Perspectives

Legal Transformation: Why underestimating change management can cause trouble!

“The Only Constant in Life is Change.”- Heraclitus

Today, processor technology changes are everyday agenda items for most companies. The pandemic in 2020 showed us that quick adaptation to change is a must. But still quite often when companies are implementing new ways of working or new technology, with a goal to help their employees or customers, they forget about change management and stakeholder engagement activities. This is particularly rife with CLM technology.

For example - management decides to change its contracting process and implement a new tool to create the contract and bring benefits for the business. However in the process, they neglect to inform the impacted parties about the change, by assuming they will be happy with the new solution as it will inevitably make their lives easier. Instead, what the management need to understand is that:

  1. The change will not be adopted and integrated overnight; and
  2. People require adequate training to develop the required skills, which also takes times.

Quite often, as a sponsor of transformation project you will need someone with the experience to help you navigate and drive through the journey. Someone who will keep you on track, advise in the subject matter area and remind you about necessary steps and actions. Please remember, getting the partner technology on board, sharing your vision and goals, and kicking the process off is not the end of your work. You need to be engaged throughout the whole process, to ensure the project is a success.

This would be similar to someone wanting to improve their health and fitness, by buying a gym membership and changing their diet. This does not mean the end goal is reached, but rather it is the continuous effort put in until you have reached your desired goal. Having one training session with your trainer, and not showing up again, won’t help you with your goals achievement.

With technology or process changes, you need to be involved in the project, engage other stakeholders and effectively communicate the plans and changes to the impacted teams. It’s an ongoing activity not just the one line in the project plan.

Change is not always easily adopted, so make sure you regularly check in with the affected teams to be available for questions and support them on the journey. To avoid poor user adoption or going back to the old ways of working, cooperate with your implementation partner hand in hand to successfully deliver the project with all stakeholders on board.

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