June 16, 2005
A Core Set of Beliefs
In a previous posting, I talked about the natural force related to the compensation plan that can destroy the firm over time — relative deprivation. Getting relative deprivation and the firm’s position regarding it out in the open is the first step in reducing its negative impact. If you haven’t read the Relative Deprivation posting, you might want to read it first.
The second step has to do with a firm’s culture or common set of beliefs. Actually, the firm’s position on relative deprivation should be a part of its common set of beliefs. It may seem silly to some to say that the team needs to talk, agree and communicate to the organization the common set of beliefs that guide the firm. The culture that develops around those common beliefs is the glue that tends to hold a firm together through bad times as well as the good times. Without that culture, it is a strictly eat-what-you-kill mentality where everyone is out for #1. When what you can eat takes a downward turn due to temporary economic or competitive reasons, loyalty goes out the window.
Just as an example, so you can get the hang of one approach, our core beliefs are documented, given to each new member of our team and frequently discussed team-wide. Individual items are referenced in daily discussions among team members. They have actually shortened communication time and reduced misunderstanding because referencing an item doesn’t require long explanations or debates. It has become a language — short way of communicating complex management concepts. Each team member understands their meaning. Our core beliefs consist of such notions as:
- Excellence is the only sound strategy; anything else is merely competent
- Excellence can only be achieved through the eyes of those who judge us
- Common Courtesy is a job requirement
- If it isn’t broken, it is in the process of breaking — fix it before it breaks
- Change is constant, you either change up or things change you down
- You can’t be tops in anything without concentration
- Delegation without definition is abandonment
- Activity, hard work and long hours are not synonymous with contribution
- Measurement improves performance
There are obviously more that are not as self-explanatory without their normal accompanying paragraph — like Management Candy, Two Certainties, I65 North and One Way Streets, that I have previously posted. But, you get the idea. Most of our beliefs were learned at our mother’s knee (common sense) or were advice from experts, including Tom Peters, Peter Drucker and others, including some sources forgotten with the passage of time. They are all things that, over time, we learned through experience were right on the mark.
In my younger days, the saying was “the team that drinks together stays together". I’m older and wiser and can say, with considerable accuracy, it is the people that talk and think together that stay together. The drinking, if done at all, should be saved for another time. So talk among yourselves—and start agreeing on what it is you already agree about. Share that with the entire law firm team.
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Filed under Firm Culture by Tom Collins