How Purpose Gives Change a Direction

Why purpose matters when everything is changing

Change is something every law firm has to deal with, but sometimes we get caught up in the question of what we’re changing and forget to focus on why we're changing in the first place.

There is huge pressure on firms to respond to AI, changing client expectations, pricing structures and new ways of working. It can be easy to think that the answer is to always be moving and keeping up with whatever comes next.

But there is a bigger question that needs to come first: what are we actually trying to achieve, and why?

That was one of the things that stood out from a recent conversation with Robert White, CEO of Brabners. We talked about AI, but much of what he said wasn't really about AI at all. It was about the importance of having a clear sense of purpose and values when you're trying to navigate change.

Don't let the tool become the strategy

Robert made the point that whatever new capability comes along, it can't be allowed to drive the strategy and become “the tail that's wagging the dog” which is a really useful way of looking at the current AI landscape.

There is no doubt that AI is changing the way law firms work. It has the potential to improve efficiency, change how legal work is delivered and create new opportunities for firms and their clients. But the fact that something is possible doesn't necessarily mean that it's the right thing to do.

Robert described AI as “rocket fuel” for the business. It can help you get somewhere much faster, but you still need to know which direction you're going in, which is where purpose comes in.

If you are clear about what you're trying to achieve as an organisation, you have something to measure new opportunities against. You can ask whether a new technology, process or way of working actually helps you deliver on that purpose, rather than adopting it simply because everyone else is. 

Purpose becomes more important as firms grow

Robert described purpose as a “golden thread” that draws people and organisations together. It's the connection between what an organisation says it exists to do and the experience of the people who work there.

As a law firm grows, that thread has to connect more people, more teams and potentially more locations. It's much easier for people to feel disconnected from the wider organisation or from the reasons behind particular decisions.

It’s an important leadership responsibility. Purpose can't just belong to the founders or senior leadership team. If it's going to have any real value, people need to be able to see it in the decisions the organisation makes and in the way they experience working there.

The real test is what happens when things get difficult

It's easy to talk about values when everything is going well, but the real test comes when things get difficult.

One of the best pieces of advice Robert shared was that when something isn't working, his instinct is to look in the mirror rather than out the window.

It's a really powerful way of thinking about leadership and change. When something isn't landing in the way you expected, it's very easy to look out the window and see the problem as being with other people. Why aren't they getting it? Why aren't they embracing the change?

Looking in the mirror means asking a different question: what might I be doing that is making this harder?

It doesn't mean every problem is a leadership problem, or that people don't have responsibility for how they respond to change. But it does mean starting with what you can influence rather than immediately looking for someone else to blame.

For me, that's one of the clearest tests of whether values are genuinely part of an organisation's culture. They have to be visible in the difficult moments, when it's much easier to abandon them.

It has to show up in the decisions you make

It's one thing to say that values matter and it's another to use them as part of a decision about who you want to bring into the organisation.

That, to me, is where purpose starts to become much more than a piece of branding and becomes something that influences how you run the business. It can help shape who you recruit, the clients you want to work with, the opportunities you pursue, the technology you invest in and the way you respond when things don't go according to plan.

And perhaps just as importantly, it can help you decide what not to do. Without a clear sense of purpose, it's very easy to end up responding to everything. With one, you have a basis for deciding what is actually worth responding to.

What are we changing towards?

I think this is the question that sits underneath so much of the change happening in the legal sector at the moment.

AI will continue to develop, client expectations will continue to change, the way legal services are delivered will continue to evolve and firms will need to adapt but adapting doesn't have to mean constantly reinventing who you are.

The organisations that navigate change well are often the ones that are clearest about what they don't want to lose.

Their strategy, technology and ways of working can change, but they have a clear sense of why they exist, what they believe and how they want to behave.

For me, that's the real value of purpose and values, they don't give you all the answers, and they don't make change easier. They give you something to come back to when the answers aren't obvious.

And perhaps in a period when the legal sector is changing as quickly as it is, that's more important than ever.