Ashurst is a leading multinational law firm and a trusted adviser to corporates, financial institutions and governments worldwide. They have a vision to be the most progressive global law firm and understand that “progressive” is a mindset, an approach to how things are done.
Ross McClymont, Managing Partner for the Ashurst Melbourne Office, engaged The Leadership Sphere to deliver a corporate leadership development program to help create a fresh perspective on their leadership strategy and to explore better ways of delivering practical, commercial solutions to the challenges their local clients were facing. Whilst challenging the status quo it was important that actions from the leadership program were aligned with the firm’s global and national way of doing things.
When The Leadership Sphere came back several months later, nine out of 12 of the actions had been achieved. The remaining three were in progress and on track for completion. Now a couple of years on from the initial leadership development workshops the Melbourne Office is ranked in the top percentile of all business units within Ashurst globally, with all key metrics including customer value, revenue and profitability targets being met or exceeded. Ross McClymont mentioned that this was a really good story and one which has been underpinned by a leadership group that has taken personal responsibility for the direction of the Melbourne Office.
“While we cannot attribute the success we have achieved to one program or strategy, we know that the leadership development program was a key part of setting the overall direction. It brought us together as a group and provided us with a framework under which we could grow as individuals and take personal responsibility for the success that we have achieved as a group in the past few years.”
Align the goals of the Melbourne Office with the global and national strategy
Being a part of a large global group meant that the Melbourne Office needed to align their goals with the overarching strategy at the global and national level. The leadership development program allowed everyone to get a better understanding of the role that each partner had to play to deliver the result. The leadership group was able to mature in its understanding and confidence of where the Melbourne Office fitted within the larger global group and the areas that could be focused on to have the most impact.
“As a group we matured in our understanding and confidence of where the Melbourne Office fitted within the global firm, and the areas that we could focus on to have the biggest impact.”
Maximise cross function support
One of the key areas of focus throughout the leadership training was on how partners could support each other across practices. Whilst this was already happening well, there were several identifiable actions that could increase communication and leverage subject matter experts within the different areas of practice. Ross McClymont referred to this outcome as one of the most important parts of the leadership development program. He went on to talk about the difference it has made to the way the office operates on a day to day basis, which has been significant.
“The actions identified for improving cross practice support, and the practical strategies that our partners walked away with have both had a significant impact on the way we operate today.”
Establish a playbook on how to deliver high levels of customer service and value creation
While the group involved in the leadership development program were already displaying excellent client service and value creation within their own areas of practice, it was found that bringing the group together to discuss in more detail how they could better help others, had a significant impact on business improvement. From the ideas shared as a group and the guidance provided by The Leadership Sphere, we were able to develop a playbook to guide us. This has helped set standards and drive consistency in the way we service our clients. It has also become an important part of our overall continuous improvement process and established a supportive and collaborative culture across the different practices of the Melbourne Office.
“From the ideas shared as a group and the guidance provided by The Leadership Sphere, we were able to develop a playbook to guide us.”
