Author: Julie Scardamaglia
Published: 17 April 2025
It’s easy to have a sense of purpose when you work for a hospital saving lives or a not-for-profit saving the planet. Not so easy when the commercial reality of a professional services firm has you billing clients at six-minute increments.
That sense of purpose is something humans not only want, but need. It’s what gives us satisfaction in our working life and delivers the discretionary effort our employer expects. It makes us feel good about fronting up every day.
Thankfully, a sense of purpose can come from many sources. One is the simple joy of doing great work for the client, the satisfaction that comes from solving their problems. Another is the pleasure that comes from working in a team with great people – learning from a clever boss, sharing tasks to get the job done well. And there’s the sense of belonging to an organisation you’re proud of.
What ties all of these things together? Often, its values. Not the ambiguous words written on a wall poster or woven through a mission statement, but the things we believe in. The things that guide our decisions when the work gets tough. It’s what turns tasks into something more than just billable hours.
Purpose might be intrinsic, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum. The environment we work in either nurtures it or erodes it. Firms and leaders shape that environment, by reinforcing what matters through culture, leadership, action and example. It's these values that keep our sense of purpose intact when the work task contains unpleasant elements. Like representing the big corporation and not the little guy in a law suit, or breaking the news to creditors who won’t be paid in an insolvency, or watching families hurt during a breakup. These are the experiences that have employees choosing to walk away. And yet, in these difficult situations principles that speak to fairness, compassion, or integrity are reminders as to why the work matters.
It's too easy to say when the going gets tough, the tough need to step up. Firms which take on the unpleasant tasks that life throws at us need to build a culture that supports their people so they can be there for their clients – often when nobody else is. The lawyer who was both kind and clever during a divorce, the accountant who discovered the fraud committed on a small business, or the restructuring specialist who considered the human impact in every decision.
There’s satisfaction in doing a tough job well and there’s pride in working for a firm that can lay claim truthfully to a value such as putting people first. The proviso though, is that it must be truthful. Values only work when firms walk the talk. If they back up their claims with policies, procedures, and structures that not just enable but require management and staff to uphold them. A true culture doesn’t happen by accident. It takes planning, belief, and consistent execution. Having made the structures to uphold the values, like time off for volunteering, philanthropy policies, zero tolerance for bullying, fair dismissal procedures, or flexibility to enable work/life balance, the firm needs to communicate its actions to consistently prove its values.
People know the difference. When they see good people doing good work around them, they feel proud to be part of the firm that takes on the tough stuff and does it well.
The opposite is the firm that paints a picture of easy promotion, professional perks, and flash offices when the reality is a daily grind that offends their principles.
It’s when life and business get messy that professional services firms are called in. Making the most of a difficult situation can be tough. Doing it well and with purpose is something to be proud of. Even in six-minute increments.
Author: Julie Scardamaglia
Published: 16 April 2025
It’s easy to have a sense of purpose when you work for a hospital saving lives or a not-for-profit saving the planet. Not so easy when the commercial reality of a professional services firm has you billing clients at six-minute increments.
That sense of purpose is something humans not only want, but need. It’s what gives us satisfaction in our working life and delivers the discretionary effort our employer expects. It makes us feel good about fronting up every day.
Thankfully, a sense of purpose can come from many sources. One is the simple joy of doing great work for the client, the satisfaction that comes from solving their problems. Another is the pleasure that comes from working in a team with great people – learning from a clever boss, sharing tasks to get the job done well. And there’s the sense of belonging to an organisation you’re proud of.
What ties all of these things together? Often, its values. Not the ambiguous words written on a wall poster or woven through a mission statement, but the things we believe in. The things that guide our decisions when the work gets tough. It’s what turns tasks into something more than just billable hours.
Purpose might be intrinsic, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum. The environment we work in either nurtures it or erodes it. Firms and leaders shape that environment, by reinforcing what matters through culture, leadership, action and example.
It's these values that keep our sense of purpose intact when the work task contains unpleasant elements. Like representing the big corporation and not the little guy in a lawsuit, or breaking the news to creditors who won’t be paid in an insolvency, or watching families hurt during a breakup. These are the experiences that have employees choosing to walk away. And yet, in these difficult situations principles that speak to fairness, compassion, or integrity are reminders as to why the work matters.
It's too easy to say when the going gets tough, the tough need to step up. Firms which take on the unpleasant tasks that life throws at us need to build a culture that supports their people so they can be there for their clients – often when nobody else is. The lawyer who was both kind and clever during a divorce, the accountant who discovered the fraud committed on a small business, or the restructuring specialist who considered the human impact in every decision.
There’s satisfaction in doing a tough job well and there’s pride in working for a firm that can lay claim truthfully to a value such as putting people first. The proviso though, is that it must be truthful. Values only work when firms walk the talk. If they back up their claims with policies, procedures, and structures that not just enable but require management and staff to uphold them. A true culture doesn’t happen by accident. It takes planning, belief, and consistent execution.
Having made the structures to uphold the values, like time off for volunteering, philanthropy policies, zero tolerance for bullying, fair dismissal procedures, or flexibility to enable work/life balance, the firm needs to communicate its actions to consistently prove its values.
People know the difference. When they see good people doing good work around them, they feel proud to be part of the firm that takes on the tough stuff and does it well.
The opposite is the firm that paints a picture of easy promotion, professional perks, and flash offices when the reality is a daily grind that offends their principles.
It’s when life and business get messy that professional services firms are called in. Making the most of a difficult situation can be tough. Doing it well and with purpose is something to be proud of. Even in six-minute increments.
