Kutak Rock’s Director of Inclusive Engagement Miriam Blair addressed an international audience regarding organizational well-being at a recent Mindful Business Charter (MBC) meeting. Established in 2017 to combat alarmingly high rates of mental distress in the legal profession, the MBC and its member organizations gathered to learn about a new, free well-being survey created and offered by MBC. Kutak Rock conducts its own survey every three years and enjoys unusually high completion rates—over 84% in 2022 and over 91% in 2025. Anything over 30% is generally considered excellent and an accurate representation of opinions and behaviors of the group invited to take the survey.
Blair credited the firm’s success to several factors. First, the firm emphasizes that the survey is completely anonymous, data is analyzed by a third party, and results are available only in aggregate. This gives peace of mind to survey-takers. Second, the survey enjoys support from all levels of leadership within the firm. Team leads, department managers and the Office of the Chair actively encourage colleagues to complete the survey. Third, Inclusive Engagement Department members take the survey first to determine average length of time to complete it. They compare this to automatically calculated completion times generated by the survey software and then transparently communicate the time commitment required. Firm members then seek to remove barriers to completing the survey by setting aside time to do so.
The final piece of the puzzle is to make sure participants know exactly how the results will be used and then follow through. Presentations explaining the results and next steps are prepared for the firm and specific stakeholders. The next steps show what actions the firm will take to address any concerning results, including creating strategic goals and tactics. Firm members see that the survey affects real change, making it worth their time to complete.
“Firm members know that if we’re asking for their input, we’ll take the information and we’ll create a plan around the information, and we’ll implement that plan over the next three years,” said Blair.
Kutak Rock currently is creating its fifth three-year Inclusive Engagement Strategic Plan and its second three-year Well-Being Strategic Plan. Each contains hundreds of measurable tactics.