Leading and Managing Change

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by Libby Hartman

When talking with my clients about ensuring that their business strategies are successfully implemented, I generally begin by discussing their business case for change. Only true visionaries change without the presence of real pain; almost always there are significant "pain points" that drive people and organizations to change. How many of us give up our cheeseburgers and fries, smoking, and Krispy Kreme donuts prior to having a health problem? So I inquire, "What is the 'burning platform'? What is the compelling reason you are asking your people to work, think, and interact differently?"

Burning platforms include such things as "Our firm will no longer be able to serve the indigent community if we don't reduce costs," or "Our market share is being eroded by the new law firm down the street," and so on.

The Case for Change

Why should Wisconsin lawyers begin adapting how and what they practice? You already have the case for change - it was presented at the State Bar's Seize the Future conference; through the conference insights written by Gary A. Munneke from the ABA's conference on the same topic; in the Wisconsin Public Trust and Confidence Report; by a colleague who fired her lawyer because she didn't have email; and by consumers who surf the Web for their own legal information. There is a business case for the legal profession to adapt the way it does business.

So with all the information available on the need to change, why do Wisconsin lawyers generally resist change?

Resistance to Change: Why and What It Looks Like

There are practical and emotional reasons why people do not like change.

The emotional reasons for not wanting to change. What is change? At its most basic level, change is a disruption of the status quo. Human beings are extremely control-oriented. We feel the most competent, confident, and comfortable when our expectations of control, stability, and predictability are being met. Change means these expectations are disrupted. Change shakes the 4 Cs: competence, confidence, control, and comfort at their core.

Try to imagine waking in the morning and everything is different than it was the day before. The clothing in your closet is a different style, fabric, and color than you are used to. Things in the kitchen have been moved around. Your spouse announces that he or she wants to change how you as a couple interact within the relationship. On this morning you now drive on the opposite side of the road, with the steering wheel on the right side of the car. Your favorite coffee shop no longer serves the same kind of coffee. The streets have been changed to "one way."

If you could imagine yourself in this obviously very dramatic depiction of change, it isn't hard to see how you would show up to work feeling completely out of control, confidence shaken, very uncomfortable, and with a sense of diminished competence. While many of the scenarios above are not likely to happen, how our world has changed in the last two to five years brings the same disruption of "the way we have always done things." So, we resist. We like the comfort that comes with familiarity and don't easily recognize the benefit of doing things differently.

The practical aspects of change. For many Wisconsin lawyers, there is no clear roadmap about what needs to change in their specific situation. People keep talking about technology and how it is impacting the legal profession. What does this mean? What do I need to do? Not only is it difficult to understand what needs to be done to adapt, it is very time-consuming to implement. Lack of time is a key practical contribution to resisting change. Change takes time away from your practice, family, and free time. From a practical perspective, why would anyone take time away from other critical things to jump into what isn't clear?

Other practical barriers to change include: poor experiences with other change initiatives, colleagues and staff who also will resist change, financial implications, lack of belief that change is really necessary, difficulty seeing and articulating the benefits of change, and lack of resources and support to manage added workload and tasks resulting from managing the change initiative.

It would be simpler if we could deal with the emotional reasons for resisting change and then address the practical barriers to change and get on with changing. But being human, we of course intertwine the two, which is messy and puts us behind the curve on a change imperative. All of this is to say - resistance to change is normal!

How Does One Overcome Resistance to Change?

Many lawyers believe they are immune to any of the changes going on in the profession and have many justifiable reasons for not moving on many personal and professional opportunities. The first step to overcoming the barriers to change is to recognize if you are a "resistor" to change.

It is useful to look at Figure 1, the resistance curve. This model has been adopted from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's work on the cycle of grief. Look at the key indicators of each of the four quadrants. Then also look at "what you hear" for each quadrant. Have you thought or said these things? For just five minutes, try to stop the "yes, but ..." going on in your head. Take a deep breath and let me take you through an exercise.

Let yourself relax. Tell yourself, "This is not a call to action. I do not have to do anything. This is just a call for awareness."

Consider - do you resist change? Do you like to have the same dinner for the holidays? Do you put your clothes on in the same order every day? Do you think the music of your time is much higher quality/more interesting/cooler than music of other times? Have you changed the way you style your hair recently (or ever)? Do you still drop your bills off at the utility company rather than using the mail? Do all the new phone/TV/calendaring gadgets/services seem ridiculous to you?

Are you anxious about changes happening around you? Do you feel that you are in the dark? Do you feel overwhelmed and clueless about this whole topic?

If you have some inclination that change is very difficult for you and that there may be things you need to do to overcome resistance to change, you have made great progress. That is the hardest part.

Instituting Change: Guidance for Leaders

It can be very difficult leading in times of great change, especially if the profession/industry/peer group in which you are involved is ambivalent at best, and hostile at worst, regarding the recent pressures and trends. The following is a model for managing a change initiative. It provides eight factors for success that leaders need to consider when trying to implement any dramatic change within their domains.

While there is no set formula to follow to ensure successfully implementing change, you can improve your chances of success by using a fairly simple equation. The Successful Change Equation in Figure 2 is a way for leaders to think about and manage the key components of their initiative.

There must be:

1) A reason to change. Change for change's sake is most times not a positive motive. A leader must be able to articulate why the change is needed.

2) A clear vision as to what is going to change.

3) Clear steps for how the change will occur.

4) A belief that the change actually is achievable.

All four of these things need to be greater than the perceived cost of changing. In other words, "Will I get more out of this than I give?" The other critical piece in the equation is the ongoing involvement of the stakeholders of the change. Stakeholders are any individuals or groups that the change will impact. This includes employees, management, clients, vendors, and so on.

To assist with these major components of the Successful Change Equation, use the Change Factors for Success (CFS) in Figure 3. These eight factors comprise a framework for managing a change initiative. (Figure 2 shows how each of the CFSs fit into the Equation for Success.) Each of the eight factors should be evaluated and considered as either a barrier or enabler to a successful change. If deemed to be a barrier, then leadership needs to identify tasks and activities to turn that success factor into an enabler. If deemed an enabler, then leadership needs to leverage this strength during the change. Both of these efforts will increase the success of the project. Managed well, the CFSs represent a path to implementation success, greater realized value, and increased adaptive capabilities. This is what managing change is all about.

Change Factors for Success

1) Powerful Business Case. Having a powerful business case for the change is critical to success. This business case provides the rationale and communicates what is the "burning platform." The business case demonstrates that the cost of not changing is greater than the cost of changing. The business case is what helps those affected by the change to understand why this is being done to them. Understanding the reasons for the change helps to overcome denial and resistance and creates energy for action.

Barrier or Enabler? Is there a good business case for changing? If yes, then communicate it! If not, then build one! This might be a cost benefit analysis, data regarding the increasing number of clients you are losing each month, a benchmarking study about what the most successful people in the legal profession are doing, and so on.

2) Vision Clarity. John F. Kennedy said, "Vision illuminates the way and keeps everyone focused on the destination." A clear vision of what the change will look like presents a compelling picture, a destination of where you are going. The vision defines any new technology, people, and process requirements for the future and specifies expected changes in behavior.

Barrier or Enabler? If there is not a clear vision, people end up working toward different goals. This contributes to confusion, lost time, reworking of tasks, frustration, and so on. Communicating a clear vision means everyone could have blindfolds on and still end up at the same destination.

3) Change Leadership and Accountability. Any change initiative must have a clear leader who has the ultimate responsibility and accountability for the success or failure of the project. This means a visible and consistent demonstration of commitment to the initiative. The leadership team should include executive sponsors and "change agents" who will be those people executing the actual change at the tactical level.

Barrier or Enabler? Clearly, having no leader for the change is a barrier. More often, however, the barrier that truly inhibits success is having a clear leader who is ineffectual in exercising leadership to advance the initiative. This person is either too busy or not available to put in the time and energy that such dramatic change requires. Other doomed initiatives have leaders who do not command the respect of those within the organization or simply do not have a change management plan and are unable to successfully manage to completion.

4) Change-specific Communication. Communication is critical to many components of any change initiative. The primary goal of communication is to build stakeholder commitment to the change or future state vision, and to the organization's strategies. This CSF should outline the strategy, content, and delivery method for all communications targeted at key stakeholders. Generally, the communication plan is integrated with the business's overall communication approach. Communications are key to ensuring that all stakeholders understand the direction of the initiative, have expectations clearly articulated, and provide updates to all team members to create efficiencies and teamwork.

Barrier or Enabler? When it comes to communications, barriers and enablers need to be assessed from an infrastructure, cultural, and competency standpoint. For example, a fully enabled organization as it relates to communications has an integrated technology and telephony system that allows communications to occur rapidly and effectively to the entire organization. A large organization that doesn't have the ability to leave voicemails to all personnel has a technological barrier to effective communications. From a cultural standpoint, I consider communicating on an "as needed" basis to be a barrier to successful change. People will make up information where information is lacking. This is highly dangerous to a successful implementation when buy-in and support are so key. Communicating openly and often is a critical activity of any change initiative. Having someone with communications experience and skill is very important to drafting effective communications. A lack of this competency is a barrier that must be addressed prior to initiating the change effort.

5) Change Capability. When embarking upon a change, leaders need to consider their employees' capacity for change. This is most significant for an organization that has undergone rapid change over a short time. I talk about a "threshold of dysfunction" to explain change capability. When a situation occurs in which a person is using up more energy dealing with life's multiple challenges than he or she has in reserve, we begin to see dysfunctional behavior. The extreme of this concept is commonly referred to as "going postal." Most often, exceeding one's change capacity means resistance to more change, tardiness, attitude problems, and the like.

Barrier or Enabler? Too much change, change with no change management activities, or a history of failed change efforts are barriers to another initiative. An enabler would be a group of people who love new things and thrive on change.

6) Integrated Planning and Teams. A change effort needs to be well organized, with people in the right roles for their skill sets. It is important to have a "team" structure to the project, because most people still will need to do their old job as well as the new.

Barrier or Enabler? Enablers in this CFS would be high performance project teams; project management infrastructure and tools; and integrating the people, process, and technology components that the change will affect.

7) Stakeholder Commitment. Building stakeholder commitment is completely critical to any change effort. Stakeholder commitment builds individual and collective commitment to turn the vision into reality. It also assures that appropriate resources are available throughout the project and it mobilizes these resources at the right time. Commitment is critical if you want the stakeholders to be engaged with the change once it occurs, for example, using the new email system. Stakeholder commitment also is important during the process of changing. Without stakeholder input and buy-in, the change initiative can be delayed, undermined by resistors, built on bad information or data, and so on.

Barrier or Enabler? It is important to understand how the people affected by the change feel about it. If a lot of resistance is anticipated, then much has to be done to get stakeholders to understand the business case and vision for the effort. In the case of layoffs, for example, few people will feel commitment to losing their jobs; however, they can be committed to identifying what they need from the organization to help make this painful process go a little more smoothly, that is, severance pay, job search assistance, and resume writing skill building. Also, having a well-respected person on your side is a strong enabler and should be leveraged.

8) Aligned Performance and Culture. This CSF is about ensuring that the "Organizational Performance Levers" (OPLs) are aligned with the change that is taking place. These levers include: organization design, performance management, training and development, culture, staffing and deployment, leadership effectiveness, and communication. When putting in a new technology, for example, having no training causes a misalignment. Your training and development must account for this new technology.

Barrier or Enabler? A barrier occurs if the change effort requires many other organizational changes that have not been planned for or are too far in the future. This puts the effort at risk for not being sustainable long-term.

Conclusion

The information/technology age has left few people, organizations, and industries untouched; the legal profession is no exception. Change is difficult, and radical change can be excruciating. The first step is understanding your own resistance (fear of the unknown, loss of income, change in work methods, increased expectations). Only after we understand what is difficult about change for us as individuals can we start addressing what needs to change in our work life. Leaders are critical to making this smooth for their law firms, colleagues, and employees. Tell those affected why the change is necessary, tell them what it is going to look like, tell them how they will get there, and tell them who needs to do what.

Wisconsin Lawyer