This article in Employee Benefits highlights again the importance of people engagement for businesses.  Further to a piece that I wrote at the end of last year (Are you listening?) on this topic, I wanted to follow up on that with my thoughts on some of the things we’ve been up to at Burges Salmon in relation to people engagement. As a firm, we recognise the importance of open and effective engagement with all of our people. I think leaders can sometimes find the whole concept of engagement to be a little overwhelming and are not sure what engagement should look like in practice.

I thought it might therefore be helpful to highlight a couple of engagement initiatives that I have been involved in over the past few months within Burges Salmon; being our annual Listening Sessions that I attend and lead with our Business Services departments and the firm’s annual Strategy Briefing.

Eavesdropping on Excellence: Our Annual Listening Sessions

Each year, I have the privilege of running a Listening Session for each of our four business services departments: Marketing, People, Finance, and Operations. These sessions, which bring together around 500 of our people and comprise a range of skilled professionals and expert specialists, serve as a powerful platform for collaboration, growth, and recognition.

The Listening Sessions allow me to provide each department with feedback on the firm’s performance and update them on the progress that we’re making with our ambitious strategy for growth. Importantly, I also use the opportunity to highlight the critical roles played by teams within each of these departments to the overall success of the firm - reflecting our holistic One Firm ethos.

By linking these sessions to outputs from past Listening Sessions, I can show how previous suggestions for improvement from these teams have been embraced and implemented.

In these sessions, colleagues from each of the four departments are able to highlight their key achievements, challenges, and update me and their whole department on their strategic objectives. This not only benefits me as the firm’s Managing Partner but also ensures that every team member hears about their colleagues’ impactful work. I actively encourage candour, ideas and opinions during these sessions. By fostering an environment where everyone’s voice matters, we’re able to tap into the collective wisdom and expertise of the teams where fresh ideas emerge, and innovative solutions take shape.

These Listening Sessions also provide a safe space for those who may not typically present publicly to step forward. It provides an excellent development opportunity - an invitation to share insights, suggest improvements, and build confidence.

Transparency is a vital aspect of the sessions and I make sure to take time to open the floor for questions about the firm. When attendees ask about our vision, challenges, or strategic direction, it really helps to foster a sense of ownership and engagement. Importantly, both internally and externally, exceptional client service is our compass and these Listening Sessions help to reinforce this commitment.

Finally, these sessions provide me with the chance to thank each and every one of our Business Services professionals for the amazing work they do to support the firm.

Sofa, So Good: Our Annual Strategy Briefing

Complementing the Listening Sessions is our annual firm-wide Strategy Briefing.

This year’s Strategy Briefing was aired to the entire firm last month over three pre-recorded sessions and the purpose of the Briefing is to provide all of our people with an update on, and progress against, the firm’s BAmbitious strategy and what that means for both them and the firm.

The format for these Briefings sees me, the firm’s Senior Partner Chris Seaton and our four Chief Officers - Amelia Stirling (CMO), Alice Bretherton (CPO), Emma Dowden (COO) and Neil Hampson (CFO) – huddle, um, ‘comfortably’ together on what is now commonly referred to as ‘the Burges Salmon sofa’, being interviewed by two of our excellent Business Services colleagues.

We covered a range of important topics over the short session including an update on the progress of the firm’s strategy, a review of our objectives, a finance and future-gazing focus, along with an update on our responsible business agenda. Our four Chief Officers also provided important updates on their specific areas, which this year included: ‘Client Experience’, ‘Our Talent, Making a Difference’, ‘Operational Effectiveness & Efficiencies’, and ‘Profitable Growth’.

It’s always a pleasure to deliver our Strategy Briefing and it was particularly pleasing to have recorded the session this year from our fantastic and newly refurbished London office (following last year in our Bristol office), with panoramic views over London as our backdrop.

The response to this year’s Strategy Briefing has been overwhelmingly positive, with almost 100% of the firm tuning in. It’s very rewarding to receive such great feedback from our people, letting us know that they find these updates from the firm’s Senior Leadership team both interesting and of value.

I’m already looking forward to planning next year’s Strategy Briefing and we’ll need to think about where to take the Burges Salmon sofa next…maybe our Edinburgh office?  Watch this space.