work. Annually, we measure and benchmark emerging themes which are then explored more deeply through conversational workshops to draw out richer insights. We use the insight to provide actionable feedback with targeted recommendations at both a local and global level.
At a local level, we provide action plan templates and equip leaders to deliver these. Localised cultural action planning enables leaders to understand what they need to do, when and how. Crucially, local leaders take ownership of their plans and are responsible for delivering them.
This empowers leaders to contribute to nurturing the firm's culture.
We delivered communications and change training, supporting leaders as they went through a transformation process to create a more global and streamlined approach. To equip non-legal business services teams for the huge changes they faced, we delivered coaching for all functional leaders and regional CEOs. To support the transformation programme, we empowered a further 70 leaders with training on change leadership. We have continued to develop bespoke training content for Freshfield’s ‘management school’ for their future leaders.
