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19
Change Management Focus –
Disruption or Adoption
B Y K E N M A N F O R D
A
s a senior-level Director in an
AMLAW 100 law firm as well as
in my current role at Encoretech
I've been involved in many conversations with
stakeholders where major technolo changes
were framed as a catalyst to drive the business
forward. While it's true that productivity
tools such as financial dashboards and cloud-
enabled document management systems have
the potential to transform the business of law,
the long-term success or failure depends on
how individuals respond to these changes and
how disruptive the change is to them. These
"future state" desktops lose their value if no one
is using them because we didn't consider how
changes in technolo or process will impact
the individuals effected.
How can we shift our focus and help
our employees translate the anxiety they
associate with how change will impact their
day-to day activities to a more open mindset
and readiness for change? In my experience, it
helps to have a system. An excellent example
I've found to be valuable is the Prosci approach
to change management, which concentrates
on the ADKAR® model in guiding successful
change. I've often heard my colleague Jeffrey
Roach, President of Encoretech say that change
management should be user-centric, and any
methodolo you adopt should put the user
at the center of the program. This perfectly
aligns with the ADKAR® model and based on
my experience improves the delivery team's
engagement, keep projects on track, and
minimizes flight risk.
Tim Creasey and Dan Olson from Prosci
have written that we often perceive change at
the 30,000-foot level instead of the 300-foot
