Tips for Smooth Change Management in Legal

As businesses become more sophisticated, legal departments are going through an internal transformation. More legal teams are adopting new technology to reduce their workload, better processes to improve efficiency, and cultivate a more innovative mindset to step into the 21st century.

A change management plan is just as crucial to the people, processes, and technology that are becoming staples on the modern legal team. Because what’s the point of implementing all these changes if people will just keep doing the same old things?

Here are some tips for managing change in your legal department and ensuring the changes are not only effective but also stick.

Tips for Change Management

Thanks to legal ops, legal departments are more efficient than ever. The idea of change can be exciting — or terrifying, depending on who you ask — but implementing changes that other employees will adopt requires planning and management. Here are some ways to start.

Know Your Why

The first step is understanding the reason for this change. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Why are you bringing on new technology and implementing new processes into your business? 
• What business outcomes are driving the change? For example, will it make your team more productive? 
• Does it contribute to the bottom line? 
• How will it make you more competitive? 

Having a clear vision and knowing your why will help you understand –  before the hard work is done – if the juice will be worth the squeeze. 

Define the Scope of Change

Legal tech doesn’t affect only the legal department but also sales, finance, customer success, and even the executive team. Before you get started, know who this change will impact, how it will change their day-to-day, and which of their own functional processes will be touched. Also, take the time to understand what will happen to the old processes and systems, as well as what resources you’ll need to make these changes happen. 

Get Buy-In

Change management is a team sport, so you need to get key stakeholders on board. Stakeholders will vary by company, but they usually include major decision-makers, the people holding the purse strings, and those who will be in the weeds of the change. Getting buy-in often requires showing impact, effort, and time to return. Details about how this change will help meet company outcomes and the kind of ROI to expect will go a long way toward proving why this change is necessary.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

All anticipated changes will fail if you don’t communicate with the teams affected and the company as a whole. Communicate everything – the why, the expected changes, what this means for various departments, change timelines, and expected outcomes. Ideally, each change management plan has an owner who will make this communication plan and circulate it widely. Remember that communication is a two-way street, so leave room for feedback and be a good listener.

Takeaways

Change is inevitable for legal departments at companies that want to stay on top, and managing this change effectively is crucial to success. For more tips, subscribe to our blog.