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When your organization is in the midst of some bad press or a scandal, your CEO might reflexively respond by circling the wagons and asking you to kill the story. That’s understandable. No one wants bad press to mar their public image and draw attention away from the otherwise excellent services their firm provides.

But if a reporter uncovers something newsworthy about your organization, or if an offensive interaction is filmed on a cell phone and goes viral, it will be quite difficult — if not impossible — to kill or even muffle that story. News travels fast, especially when it’s salacious.

Reporters might seem like the enemy when you’re battling a PR nightmare, but they fulfill a critical function in keeping the public informed and speaking truth to power. It’s their job to hold you accountable — and we believe outside accountability is broadly a good thing, even if it doesn’t feel that way in the throes of a crisis. This stance might sound atypical for a PR firm, but we look at challenging, special PR situations as an opportunity for your firm to strengthen your position as an industry leader.

Facing the storm head on is the only way to ensure your organization emerges stronger — or at least, smarter — than you were before. Here’s how to respond effectively to a PR crisis so you can get to work regaining the trust and confidence of your stakeholders, employees, and the general public. 

How Honesty and Transparency can Influence the PR Narrative

If you know there’s trouble brewing internally, it can be incredibly tempting to try to bury the story. After all, no one knows about the situation yet. Or your leadership team may hope the problem will go away on its own, allowing you to avoid negative press. That’s human nature, but it’s simply not going to work.

Trying to bury a story or hoping it will peter out aren’t great strategies because the truth almost always comes out. And when it does, your company will be much worse off if there’s evidence you tried to hide the story — or failed to reveal something time sensitive or illegal. For the sake of this discussion, we’ll put aside situations that can still be internally remedied, without PR techniques, and discussion situations where a problem is real and about to blow.

Let’s look at an example straight from the headlines. In 2017, consumer reporting giant Equifax became aware of a data breach that affected 143 million Americans. Social security numbers, birth dates, and addresses were among the data points stolen in this grand-scale cyberattack. 

That in of itself is bad news. But what made it even worse? Equifax concealed the breach for an incredible six weeks — robbing their customers’ ability to take time-sensitive steps to protect themselves from identity theft.

We don’t know exactly what happened internally when Equifax first learned of this breach. But we do know they should have assembled a team, quickly gotten up to speed on all salient details, and communicated transparently and honestly about the breach to all customers affected. Yes, the story would have broken sooner. However, the narrative would have been drastically different had Equifax been open and honest about what transpired, outlined concrete steps they planned to take to protect the millions of Americans affected, and introduced new security measures to reduce the risk of that kind of breach happening again.

Equifax’s lack of transparency resulted in a congressional inquiry into the matter and led to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission of up to $425 million to help protect impacted consumers.

Replace a Generic PR Statement with an Authentic Apology

Have you ever had someone apologize to you by saying “I’m sorry you feel that way?” That kind of apology makes it clear the person issuing the supposed apology actually thinks the offended party might be the problem.

Generic PR statements often operate in the same way. When you avoid taking responsibility or fail to own your company’s mistake, you risk alienating your customers or stakeholders even more. If you’ve misstepped in some way, first take time to listen to what those affected are trying to tell you. Then, issue an authentic apology. Don’t hide behind a bland PR statement or a problematic corporate policy.

You probably remember the viral video of a passenger being dragged from an overbooked United flight. The passenger had a ticket and was there lawfully, but United was overbooked and asked the passenger and his family to give up their seats for United employees who needed to fly. The passenger refused, and he was forcefully dragged from the flight while nearby passengers protested (and filmed the whole thing) in horror. 

United’s initial statement on Twitter was tone deaf at best: “Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers [to give up their seats], one customer refused to leave. We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities.”

This response takes zero responsibility for a policy that led to chronic overbooking. But even worse, United didn’t apologize for the violent altercation or acknowledge its cruel enforcement of a bad policy.

United issued a number of subsequent statements, each one becoming progressively more apologetic. But once you respond without any hint of remorse, people won’t believe you’re sincere when you try to walk that back. It’s crucial to get it right the first time, even if that means buying time by saying you need to look at the situation before responding. But don’t wait too long, or your silence could be taken as avoiding the issue, or worse, ignoring it altogether.

Make Meaningful Amends to People or Groups You’ve Harmed

Your response to a bad story should obviously vary based on its severity, how many people are impacted, and whether the problem is evidence of a systemic issue. If it’s a one-time, self-contained mistake, a simple apology may be all that’s warranted. But if your company is responsible for a larger-scale issue — or if a group of people have been harmed by bad players in your organization — you’ll need to offer meaningful amends.

As a communications professional, your job is to convey the details of the plan to the media, your stakeholders, and the public. But the communication itself is not the plan. Therefore, be sure to bring key players into the room to determine an appropriate course of action. Delve into the problem, ask thoughtful questions, address the full scope of the challenge, and make sure that behind the message is real substance.

Just as your response will vary based on the details of what happened, so should the actions your organization takes. Perhaps you discover a hidden culture of harassment that has affected a large number of women or people from marginalized groups. In that situation, making amends might mean overhauling your HR department, dismissing guilty parties, and bringing in coaches or therapists to work with those harmed. A single apologetic press release, no matter how well crafted and sincere, certainly isn’t going to cut it.

In Equifax’s scenario, making meaningful amends involved offering protection and compensation to customers, while also taking decisive steps to shore up cybersecurity. Had they done this from the get-go, without sitting on the story for six weeks, they would have at least mitigated the damage to their company’s reputation.

Likewise, had United accepted full responsibility for their abysmal treatment of a passenger, apologized, and asked that passenger how they could make amends, it would have gone a long way to diffuse the public outcry. Instead, their initially indifferent response fanned the flames of social media outrage.

One last thought here: when communicating the steps you plan to take, it’s crucial to strike the right tone. You’re righting wrongs. Don’t try to sound like a hero for doing the right thing. Instead, show contrition and communicate the action you plan to take.

After the PR Storm Take Stock Internally

Bad press will fade away eventually. But if you want an unfortunate chapter to stay behind you, put internal accountability measures in place to make sure you’ve done everything you’ve promised. 

PR professionals might not be responsible for writing and enforcing policy, but you are the one to communicate your organization’s message to stakeholders and the public. Therefore, you have a vested interest in making sure your organization follows through. Invite stakeholders, employees, and even the general public to hold you accountable, too. Approach the situation honestly, own your mistake, and make good on your promises.

By doing so, you’ll not only guide your organization through the storm, but potentially become smarter and stronger because of it. 

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Twenty-first century leaders that refuse to recognize the social needs and interests of key actors will fail to capture market share. CMOs can help CEOs understand and act on emerging opportunities honestly, openly, and strategically.

Old norms die hard.

Nowhere is that more true than in corporate America, where executives are struggling to understand and accept, let alone keep up with, the expectations and demands of a new reality: what’s good for society is good for business.

As Fortune reported recently, more than a few CEOs are now “more willing to speak out on controversial social and political issues;” some leaders at the helm of progressive brands like PayPal, Intel, and Lyft have in recent years not only taken stands on selective social issues but changed company policy to connect company values with to shifting opinions and beliefs.

Still, many leaders cannot or simply will not waver from old business norms—specifically, the expectations that government, not companies, should address and tackle social issues. Not necessarily because they’re blind to complex issues like diversity, equity and inclusion, and voting rights but because they haven’t been able to reconcile both the philosophy and logic of capitalist economics, as Milton Friedman explained it in the last century. And do so with genuine, not performative, expressions of social responsibility.

For an elevated CMO, the C-suite’s “new utility player” as we reported in the first of our series of articles on the new norms of executive leadership, this moment presents a unique opportunity to serve and support his/her/their CEO and other members of executive leadership by designing new ways of connecting the social to business in this still-uncharted reality.

And before said reality leaves present-gen leaders behind.

Words followed by deeds

Once upon a time, a CEOs’ greatest tool was the language of obfuscation. Secrecy and privacy of a company’s top leader created an aura of control and power; decisions were made almost exclusively and unilaterally on the golf course or at the dinner table

Before the digital age, a CEO had limited inputs – and a certain degree of control over – predictable outcomes. Now, information and inputs to consider in decision-making at the C-suite level are seemingly infinite.  As such, sticking one’s digital head in the digital sand on everything from climate change to voting rights, whether through avoidance, obfuscation or silence, bespeaks of indifference or ignorance (or both) at a company’s highest levels.

On the other hand, if a company assumes a hastily conceived position that smacks of the performative, then it’s “let fly the rotten tomatoes!”

But the days of lip service and “let’s not and say we did” are over; the pandemic and technology made sure of it.

Part of the challenge – a big part – is understanding how, when, why, and where to have the conversation. Rare is there alignment between what is communicated one-on-one and in confidence over an almond milk latte at the nearest coffee bar, and what is expressed publicly in the conference room in the presence of executive and senior leadership, and peers.

The same goes for external comms – maybe the most effective press release isn’t a press release at all. It’s a proclamation AND a manifestation through deeds. 

Or, said another way, its words with acts.

Whatever a company does, whatever public position it takes or doesn’t take on a social issue, it must be willing to face and accept the fact that it’s going to make some group or groups of actors unhappy. That’s actually OK, if a CEO means exactly what he/she/they declare publicly; backs it up with swift, decisive action; and is willing to explain to clients and employees the reasons for the company’s behavior.

Most rationale actors in a corporate setting can live with said unhappiness; but no one likes to be left in the dark.

Or worse, deceived.

At such moments, the CMO can step in and help the CEO connect a social position to a company’s strategy and long-term goals; and in a way that makes sense for existing and future employees. He/she/they can use data and insights through a marketing lens to inform and influence discretionary behavior of employees; motivate them through new sets of expectations, and imaginative performance goals, thereby being a friend to the CHRO, too.

Why? Any CHRO worth his/her/their salt knows that talent is an asset on the balance sheet; and companies do well when said asset trades at a higher value.

Working together, the CMO and CHRO can, for example, design incentives for brand ambassadorship for all organization talent; confronting social issues and framing them in ways that make employees believe that they’re about something bigger than the product or service; bigger than even the company itself. (Think of a famous business school case study of a hot dog company that proclaimed its mission was to head-off a protein shortage in the future.)

Even if it’s simply an invitation to be a part of a larger conversation about the issue—in fact, corporations that convoke assemblies to discuss issues openly and honestly with actors of all ilks may find themselves in the best possible position of all if there is one in such highly charged times: the convener.

Such initiatives can have a direct, positive impact on employee efficiency and effectiveness, which are absolutely critical to a company’s growth, and, as important, to raising the value of the talent asset. These assets are  welcomed, not shunned, from the table in a corporate-sanctioned forum and encouraged to discuss the most important, meaningful, and complex social challenges of our time.

Coming up next in our executive leadership series: The Virtue of Accountability

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New complexities in the age of “cancel culture” are no longer just a challenge for celebrities. Increasingly, professional services firms face a new reality as online communities and individual actors use the power of social media to whip up public outcry because of the people or organizations firms represent.

These actors can be tenacious, even vicious. If they access your client list and accompanying email addresses, they will use that information to exert incredible pressure, sometimes going as far as demanding you fire your client or face their wrath.

In this evolving court of public opinion, you may feel the pressure to drop individuals and corporations who are controversial. And if you’re like us, you’re struggling with questions regarding the bastions of our liberal society — namely, free speech and the right to fair representation under the law — in the face of attacks that modern communications have made more intense. It takes deep pockets and a whole lot of courage to stand firm — to say nothing of the soul-searching that’s often necessary to make sure doing so is the right thing for your organization.

Here’s how to mitigate your risk of exposure and respond appropriately if and when you come under attack.

Refine (or Define) Your Firm’s Organizational Values 

On the social media battlefield, your organizational values are your first line of defense. But what does your firm truly stand for? 

Don’t roll your eyes just yet. Think about how common it is for firms facing criticism to release a statement claiming “this is not in line with our values.” Does that ring true if, in fact, it’s clear that their modus operandi is to prioritize top-line revenue above all else?

Before you can assess your risk and develop an authentic crisis communication strategy, the first step is to reevaluate and redefine your firm’s values. Who do you aspire to be? Is it time to evolve your position in order to be relevant in today’s world? Or do your values compel you to hold fast to a particular ideal, even in the face of criticism? Do your business practices demonstrate concern for prominent social issues such as racial justice, climate change, economic disparity, gender equality, and voting rights? And are you communicating effectively about the issues that matter to your firm and to society at large with confidence?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you can effectively assess your risk in light of your defined values.

Analyze Your Risk in 3 Key Areas

There are three unique areas of vulnerability for professional services firms — your talent, your clients, and your history. You’ll need to identify possible risks of exposure within each area.

Talent 

If your partners are involved in the political arena, are outspoken in ways that don’t align with your firm’s overarching values, or choose to represent problematic clients, those decisions can tarnish your firm’s reputation and test the bounds of your partnership agreements. To mitigate this risk, assess whether your talent pool is aligned around common values. In our experience, the best way to do this is to talk about those values as frequently as possible, solicit feedback from across the organization on the strength and accuracy of those values and ask your teams to share the ways in which they’ve relied on those values to make tough decisions. (And if your team can’t cite examples, it’s probably an indication that your values need to be revisited).

Clients 

Take a close look at your client rosters to identify any controversial individuals or companies in your fold. Do you have a firm handle on who your organization represents? Is there a clear process to make decisions on new engagements that have the potential to draw scrutiny? Do your newly-refined values guide you toward continuing to represent them? If so, proceed — but be sure to include specific clients like these in scenario planning so you’re ready to respond to outside criticism. If your values don’t align with continuing to represent that client, it’s time to make some hard decisions.

History 

Your past representations may also come to light when your firm faces scrutiny from a social advocacy group. These relationships leave fingerprints on your firm’s public image and likely will not simply fade with time. If your past decisions don’t align with your current values or today’s social context, they could come back to haunt you. It’s worth the time and effort to do the hard work of assessing past representations that may not reflect positively on your firm without proper explanation. Be prepared to face scrutiny for these engagements and be willing to explain why the organization’s decision to represent certain clients from the past was the right (or wrong) one.

Once you have a handle on the vulnerabilities that exist within your organization, it’s time to do a deep dive into possible scenarios that could arise using a simple scenario planning framework.

Conduct Worst-Case Scenario Planning 

How will you respond if the vulnerabilities you’ve identified in your talent, client, and history become a public issue that reflects negatively on the organization? The last thing you want to do is panic and react in a way that makes a bad situation even worse. 

Instead, take the time to conduct thorough scenario planning in advance to help you craft appropriate responses to a variety of hypothetical crises. Bring your C-suite, key partners, and members of your communication team together to develop a playbook for each scenario. The best strategy to mitigate reputational threats around talent, clients and history is to invest the time to prepare in advance.

Together, we suggest working through the following steps:

  • Plot the likely scenarios based on vulnerabilities identified in your talent pool, client list, and history. What decisions would you need to make in this situation? What actions would you need to take? 
  • Identify and prioritize the impacted audiences. Who will be most affected if an imagined crisis becomes reality? Clients? Partners? Employees? Among the audiences you identify, who is the highest priority? What perceptions need to be anticipated and addressed? 
  • Develop the messages each audience needs to hear. Now is the time to craft standby messaging that can be used in various scenarios and targeted to key audiences. Your messages will be stronger, clearer, and more strategic if you draft them now, rather than when you’re in the midst of the storm where emotions tend to cloud decision making and limit the possibilities.
  • Identify and prepare the right spokesperson(s). Choose the right media spokesperson (usually someone other than your CEO) to represent you — someone who is calm under pressure and has the credibility to represent the organization well. Allow them to practice delivering difficult messaging before a crisis actually hits. And only leverage your CEO when the issue(s) truly rise to the level of the C-suite. Remember that leveraging your CEO as the organization’s spokesperson is a message in and of itself.
  • Deliver key messages via the appropriate channels (internal and external). If possible, identify internal and external audiences who can help evaluate your messaging and give you honest feedback on how it lands. Social media in particular is a preferred communications medium among these online communities but is often not the most advantageous delivery mechanism for your organization. You may need to recast the communications approach to traditional media, for example, to help level the playing field.
  • Measure the impact so you can reassess and adapt as needed. Even in a hypothetical situation, practice adapting your messaging based on the feedback you receive from target audiences. Establishing effective feedback loops is critical to help you make the decision to shift course when necessary.

Don’t Waste a Good Crisis

Activist groups know how to use the super-charged political environment we all live in to their advantage. But you can use the threat of a hypothetical crisis to your firm’s advantage as well. After all, sometimes it takes an emergency (even a hypothetical one) to inspire organizations like yours to do the hard work that will end up enhancing your reputation in the long run.  

By strengthening your values, aligning your business decisions around your overarching principles, and crafting compelling messages for a variety of scenarios, you can win the hearts and minds of the audiences that really matter to you — your employees, your clients, and the various other stakeholders who contribute to your success.

Invest the time now to prepare for scrutiny from these online communities before you land in their crosshairs. You’ll be better prepared, you’ll likely uncover reputational vulnerabilities that you didn’t know existed previously, and your organization will emerge stronger and more aligned with its values as a result. 

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After a sharp, pandemic-induced slowdown, law firm M&A activity is heating up fast. Completed mergers tallied by Fairfax Associates in the first half of 2021 were on par with 2020, but several transformative deals announced in the second quarter – Crowell & Moring and Brinks Gilson, Holland & Knight and Thompson & Knight, to name a few — promise to reshape certain markets and are a harbinger of more activity to come. Altman Weil predicts we may see more than 100 new mergers or acquisitions by the end of 2021.

If you’re one of those 100 — or if you’re planning on a deal in 2022 — your merger has the potential to dramatically transform your firm’s culture and scope.  Even smaller, tuck-in acquisitions can significantly impact how you serve clients and develop business.  Meanwhile, the ongoing global health crisis and America’s racial reckoning, the greatest drivers of change in our age, continue to present challenges, particularly regarding how your clients expect their outside counsel to operate and how your employees think about their workplace. You need a thoughtful, proactive communication plan to demonstrate how the combined firm will meet the needs of these stakeholders in a rapidly evolving environment.

Instead of trying to convince everyone that the combining firms are perfect cultural fits – which by now has become a default headline message for every merger announcement — the most important thing you can do at the outset of a deal is instill confidence that the combination will deliver in important ways for your key stakeholders: clients and employees, first and foremost.  Luckily, we all learned a few things about communicating with clients and colleagues during the pandemic.

Here’s what you should keep top-of-mind as you get started:

1 – Don’t Abandon Zoom Yet

We heard it several times during a June 8 panel we moderated with current and former Fortune 500 GCs: We’re not going back to the way it was before. Remote communication is here to stay so make it work for you. Plan to get your clients on video immediately after your announcement, introduce them to your new colleagues – associates and counsels as well as partners – and if you can, showcase the broader diversity on the team. Offer remote training with new partners that strengthen important areas your clients care about.  Traveling from client to client to tout the benefits of your combination is time consuming and expensive – and it is no longer necessary.

Remote communication can help in other ways, too. R. Cameron Garrison, CEO of Lathrop GPM, which was formed days before the pandemic took hold in the US, said that doing business remotely and the need to communicate digitally put everyone on equal footing. “All of a sudden we weren’t thinking of two organizations trying to come together,” Garrison said about the mindset of the firm’s lawyers when the pandemic hit. “All of a sudden the entire framework shifted to ‘we.’ How are ‘we’ going to navigate this?”

2 – Demonstrate Depth and Progress

Clients want progress on DE&I.  And we know that they want more targeted, next level analysis in your more routine communications (alerts, newsletters, webinars, etc.). Deliver the same degree of detail to demonstrate how your combination helps you make progress in the areas clients really care about.  Start by answering these questions:

  • What is your overall vision and strategic plan for the new firm and how will it enhance client service? In other words, how does one + one = three, five or even more?
  • How does the newly combined firm stack up on DE&I metrics, and what action will the combined firm take to make tangible progress towards DE&I goals?
  • Will the combination allow your employees to flourish and grow in new ways? How will it enable you to attract new talent and retain the partners and associates you have?
  • What are some of the unique ways the combined firm will better serve large, institutional clients or an emerging sector? 
  • What areas of strength or niche capabilities will each party offer the other’s clients? 
  • Being transparent with clients and employees alike about your business case will help build excitement and goodwill —invaluable assets during integration.

3 – Get Creative About Culture

In normal times, post-merger integration involved a lot of travel. Leaders from each firm visited office locations to meet as many partners and associates as possible. Meetings, town halls, and cocktail hours provided opportunities for face-to-face networking. These in-person interactions helped create trust and rapport.

The pandemic put those tactics on hold. But one firm got creative and rented an RV to send its leadership team on the road. The team visited each office location and invited employees to connect in safe, socially distanced ways, providing a memorable and shared experience.

Also effective (if less dramatic), a Fortune 20 GC participant in the recent panel spoke about his legal department’s “camera-on” culture and how it provides the perfect opportunity to get to know associates, diverse lawyers and others working on their business.

As you prepare to ink a deal in the second half of 2021 or early 2022, look for out-of-the-box approaches like this to foster relationships between new colleagues and with clients, and forge a culture about which everyone can get excited.

Professional services firms don’t get too many newsworthy, all-eyes-on-you moments. A merger or acquisition is one of the few pivotal events that guarantees all your key stakeholders will be paying attention.

Lean into the communication tactics you developed during the pandemic. Amid ever-shifting circumstances, you learned that it’s impossible to over-communicate. Frequent, smart, transparent communication is key in a crisis — it’s also the cornerstone of effective change management. 

And don’t forget that this is your chance to build an exciting new culture around your M&A business case. Through effective external and internal communication, you can inspire your stakeholders and signal that your new direction is strategic, visionary, and purposeful. 

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Distinguished GC panel weighs in on preferred communications between firms and clients, fulfillment of DE&I commitments, and the continuation of virtual engagement post-pandemic.

After the once-in-a-century inflection point of a global pandemic, the legal industry — and all of corporate America — faces another major transition as COVID-19 fades and the “new normal” sets in.

With offices reopening across the country, what lessons will the legal industry retain from the pandemic and what trends from the last 15 months will remain? Just as significantly, what will be the lasting legacy of a national racial reckoning that largely coincided with the worst global health crisis in generations?

These questions were the focus of a distinguished panel of current and former general counsel held on June 8, 2021. Sponsored by The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, the remote gathering was moderated by John Corey, President & Founding Partner of Greentarget, and Mary K. Young, partner at Zeughauser Group. The participants were:

  • Rachel Adams, former Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Lenovo
  • Alex Dimitrief, Partner, Zeughauser Group and former General Counsel, General Electric
  • Peter Muñiz, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, The Home Depot

Often focused on offering guidance for law firms, the conversation was broken into two main categories: How the interactions and communications between firms and clients will look coming out of the pandemic and how the legal industry should continue its renewed focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. The main takeaways from the conversation include:

  • Video and remote conferencing is here to stay, and law firms should make the most of it.
  • Law firm communications (alerts, webinar invites, etc.) still aren’t targeted enough as clients seek next-level analysis.
  • Firms need to be careful return-to-office plans don’t put disproportionate pressure on working women.
  • Firms need to make good on their public DE&I promises.
  • Marketers can play important roles as change agents within their firms.

The following includes highlights of the conversation with edits for clarity and length.

We are Living the “New Normal”

Q: How much of the pivot to remote and virtual communications since the start of the pandemic will remain – and how can law firms continue to improve and leverage this development?

Rachel: I see more and more communications using technology and video conferencing. Why should I get on an airplane, waste an evening traveling, stay at a hotel, have a three- or four-hour meeting and then turn back around? I think we’ve learned in the past year-plus how productive we’ve been working remotely.

Alex: Law firms ought to realize that they’re more likely to get client participation if they can just log onto an hour-long webinar. Anything that helps people save time is a plus — and I think law firms that have embraced the new normal and make interactive technologies work are going to win the day.

Peter: Throughout the pandemic, our company has been a video-on company and rarely on a video call does someone make it so you can’t see their face. But that’s not the case with some of our outside counsel and it definitely stands out. That’s an example of why it’s important to be sensitive to the client culture and adapting to it is something law firms need to consider.

Q: Beyond video conferencing, how can law firms do a better job communicating?

Alex: I’m really disappointed when I get a client alert that says, “News Flash – the Coronavirus Raises Issues of Force Majeure and Material Adverse Events.” Well, no kidding. Everyone knows that. You’ve got to remember that you’ve got a sophisticated audience looking for next-level analysis.

Rachel: We get flooded with emails, webinars, research, etc., but if law firms can target and educate themselves on what our big issues may be, then what they’re sending us can cut through the noise. It’s also about understanding what our drama is and what our daily demons are with limited budgets and limited head count.

Q: How do you see the use of in-person meetings changing, and is there opportunity for law firms in the change?

Alex: There are going to be some things that are so important, so material that people are going to want in-person interaction, but that will be the exception. When a client wants to sit in the room to gauge credibility and confidence and advice, that’s a good thing — and firms ought to embrace it. But I wouldn’t insist upon it.

Rachel: If we are going to sit down with our outside counsel and discuss a substantive matter, we’re going to also ask you to provide training to our in-house lawyers while you’re there. That’s an opportunity for you to get to know us better because, if we’re going to have an in-person meeting, we want to get additional value out of the relationship.

Peter: There is something to be said for human contact, but it’s going to be a very targeted approach going forward. From a marketing standpoint, law firms should see the advantages of these new forums and how to truly engage with clients effectively and efficiently. In so doing, their networks are literally going to expand because they’re getting exposed to more members of our teams.

Q: How should law firms think about their own in-house talent given the new normal?

Peter: They need to consider how they evolve their own work cultures so they can maximize their human capital. How are they going to really leverage this new work environment and how can they evolve it to retain and attract the talent that’s necessary for them to excel and to meet our needs should be big considerations.

Alex: Law firm leaders must establish credible and compelling criteria for requiring lawyers to come to the office. The last time I checked, they exceled over the last year and a half working remotely. So, this theme that you need people in the office to demonstrate client commitment rings a little hollow. That said, I understand the considerations around firm culture, for training and other opportunities.

Firms Making Progress on DE&I? “Too Early to Tell.”

Q: Have law firms improved on their commitments to deliver on DE&I over the past year?

Rachel: As an African American woman, I think everybody stepped up communications. I don’t want to say they had to, but they had to — as being silent was not the right thing to do. But at some point, we’re going to start asking for numbers. You can give us all the commitments that you want, but who’s coming out on pitches? Who’s working on our files? Who’s doing the work? We want to understand not just your verbal commitments but your actions.

Peter: Firms have enhanced their level of self-awareness and they understand that there has been a seismic shift. But are they moving the needle? I think it’s too early to tell. They’re engaging with clients in a more collaborative fashion, they want to benchmark and share best practices – and that’s all good. But over time, we will see whether there’s measurable improvement.

Alex: This issue is largely about talent pipelines and whether firms hire from a broader spectrum of law schools than before, whether they can put less focus on grades and more focus on overall qualifications and how they treat diverse lawyers and promote their careers in an appropriate way. Honestly, I don’t know a topic that we’ve talked about more in recent decades and achieved less.

Q: What responsibility do clients have to help improve law firm diversity?

Peter: If you come to me to pitch for business, or if you’re an existing firm and the team that you construct does not reflect my values, you’re not going to be doing much business with me going forward. But I communicate that clearly so it’s not a trap. It’s important for in-house counsel to clearly set expectations.

Rachel: We’re very upfront on what are expectations are for diverse teams and law firms that are coming in to pitch us and law firms that are doing work for us; if you can’t meet certain requirements, you won’t do business with us.

Alex: This often comes down to how to handle a client who says, “Hey, I need to see DE&I,” and then balks at a diverse team on a big case, preferring the white males who have worked for them in the past. I hear leaders of law firms talk about how they’re frustrated by these hypocritical clients, and what I’d say to law firms is, “It’s time to call them on it.”

Q: Are there related issues when it comes to DE&I and the return to the office?

Rachel: Firms are going to have to be flexible. The burdens on female lawyers, both in-house and at outside firms, when it comes to raising children over the past year-plus should be on leaders’ minds when enacting rules about being in the office.

Alex: The worst thing that could happen is for a firm to say that everyone is free to work remotely and still view time in the office as proxy for commitment to clients, commitment to the firm, etc. In that scenario, lawyers who believed they had the flexibility to work at home could be told “You didn’t really demonstrate the commitment” when they’re up for partner. And that could disproportionately affect females.

Peter: If law firms want to be employers of choice, they must adapt and not make excuses or avoid embracing flexibility. All the myths about whether you could trust employees to work remotely? We’re past that. We have successfully run multi-billion-dollar businesses remotely.

Q: Can law firm marketers play a role in new thinking about the office and DE&I?

Rachel: Lawyers are set in their ways and comfortable bringing the same people to pitch meetings. But they need to understand whom they’re meeting with and what those parties increasingly look for. Marketing teams can help provide this valuable insight and tailor teams for pitches.

Peter: Marketers can help shape the voice of the law firm because they know their audiences. Understanding me and my values and my commitment to whatever issue we’re talking about is absolutely critical if you’re pitching me or engaging me on a substantive issue.

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Another transformation brought on by the pandemic? Internal communications have become more important than ever before.

We all experienced it: the constant emails about safety protocols, reassuring check-ins about remote work logistics, regular video messages (often from the CEO), and any number of other efforts to stay connected during a difficult time.

But already, the frequent, transparent and authentic communications employees have come to expect is waning: a recent survey found that 40 percent of employees have yet to hear any vision on what post-pandemic work life might be, and another 28 percent said what they’ve heard remains vague. For professional services firms whose success relies on recruiting and retaining talent, this poses real cause for concern – especially when 1 in 4 employees are planning to look for a new job as the pandemic subsides.

These headwinds make it all the more crucial to reimagine your internal communications strategy for a post-pandemic future. Here’s how to do it well.

Embrace Authenticity and Vulnerability through Your Internal Comms

Most professional services firms operate in a pretty buttoned-up atmosphere. It’s the nature of the work. But when the pandemic put us all in the same boat — working remotely while juggling the demands of home life — something powerful happened. Leaders invited us into their living rooms for video updates. Unplanned cameo appearances from our children, partners and pets livened up non-stop Zoom meetings. Unscheduled phone calls became a refreshingly analog way to connect. Working from the back patio with birds chirping in the background became a new norm.

The surprising result? Physical distance notwithstanding, many of our interactions became more authentic and vulnerable than ever before. 

Don’t let this new authenticity and vulnerability go by the wayside when you return to the office. No one wants to revert to sterile email updates and canned messages. Create an internal communications strategy that relies heavily on personal connection, harnesses the power of storytelling, and creates a strong sense of belonging. In other words, fight to keep it real.

Leverage the Face-to-Face Communication Cascade

Even as our interactions grew more authentic during the pandemic, official internal communications grew more prescribed and controlled. Emails were painstakingly crafted, those CEO living room chats were highly scripted, and real-time feedback loops often fell by the wayside.

Leadership consultant Patrick Lencioni suggests another, if counterintuitive, route. “The best way to ensure that a message gets communicated throughout the organization,” he writes, “is to spread rumors about it.” In other words, we’ve all seen how rumors can undermine our best communication efforts. But what if we lean into the underlying human behaviors that contribute to the rumor mill and make those tendencies work for us?

That’s where a communication cascade comes in, replacing a dry, top-down messaging strategy with personal conversation and connection.

Start by involving front-line leaders to determine the broader strategic themes you want to get across.  From there, empower those leaders to disseminate the information to their direct reports as they see fit. Employees continue communicating the news down the chain to their own team members, who are free to discuss the information with their colleagues. 

Since you won’t control how every word is delivered, it involves less scripting and more trust. Cascades also create expanded feedback loops, resulting in more ownership of and buy-in for the messages you want to communicate. 

The outcome? A more authentic, effective and comprehensive communication loop than the leadership team could ever have achieved alone.

The Power of Storytelling in Your Firm’s Internal Communications

If you want a cascade to work, turn your messages into stories that make your communications personal and engaging.

For instance, perhaps your organization wants to release an internal statement on the anniversary of a significant current event, such as the murder of George Floyd. You feel pressure to convey a point of view on this important social issue, but you also know that firms like yours often lack diversity — especially in leadership positions.

Sending out a company-wide email could lead to unhelpful rumor mill chatter about your firm’s commitment to racial justice. By contrast, a communication cascade — combined with storytelling — has the potential to inspire your entire organization to talk about the issue in a constructive way.

In this scenario, start by having your leaders tell their teams about your firm’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Ask leaders to invite employees to share personal stories of how racial injustice has affected them or those they care for. This opens up channels for authentic conversation with employees about the firm’s commitment to DE&I. It might even lead to honest reflection and feedback that compels you to think through how to strengthen your firm’s values and better live them out. 

Transformation like this takes thoughtful, open conversation and a willingness to hear feedback and respond to it. It also requires leaders to embrace vulnerability. And it all begins with stories that capture the hearts and minds of your people and inspire you toward action.

Communicate that Employees Belong

Internal communication isn’t just about providing updates on company directives or even weighing in on matters of cultural and historical significance. It can also be used to create a strong sense of belonging so your employees feel more connected to and personally invested in the organization.

One leader we work with noticed a desire among his team to stay connected to the physical office during  the pandemic, especially when the monotony of remote work began to set in. Art is important to his firm and greatly contributes to the atmosphere of the physical office space. Therefore, he decided to begin telling the stories of the firm’s art collection through a series of emails that promoted a sense of connection and place among his employees.

With an imminent return to the office on the horizon, he’s now exploring opportunities to create a guided tour of the art collection for team members. He also plans to include the tour as part of the onboarding process for new hires. The pandemic made this firm’s love for art even more meaningful, all because a leader had the creativity to use it as a visual and symbolic representation of their overall culture.

Opportunities like this one will emerge for your organization, too — if you’re willing to seek them out. Many of your employees have missed the office just as much as you. Find ways to signal that they belong when they finally return.

Now’s the Time to Enhance Your Commitment to Internal Communications 

You’ve worked hard to keep employees informed and engaged during the pandemic and have made great strides in ramping up your internal communications efforts. But the benefits of effective communication transcend COVID-19. Good communication contributes to positive morale and leads to a greater sense of employee loyalty and commitment — pandemic or not. 

Don’t let the momentum you’ve created fade away with a return to the office. Instead, double down on your efforts to make your internal communications strategy more effective and compelling. Your entire organization will emerge stronger as a result.

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