Charting a New Course by Defining Values

Harbor was launched in August 2023, following the merger of several professional services providers in the legal industry. The heritage companies brought 30+ years of experience serving law firms, corporations, and their law departments.

Prior to our brand reveal, we set out to define a set of core values for the united company – retaining some “old” values from the legacy businesses, while articulating them in a fresh way that was compelling and authentic to our combined workforce of 650+.

Methodology

Hudson Cutler & Co. conducted interviews with key stakeholders from our board of directors and executive team about values capturing the ethos of the business.

The internal team then conducted an employee survey asking:

*What unique qualities drew them to us as an employer

*Which 3 values (out of 15) most accurately described us or who we aspire to be

*Examples of how they saw these values “in action” within their roles

Values

Based on the survey results, we defined a set of five value statements that tied in with the new company brand:

Our collaboration and knowledge exchange make us stronger

We have an ambitious commitment to the success of our clients

We are focused yet flexible in how we deliver

We are growing an inclusive community within our company and our ecosystem

We are building resilient connections throughout the legal industry

Outcome

In July, we launched the company values on our intranet, in a series of five videos, each with an employee discussing what the value statements meant to them personally. Speakers from different parts of the business were selected on the basis of their survey responses.

In August, we held internal “watch parties” showing a 28-minute video featuring executives, clients, and employees discussing our new company name and brand, value proposition, and values. The meetings were in-person in eight cities plus a virtual meeting on Airmeet.