I am in a newly created role as head of legal operations. Part of my mandate is to encourage employees in the legal department to adjust their workflow and use the new technology the company has invested in. Some employees are excited about it but others are resistant, and some are outright hostile. How do I convince them that the implementation isn’t a criticism of how they did things in the past but an opportunity to move forward and improve our processes?

Technophile

Dear Technophile,

Congratulations on your new role! Change management and technological adoption, which were already core components of leadership, have only become more important during the global pandemic. The key to overcoming resistance to change is open and honest communication and involving your team at every stage of implementation, not just at the finish line.

Examine what already works

As a starting point, take a step back and focus on what processes are being done right. Ask the team members that will be tasked with adopting the new technology what their day-to-day pain points are, and make it clear that the changes are being made to make their life easier, not harder. Together with your team, evaluate existing processes to determine:

• What is working well? With all the new tools that employees have been asked to adopt in the remote work environment (the ubiquity of Zoom certainly comes to mind), adding another layer of onerous technology that doesn’t address a pain point may not be well received or more the needle on what you want to accomplish.
• What isn’t working well? (e.g. tasks that are overly mechanical, take too long, etc.). You can then use this feedback to frame the new tools that you are introducing as solutions to the pain points your team has presented, as opposed to arbitrary changes.
• Are there new improvements to introduce? You may be surprised to learn that some of your employees who seem most skeptical of change may have valuable progress ideas of their own that they would eagerly champion.

Lean Six Sigma and the Toyota Way might be useful for creating a starting framework for these process improvement discussions. Both provide collaborative frameworks to help your team set defined improvement goals.

Be open to changing your strategy

At the discussion stage, you may discover that what your team is struggling with differs from what the technology your company is adopting is trying to solve. If that’s the case, it is your responsibility as team leader to ensure that this feedback is communicated to the people in charge of investing in new improvements. The remote work environment has made it challenging for employees to relay feedback to senior management. Forging a channel of communication on your team’s behalf can go a long way in earning and maintaining their trust.

Involve your team throughout the adoption process

Because your company has already gone ahead and invested in new tools, the best way forward is to facilitate the discussions that maybe were missed in the roll-out stage and purchase process.

Consider planning a touch-base with your team where members can speak up about why they are hesitant to use  new tools. This will also give you a chance to underscore the benefits of new technology, which helps alleviate fears that the introduction of the tools is a criticism of existing processes. The key here is to make your employees feel heard: if someone raises a valid concern (e.g. back-end issues with the tool or ineffective support for troubleshooting problems), record it and provide a detailed plan on how you plan to address the concern. Then, make sure you report back to your team once you activate the plan.

Phase the implementation

Remember that changes don’t happen overnight. Forcing your team members to overhaul their processes on short notice can be overwhelming, and is likely to trigger pushback. Instead, identify priority uses for the new tools, and build in a learning period, during which your team focuses on areas where implementing the technology is both easy and makes a noticeable impact. The below chart can help break down end-uses:

Starting with the easy fixes that produce high-impact results will build morale and increase confidence around the use of  technology. From there, you can chart a path to the high-impact, but harder-to-implement uses. Throughout this process, continue re-assessing whether the tool is actually addressing the pain points that it was intended to solve by scheduling touch-bases with your team and/or setting up an anonymously written feedback portal. 

When the dust settles, document the adoption process by creating a standard operating procedures memo (SOP). SOPs create a track record of what has gone right and wrong during the introduction of a new tool and can help identifying areas for future improvements.

The bottom line is that technology is just a tool, and its adoption is not the end goal. Focus on making sure that your team feels that their voices are being heard and their pain points are being addressed. If you succeed in fostering open channels of communication, increased uptake of new tools should follow.[1]

Aliya Ramji

If you have a question for Aliya Ramji or anyone from the MT>Ventures team, feel free to email [email protected].

[1] I would like to thank Daryna Kutsyna and Yonida Koukio for their research and work.