This article is one of a four-part series based on a webinar delivered by Helen Hannan  Evans and Paul Clarke of The Listening People for The Centre for Legal Leadership.

When legal teams begin developing a strategy, the instinct is often to start writing: goals, priorities, workstreams, KPIs. But the most effective legal function strategies – those that resonate, drive alignment and actually get implemented – don’t begin with writing.

They begin with listening.

Why listening must come first

Listening is not about being “polite”, nor is it a soft HR exercise. When done well, it is a strategic discipline. It gives you clarity you cannot access from inside the function, such as:

• How stakeholders truly perceive legal
• What internal clients genuinely value
• Where the function unintentionally creates friction
• Where quick wins exist that could dramatically improve trust or efficiency
• Where unmet opportunities lie that legal is uniquely positioned to address

Listening helps you uncover the gap between intent and impact, and in our experience, every function has one.

The perception gap is inevitable

Inside the legal team, you see the expertise, the judgment calls, the late nights, and the risks mitigated that no one ever hears about.

Elsewhere in the organisation, stakeholders may see:

• Delays in the process
• Legal being involved “too late”
• Advice they find hard to translate into commercial action
• A sense of being told “no” rather than being helped to find a path forward

Both perspectives are valid. They’re just incomplete. And without listening, you risk designing a strategy that reflects only one side of the experience.

What listening looks like in practice

A structured listening exercise usually involves:

1. 10–15 targeted stakeholder interviews
Across the C-suite, major business areas, and your own team.

2. Open, practical questions such as:

• When does legal create the most value for you?
• Where does legal slow progress or create friction?
• How well does legal understand the business’s priorities and risk appetite?
• If you could change one thing about how legal works, what would it be?

3. Common themes that emerge:

• Strengths – what you should protect and amplify
• Blind spots – where behaviours or processes aren’t landing as intended
• Quick wins – minor improvements with significant impact
• Longer-term opportunities – where legal could play a more strategic role

Listening reduces resistance and drives alignment

Strategy usually requires some degree of change. And we know that most change initiatives fail due to a lack of buy-in or trust.

Listening counters this. When people feel heard before change begins:

• Resistance drops
• Engagement increases
• Stakeholders become allies, not sceptics

It also creates psychological safety within the legal team; people become more open, more honest, and more willing to embrace a new direction.

The language of your stakeholders becomes the legal team’s language

Listening does something else powerful: it gives you the vocabulary your stakeholders use.

This is invaluable when you later communicate your strategy. Instead of abstract concepts, you speak the language of:

• Speed
• Partnership
• Commercial outcomes
• Risk management
• Enablement

As we mentioned earlier, listening is not the first step because it is a ‘nice to have’. It is the first step because it is essential. If you want a strategy that the business will recognise, support, and advocate for, start with listening to them.

This surfaces the language, expectations, and experiences that matter most, and becomes the foundation for the story your legal function tells – one that the organisation can recognise as its own.

Once you have completed the listening exercise, the next step is to turn what you have heard into clear, structured insight that can guide the strategy work. Start by synthesising the feedback. Look for patterns in what people said, the themes that repeat and the areas where experiences differ. Most listening exercises produce four kinds of insight: strengths to build on, blind spots to address, quick wins that can be acted on immediately and longer term opportunities where the legal function could contribute more.

Organise the insights into themes that reflect what the business needs from legal and how the team is currently perceived. These themes form the bridge between listening and strategy. They help you understand what matters most to stakeholders and where the legal team can create the greatest value.

Once you have done this, bring your team together to work through what the findings are telling you. Discuss the implications, the opportunities and the actions that will make the biggest difference. This is where you begin to make choices. Some areas will need focus, some work may need to stop and some capabilities may need to strengthen.

The themes that emerge from listening will directly inform the purpose, priorities and behaviours that make up the legal function strategy described in Article 1. They give you the evidence base for deciding what you stand for and how you bring that to life.

Listening gives you the foundation for everything that follows. It reveals how the legal function is truly experienced, where it creates value and where it needs to change. Most importantly, it provides the evidence you need to build a strategy that is understood, supported and championed by the business.

If you are preparing to develop or refresh your legal function strategy, start with listening. It is the most effective way to build clarity and create the conditions for stronger relationships and better decision making.

This article is the second in a four-part series on articulating and communicating legal strategy. The next article explores how to engage your team in translating the organisation’s strategy into a clear and focused legal function strategy. The final article explains how to communicate the strategy so that it sticks and becomes part of everyday work.

Other articles in this series include:

• Why a well-articulated strategy for your legal function is no longer a “nice to have”
• From corporate strategy to legal function strategy: How to engage your team in the translation
• Making it stick: How to communicate your legal function strategy so people actually use it

If you would like support in designing a listening exercise or shaping the insights that come from it, we would be very happy to help. Please get in touch with us to continue the conversation.

FAQs

1. Who should we interview in a listening exercise?
A mix of senior leaders (CEO/CFO/COO), major business partners, high-demand internal clients, and members of your own legal team. Typically, 10–15 interviews is enough for strong insights.

2. What if the feedback is negative or uncomfortable?
That’s a sign the process is working. Honest insight is far more useful than polite answers. It reveals the gap between intent and impact, and gives you the raw material to improve.

3. How long should a listening exercise take?
4–8 weeks depending on stakeholder availability. Interviews are 30–45 minutes each, followed by synthesis and a share-back session.

4. Do we need a consultant to run a listening exercise?
No, although an objective third party can help people speak more freely. .

5. Should we share the listening findings with the whole team?
Yes, once you have synthesised and organised into themes. Transparency builds trust and creates shared ownership of the challenges and opportunities ahead.