Becoming agents of change: an interview with Helen Fletcher

Helen, last year you made the move from legal Chief Operating Officer, CIB EMEA to become Head of Legal UK at BNP Paribas - how are you enjoying your new role so far? 

I am very much enjoying it! It has been a great challenge, exciting and varied, but obviously what a time to take over - a perfect storm of circumstances! We've had Covid, Brexit, LIBOR – a combination of those has meant it was never going to be a smooth and easy time but it probably meant I had to initially focus on slightly different things than I would have done if I had come in at another time. A lot of my time has been spent steadying the ship and supporting people through the crisis. So for me that has been a big part of the initial challenge, as well as the huge regulatory piece around Brexit and the implications of that for us becoming a third party branch in the UK - a busy time!

The legal industry is undergoing huge change, noticeably accelerated by the pandemic, but in your view, what are the drivers of this change? Why should people change their behaviours, and for whom?

I would say it is a combination of factors – human, economic and societal. Before the pandemic, we had already seen that our lawyers wanted more flexibility in both their working lives and careers generally and we were working to try and deliver on that in a way that suited both them and our business. Within legal at BNPP in the UK we had already moved to fully agile working – we made that change when I was COO and I'll say it was one of the most challenging projects I have ever managed in terms of human change! Which seems strange now that everyone is working 100% remotely, but that wasn’t the case a few years ago and not everyone was ready.

Having wider purpose in our careers is also increasingly important, which I think is why our lawyers involvement in ESG work, as well as CSR and pro bono initiatives keeps growing. People have always been interested in the positive impact that they can bring to wider society but I'm seeing increased engagement and interest in getting involved in everything from advising on green bonds and social housing financing, to leading pro bono projects benefitting the local community.

How do you inspire people to become agents of change, encouraging proactive, voluntary involvement as opposed to obligatory initiatives?

With any change, you have got to try to gradually bring the majority of people along with you, but it definitely takes time and you don't always get it right. For me over-communication is key. So often change is forced upon us without teams being fully informed or understanding why that change is needed. I always try to be open about change coming down the road – it may not always want to be what people want to hear, but I think that really helps, as well as involving them in the change from the start if possible. For example, a focus this year is looking at better systems and tools for managing the matters that our legal teams are working on. It’ll be something else we ask people to fit into their busy days, so the key is to explain the benefits it will bring, such as demonstrating to our business lines the amount of work that goes into servicing a product/type of transaction and quantifying our value add.

We also try to offer as many opportunities as we can for people to develop different skillsets, gain a new perspective and pursue a variety of career paths within legal. When I took over in this role, I decided I wouldn’t directly replace myself with another COO – instead, offering an opportunity for a senior lawyer to do a rotating one year mission to work with the GC team. It gives people the chance to do something different, and see the work of the legal department from a different angle, as well as hopefully enhancing their CV and future career paths. The organisation is exceptionally open to internal mobility, and I think that can really help with engagement levels and inspiring people to use their skills to bring change to different parts of the organisation.

Psychological safety - how do you create that in a high pressure, hierarchical environment?

This has really come to the forefront during Covid, and as managers this has been a priority, taking the time to keep in touch with everyone and ensure they know they have our support. I've had one to ones with everyone in the department– it's taken a long time but it's so important for me to hear their impressions of the department, what is working well, but also what isn’t, so we can try and improve.

Tools can actually help with this too. In the UK, we are trialling a platform where people can ask anonymous questions about all aspects of life at the bank, which can be answered by peers but also senior managers. It's fantastic and we have already seen high levels of engagement. It also fits into the speak up culture which again for us and the bank is a huge focus - we really need people to have the safety and the space to speak up because it is only by them doing that that we can identify issues and put things right. Ultimately, when you've got safe, happy people, you just work so much more effectively and they in turn support each other as well.

Transformation takes time and effort – how do you balance this with continuing to provide BAU services?

To be honest as you say, it does take a lot of time and effort. The projects that I have seen really succeed have allowed people the time they need to really focus on getting it done. Last year, we seconded one of our lawyers, who is also a coder, to work for the team for 6 months focussing on just two projects and complete them. It was fantastic – he had time to work with the team, to speak to the business and produce a work allocation tool that was up and running within a few months. The other thing is sharing – so much of transformation work doesn't need to be confidential – across the industry we are all struggling with the same topics and challenges. For me, the various forums that are out there - and you guys are a great example of that with your networking breakfasts and roundtables - are fantastic. For one the network and support from like minded lawyers/COO’s is great, but also practically I find people are really helpful and willing to share about the challenges they've had with transformation. It really benefits everyone if we can do that – of course there are elements we can't share, but there's a lot that is pretty general that we can, and I think that really helps us all.