Celebrating Our People: The Heart of Our Success

Trilby Misso Lawyers has experienced exceptional growth and success recently, results that truly bring me great satisfaction. Yet, as I reflect on our recent achievements, there is one moment that stands out, filling me with an overwhelming sense of pride.

Our most significant achievements have not been defined solely by financial milestones, though those are certainly important. Rather, it’s been the culture we’ve built and the values that guide us every day that have allowed us to not only survive but thrive in an increasingly competitive industry.

That standout moment for me came recently when we received the results of our anonymous and externally facilitated staff satisfaction survey. We achieved an overall 87% satisfaction rate[1], an outcome that, while outstanding in itself, is especially significant as we learned that this is the equal highest satisfaction score of any organisation surveyed by our external facilitator.

Every single team member participated, and their feedback was thoughtful, honest, and overwhelmingly positive. Most powerfully, the survey revealed that 100% of our staff are proud to work at Trilby Misso Lawyers.

This reflection isn’t just about acknowledging the personal satisfaction I felt by knowing our team is “happy” but rather about the essential role culture plays in sustaining growth and success in any business.

“Culture” has become a buzzword in business circles these days. It’s a hot topic at conferences, in leadership books, podcasts and on company websites. But to me, it’s always just been common sense. When people feel comfortable and safe at work, valued, supported and aligned with a purpose, they perform at their best – because they want to, not because they have to.

In my view, the very basic foundation of a heathy culture begins with the leadership team defining what success looks like for the organisation, communicating that vision across the organisation, clearly outlining the road map to achieve it and ensuring they have the right people to deliver it.[2]

When the vision is to develop and sustain a high-performing business focused on delivering exceptional client service and outcomes together with strong company profits, the real challenge lies in aligning individual skills and values to build a culture that can best support that vision.

A non-negotiable element of our definition of success is building and maintaining a high-performing team. One that is self-motivated, professional, empathetic, efficient and committed to delivering client-focused outcomes. We work in an area where people come to us at an incredibly vulnerable moment in their lives and we have a responsibility to deliver outcomes that genuinely make a difference. The trust our clients place in us is something we all understand and we do not take lightly.  This level of responsibility requires the highest standards of performance and commitment so it is something we will not compromise on when maintaining our culture.

Having the “right people” starts with ensuring their values align with those of the company and this is what stood out to me in our staff satisfaction survey. Overwhelmingly, our team was united by a clear sense of purpose—an uncompromising passion to help our clients achieve the best possible outcome.  

We invest time in the recruitment process to ensure alignment of values. We feel a sense of responsibility to the business and the team to protect the culture we have built and we recognise that there is a certain fragility to sustaining it indefinitely. It’s never going to be “set and forget”.

We have nurtured communication and openness at every level of the firm. My door is always open – literally. We’ve always encouraged a culture of transparency, where ideas and feedback are not only welcomed but actively sought out. I firmly believe that a high-performing law practice isn’t one where leadership simply gives direction without consultation, but one where the entire team feels empowered to admit to mistakes, contribute, challenge, and collaborate.

I’m proud of the financial milestones we’ve achieved this year. I’m proud of our exceptional legal work and operations. But more than anything, I’m proud of the team we’ve built and the culture we protect. We’ve proven that excellence and wellbeing can co-exist, even in a high-pressure industry.

I can’t think of a better way to summarise my thoughts and our team’s perspective rather than to quote this anonymous team member (taken directly from our staff satisfaction survey):

“I believe that we have one of the best plaintiff Pl firms that you could work for. We work with a very special group of people who share a similar vision and have all been hand selected. The work culture is without a doubt the best I have ever worked within. Our staff are highly motivated and work hard and don’t mind putting in the extra work to achieve good results for both the clients and the firm.”

[1] This doesn’t mean 87% of our staff our satisfied and 13% are dissatisfied of course. This means that when our staff answered each and every question they gave a satisfaction rate greater than 4 (on average) out of 5, where 5 is most satisfied.

[2] Jim Collins – Video/Audio – Getting the Right People in the Right Seats Over Time: “There are really three parts of this question of the right people. The first is the right people on the bus. Second is the wrong people off the bus. But third is the right people in the right seats.”