Culture Is Key To Retention

Culture Is Key To Retention

In consulting terms, they say that you can herd sheep but you cannot herd cats. The legal profession, when seen from the prism of a law firm, is nothing short of herding cats. Lawyers by nature tend to have opinions and are generally quite independent in their thinking. In the realm of counsel practice, individual brilliance is what ultimately counts. In contrast, in a collective environment, individual brilliance always helps but can also become counter-productive if an individual does not gel well with the other members of the team. A firm environment is a team environment. Passing the ball at the right time is equally, if not more, important than scoring a goal.

In this challenging landscape, it is always difficult to attract talent; and more importantly, to retain it - and that too, happily. Not only does this need to be achieved, but also a perfect rhythm needs to be maintained in order to drive excellence in output. There are various theories on how to achieve it, but I don't think there is an exact science. Ultimately, we are dealing with the human mind, which is different from person to person. Tools of attraction and retention are often simplified to mean only the tangible. The notion that money can buy everything appears to be misplaced. If that were true, then the highest payer in the market would never have attrition.

Dealing with people is a complex proposition. The new generation desires all aspects, i.e., money, exposure, quality of work - and last but not the least – work-life balance. By definition, these are difficult to achieve all together. Then what is the critical factor? Experience tells me that a positive feeling of wanting to come to work and not looking at it as drudgery throughout the day is a feeling that ultimately scores. A feeling is an outcome of a combination of inputs, which includes in good measure all of the above. Ultimately, what defines the above feeling is a feeling of happiness. Happiness should not be confused with contentment. A lot of contentment can curtail ambition, which often affects performance.

A culture emerges largely with principles of fairness, transparency and participation. Not everybody wants to know everything, but if everybody can know everything that concerned them, it can make a substantial impact.

Similarly, not everybody wants to participate or can participate in everything, but an openness in this regard is always helpful. In addition to the above, it is important for organizations to understand and know what they stand for. An organization which stands on principles which are convenient often loses out in the long run. But if the organization is willing to stand or fall by its principles, it is likely that people working in the organization would also in effect become the true brand ambassadors of this value system. This, however, has to be led from the front and often from the top, with sacrifices at a senior level. All this should culminate into the environment, which is participative and transparent, which in turn could lead to happiness – though happiness always will be a subjective concept! In short, in the end, it is the culture that will attract and retain, all other things being equal.

Disclaimer – The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and are purely informative in nature.