By Brianna Leung

Law firms today face unprecedented levels of organizational change, and it's no wonder that many leaders are left scratching their heads over how to manage it all. Financial and structural management aside, this article focuses on how leaders might approach managing change from the people side to create engagement in and adoption of the change across the organization.

For every change, there is a cause and effect. Cause for a change, or the drivers behind a change, are typically related to business needs such as increasing profitability, growing market share, or responding to client demand. Any one of these business drivers could be the impetus for significant organizational change, or the effect. The need for greater market share (cause) has driven many firms to consider aggressive global expansion with new offices or cross-border mergers (effect). And the drive for greater profitability in down economic times (cause) has triggered significant downsizing and reorganizing of legal staff and roles (effect).

Client demand for greater transparency and alternative billing structures (cause) has led firms to revamp their processes and technology to have greater intelligence and efficiency with their matters (effect). Heightened security threats of data breaches (cause) are forcing firms to create new policies and implement new systems for security (effect).

Whether the resulting change is defined as implementing new staffing models, merging with another firm, deploying new technology or creating new processes and workflows, it is a big undertaking and one that will require a focus on the people side of the change. Altman Weil's recent 2012 Law Firms in Transition Survey reports that most law firm leaders seem to know this already. In fact, 90 percent of the managing partners surveyed acknowledge that recent changes driven by the economic downturn are game changing and permanent. However, most law firm leaders feel that their partners are less aware of the challenges and the drivers for change. This lack of awareness among the partners is problematic for leaders who must steer their firms in a new direction. When the partners don't understand the need for change, change across the firm likely won't happen.

Changing people's behavior is hard. Most people generally resist change, especially when it's not their idea in the first place. And law firms, with their precedent-based cultures, tend to be even more resistance to change. As you try to determine how much change management may be necessary, consider this: The more resistant you believe people will be to this change, and the more your change success is tied to people changing their behavior, the more change management you will need.

The key to successful change management is to put the people at the center of it. Do something for them rather than to them. Help them understand why the firm is doing what it is, and what the benefits and consequences are on an individual and organizational level.

• Define and articulate the business drivers for the change (the cause).

  • Why is the firm doing this?

• Cast the sponsor's vision for the resulting change (the effect).

  • At the end of the day, what does the change look like? What does success look like?
  • Who is sponsoring the change? The sponsor should cast the vision and attach his or her name and reputation to the change initiative.
    This executive sponsor should be highly positioned within the firm, well-respected, and prepared to have a noticeable presence before, during and after the change is implemented.

• Build the change team.

  • Who needs to be involved? Consider special areas of focus such as executive leadership, project management, subject matter experts, communications specialists, training specialists, etc.

• Recruit influencers and identify gate-keepers.

  • Start at the top and work your way down. The only way a change will be successful is if senior leadership is committed to the change initiative and will stand behind it. The next most important layer includes the practice leaders, office administrators, department heads and middle managers who oversee people's daily work. These people need to be involved early in the process, because they will be the ones who communicate with their groups and manage resistance and pushback. Identify ahead of time any of these people who will blockade the change or otherwise have a negative influence. Address the situation right away by spending extra time with those individuals to help them understand why their support is important.

• Involve people in the design of the solution.

  • Solicit input through interviews, focus groups, advisory committees, surveys or other means to involve people in the design of the solution. When people play a role in the design of the change, they are more apt to buy into the final plan.

• Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

  • Don't worry about over-communicating. Our experience is that even when teams feel like they have achieved communication over-kill, perception studies at the end of the project show that people would have liked even more. The reason for this is probably because people have a tendency to miss emails and announcements that may not have immediate action items, and often messages get lost in the infamous inbox black hole. Communication studies suggest people need to hear a message five to seven times before it sticks. So say it again, and again and again.
  • Use multiple formats for your messaging and don't rely solely upon electronic messages and email. Consider town hall meetings and other interactive Q&A sessions held during regularly scheduled practice or department meetings. People will tend to be more engaged by in-person dialogs than by written emails or intranet announcements. That said, we are fans of trying everything to get their attention and raise awareness. Posters, commercials, intranet ads, brochures ... you name it.
  • We also recommend you brand your initiative with a visual identity that speaks to the business drivers. Just be sure to keep the tone of your brand and messaging in-line with firm culture. Some firms are able to have more fun with internal branding than others. Even if your firm has a no-nonsense, all business culture, you can create a meaningful and engaging brand and communication plan for your project.
  • Target your messaging to different audiences. Lawyers often need a different message and format than others in the firm. You know your people best, so follow your instincts and make your communications as relevant and timely as possible based on who is on the receiving end.
  • The key things to communicate for any change initiative are:
    • Why is the firm doing this — business drivers and vision for the change
    • What's in it for me (WIIFM) — the main benefits to changing and consequences for not changing, including the urgency for the change to happen
    • How will the change happen — what is expected of me, what learning and support will be available and how can I get involved early?

• Provide training and education on how to change.

  • Technically, this happens immediately before the change, but we include it in the During stage because training should happen as near to the "change moment" as possible in order for people to retain their new knowledge.
  • Be careful not to mistake all of that upfront communication you did in the Before stage as the same thing as providing ample training and education for people to know how to change. The upfront communication is about gaining awareness and buy-in, but it is not meant to educate people on the new skills or steps they need to know.

• Offer proactive and immediate support.

  • Training classes are helpful for educating groups of people on new skills and steps. However, having an on-site coach standing or sitting next to an employee while they work through the new process or steps is critical to early success. People who achieve early success with something new are more likely to repeat the desired behavior. Those who fail or get frustrated right away are far more likely to give up and revert. Therefore, have a team of specialists or coaches who can be proactive in helping people adjust to the change during the change moment.

• Deliver ongoing communication, education and support for reinforcement.

  • Depending on the nature of the change, one round of training and support may not be enough to help people through the change. Consider follow-up courses, webinars, and coaching sessions to ensure people have the skills and information to change.

• Measure success.

  • Determine whether or not the initial drivers for the change have been realized. Has profitability increased? Have client demands been met? It may be too soon to tell, but the more tracking you can get, the smarter you will be on where you might need to go back and shore up gaps.

• Celebrate.

  • This project was a lot of work for you, your change team and for all the people you brought along with you on the journey. Be sure to celebrate success. And don't wait until the end of the initiative to celebrate. Celebrate successes as you have them, as that will help keep people motivated to continue the work that comes with big change.

Isn't it true? There are policies, automations and systems that we can use to help control organizations. But, at the end of the day, it's the people in the organization who must make the conscious and timely choice to change their behavior. Without them, the change simply won't happen. Manage the people side of the change, and make it successful.
 

As Director of Strategic Marketing & Consulting for Traveling Coaches, Inc., Brianna Leung leads the company's strategic positioning and market research efforts as well as directs its User Adoption Consulting practice. Pairing more than a decade of legal technology experience with her background in sales and marketing, she explores trends around the changing needs of our law firm clients and their employees, ensuring Traveling Coaches consistently brings targeted and relevant solutions to market. You can reach Leung at bleung@travelingcoaches.com and learn more about Traveling Coaches at www.travelingcoaches.com.