In Praise of Mission Statements

In Praise of Mission Statements

 
Continuing from last week’s theme about treasures you are not expecting to find, this week, we have an accidental theme!
 
For some reason, part of my blog last week was omitted from the newsletter. My blog as drafted had a postscript recommending that job searchers check out law firm mission statements to consider whether their values align with the values of the potential employers. But fate—or tech gremlins—intervened and the post appeared without this postscript. So, this week, I want to talk about law firm mission statements and why you might want to consider developing a personal mission statement so that it is easier for you to consider alignment.
 
It is easy to be cynical about mission statements. It is true that some organizations crank out mission statements which are essentially platitudes. But good mission statements are carefully constructed by stakeholders doing a careful analysis of what the organization is and how it intends to act. They can also provide a framework for evaluating success—are we doing what we said we would do?
 
Here is Assist’s current mission statement, which we honed at a Board retreat shortly before the pandemic plunged us into mental health need:
 

 
It tells people what we do—enhancing well-being—who we help—lawyers and students and dependent family members—and how we do it—through our four signature programs. This doesn’t stop laypeople seeking lawyers from calling us, but lawyers and students who read our mission statement understand what we can do (provide support through programs) and what we cannot do (legal advice, make loans, run a job-finding program.)
 
And while many prospective articling students or junior lawyers making a change just want a job so they can pay their bills and advance their careers, taking the wrong job can result in serious negative well-being challenges. At Assist, we provide support to lawyers and students (both articling students and law students) and their families who encounter challenges, but we also encourage proactive strategies. We urge students and lawyers seeking a move to learn as much about potential employers as possible to reduce the risk of lack of “fit.”
 
Here’s an example from my articling job search a long time ago. There were firms who characterized their culture as “we work hard and play hard.” I was comfortable with what working hard meant but I was not comfortable with the “play hard” side. Not only was I not a party girl, but I was also uncomfortable with flirtatious and borderline (or beyond the borderline) sexual harassment. So, learn what you can about who the firm says it is, and then test it out with what others perceive about who the firm actually is.
 
Yes, there can be a disparity between what a firm says or thinks that it is, but firm mission statements (and values statements and vision) are still important sources of information. And you can ask questions in your job interview to learn more.
 
I pulled three law firm mission statements to highlight how different firms’ missions can be. I have removed names, but they are from a Canadian national firm, an American small firm, and an international firm.
 
National Law Firm
 

Small Firm
 

International Firm
 

 
I don’t know about you, but I reacted differently to each of these three mission statements, and I had a clear favourite about which one would be my top choice if I were seeking a job (and they were hiring.) My reactions to all three mission statements are both to what they say and how they say it. And each of them provides me with context for questions to ask.
 
So, reviewing law firm mission statements (or what you can find out about a firm through its website) can be very helpful for jobseekers. But developing your own mission statement can be important, too. You can use your mission statement to describe yourself as a candidate. What you say and how you say it will give prospective employers insight into who you are, so crafting a true mission statement is much more than putting together a group of words to make you look hireable—they have to be authentic to be effective.
 
Even more importantly, having a clear mission statement can help you internalize your sense of purpose, your “why.” I have had times in my life where I was applying for jobs not really being sure of what I wanted in a job, exhibiting a belief that the universe would somehow match me with the right opportunity in a process akin to the Hogwarts Sorting Hat, and—spoiler alert--I wound up in positions where I didn’t feel that my values aligned with the organization’s values.
 
And beyond merely having clarity about what your “why” is, doing work that is consistent with your values can help you build resilience and enhance subjective well-being.
 
A 2018 American study of lawyers found that 
 

 
Lawyers in this study were asked to state their sense of purpose, which included:

• I educate employees. I protect the company
• I saved the company $1 million annually by exempting us from a tax in one state
• I am a compliance officer and in-house counsel. I help unravel problems. I help people avoid making the same or new mistakes
• I expose and eradicate specious claims. Not settle them for nuisance value mind you, but win summary judgment or a verdict.
• I have always found meaning in the fact that most people come to my office on their darkest day, and I am usually in a position to make things better for them
• helping the legal system render justice
• I serve the taxpayers and work to uphold the law. If I and my supervisors agree that something works an unjust result, we work to change it.
• using his/her "skills to do something that helps others."
• I was thankful to be able to do my job excellently, not just because that is important for my job evaluation or even for the justice system, but for those the system is intended to protect.
• completing a project to the best of my ability.
• I like to win, I enjoy winning and being right
• I like the adrenaline from the fight.
• I enjoy creating new, good law and making interesting legal arguments
• I like the challenge of making a living by my wits

 
 These statements of what lawyers found meaningful in their work are probably as diverse as the lawyers themselves are! Meaning is not a one-size fits all product.
 
But whatever the purpose is that resonated with the lawyer, there was a correlation between finding intrinsic purpose and stress-hardiness (essentially resilience.) And, lawyers who found no, or little, meaning in their work experienced higher levels of stress. So, finding a sense of meaning or purpose in your work is important!
 
In my favourite all-time lawyer research study about lawyer happiness, Professor Larry Krieger states
 

 
So, when you have internal motivation, or a sense of purpose, for the work you are doing, you are not only more resilient, you are also happier (subjective well-being social science language for happiness.)
 
Here’s the trick: you have to know what your internal motivation or sense of purpose is in order to get these well-being benefits. Please ask yourself why you are doing your job and how it resonates with your internal sense of purpose.
 
If you are an older lawyer like me, you can look back at the jobs you have held and how you would have expressed your sense of purpose. This is my lighthearted look at how I would have looked at my sense of purpose in my past employment, based on the fact that I am one of the many people who went to law school with the goal of “helping people”:
 
First law job: I want to help help—maybe even save (!)—the people who need help, and I can use my mad law skills to do this.
 
Second law job: Thank heavens this doesn’t involve working with all those people I wanted to help but couldn’t stand working with. Here, I get to work on what I’m told are fantastic files and we help keep the economic engine of this country working by keeping Schedule 1 banks and investment bankers in funds, the office is nice, and the pay is great, so why am I unhappy?
 
Third law job: This is so cool, and I don’t even have to bill my time. I ensure that my employer is treating employees, even those who are terminated, with fairness and dignity. I am actually helping people, especially my business and HR colleagues…until corporate values changed.
 
Fourth job: Wow—I’m self-employed. How did that happen? I like the flexibility of my hours, and I like that I am working my small businesses and not-for-profits whose values regarding human resources align with mine. Our business tagline is “helping you do the right thing for the right reason” but I am lonely and isolated.
 
Fifth job (part-time secondment): why am I doing this? I don’t like how they do anything here, but I know the lawyers and they needed help—but this sure isn’t me. How long before I can get out of this?
 
Sixth job: hmm—things aren’t what I thought they would be but thank heavens there are opportunities for me to make things better, although that can be exhausting.
 
Seventh job: Wow—my patchwork job experience allows me to run a not-for-profit organization with good governance, stewardship and internal controls, and my HR and lawyer stress experience helps me to help lawyers on the ground, as early as possible. After thirty-odd years and six jobs, I am finally helping people!
 
It took me a long time to get it right (less if you count my self-employment, but I wasn’t fully committed to running a sole practice.) I may have been able to achieve values alignment earlier if I had been able to understand what my personal mission statement was.
 
I am going to advocate something that you may think is goofy—I apologize if you feel this way. But I would like to encourage law students to frame out their personal mission statements before they graduate, and then I would urge them to review their mission statement on the day of their bar admission and on every anniversary. If you find that your law practice does not line up with your personal values, do not panic—we all take jobs sometimes for purely financial reasons. But do consider what your long-term strategy of re-connecting with your mission is.
 
Not all jobs are inherently philanthropic. Sometimes, we act for institutions and corporations who expect people to follow through on their financial commitments. We may feel sorry for the person who hit a patch of bad luck, but as lawyers, we need to uphold our clients’ right to strict performance, and as we saw from the study quoted above, many lawyers find upholding the rights of an entity meaningful.
 
The 2018 American stress hardiness study quoted lawyers who said that they didn’t find any sense of purpose in their work, including
 

 
Do not despair if this excerpt resonates with you more than the list of purposes several paragraphs above—but if you are concerned that your stress level is high, you may want to ask for file reallocation in your workplace or perhaps it is time to identify ways that practicing law could be meaningful for you and then seek new opportunities that reflect those purposes.
 
In an ideal world, our personal mission statement will align with the mission statement of our organization, but we accept that our world is anything but ideal. But you don’t have to accept that your work is without meaning as this can cause you to be more vulnerable to the effects of stress. Here are some small steps you can take to improve your sense of purpose:

• Can you start volunteering at a legal clinic to feed your desire to help people or to make the legal system more compassionate?
• Can you become a mentor who helps students and new lawyers?
• Can you develop a secondary practice area that will be more meaningful? A diverse practice also diversifies your stress.
• If you are the lucky person who gets stuck with all the difficult people or files in your office because you are good with them, consider raising the issue that you can only be “good” on these files when you have other more meaningful work as well (unless you find shutting down difficult people inherently meaningful.)
• Can you invite law students to shadow you? By becoming a mentor/teacher, you are fulfilling a different purpose which may be part of the “helping people” motivation.
• Is there a lawyer who practices in an area you think would fulfill your area of purpose? Offer to take that person to lunch to find out how they developed that practice area and start to work on a plan to change practice areas either gradually or with a hard stop.

 
But if you have lost hope that you will ever find your current work meaningful, it may be time to dust off your resume, write your personal mission statement and start reading potential employers’ mission statements! And call us if you want support along your journey.


Loraine