Discussions among global corporate legal chiefs lately are more high-charged than I can recall. In-house legal in large companies see that true change and disruption is now upon us. It brings positive energy, promising actions and more than a hint of anxiety. This month a group I direct had in-depth roundtables with about 50 global in-house leaders in New York and London. Our topics revolved around leading change and disruption. That is the focus of this three-part series, kicking off with Communications, the element that many in-house leaders find crucial to leading sustained positive change.

As you engage your team's best effort to adopt new technology and adapt to rigors of the digital world, take time to hear your peers' experiences. Today's legal or compliance leader learns from her own setbacks as well as from colleagues in other industries and regions. In-house leaders facing major transformation must appreciate the requirement to communicate—to the team, to internal clients, to stakeholders. Many say it is an essential element of guiding change. They also admit that they underestimated the time and attention that communicating would take.

Getting your team to accept change, desire change, do things differently

In a major global benchmark study that we completed earlier this year, most in-house leaders in multinationals gave their functions failing grades on “uptake of IT tools to increase efficiency.” They said that “getting people to change habits and use the tools” was by far their biggest challenge in trying to improve performance through IT.

A common mistake is to focus most on the technology, such as selecting, procuring and implementing new solutions. Often overlooked is how to win the hearts and minds of your team, so they make the change that the new solution requires.

For some of us, change is thrilling. For many, it's a nuisance. Routine is comfortable, and leaders should recognize that “the way I've always done it” feels right to many educated and skilled professionals. You will need to allocate time to guide your people to agree to change, want to change, and stick with the new approach– even when things get difficult. It's all about communicating.

Communications from any leader or manager of an in-house team should answer these questions:

1. Why are we doing this? Tell it like it is. Tie the reasons to company, team and individual goals. Be clear about the point of destination (it's rarely just one change and then we're done). Do this whether the question is asked 'out loud' or not, and repeat frequently.
2. What do I need to do? Your team benefits if you break it down to digestible steps, especially for a complex change, such as a new operating system for contracts. Help people visualize how they will get there, with flow charts and infographics.
3. How long do I have to learn this? Resisters will procrastinate. Clarify your expectations, with dates: 1) training; 2) practice; 3) fully utilize the system by ____. Check progress, while respecting individual workloads and challenges.
4. What's in it for me? You can quote Darwin, promote how workload will be lightened and performance improved with the new tool, or a bit of both. Promote advantages of gaining new skills to offer more to the organization and for any future job.
5. How is it going? How am I doing? Celebrate wins, big and small—and resolve problems along the way. Positive reinforcement creates light in the tunnel, and helps laggards progress. Use data points and qualitative input that signals success.

Communications help calm anxiety and fear

In an already uncertain economy, change creates further instability. The pace of change gives us little time to rest up. Combine a few change initiatives in Legal with scary news in your industry, then add the latest corporate re-org soon to be announced. You'll notice some of your team starting to twitch. Many will discuss it at home. The term “change fatigue” came up often in our roundtables, alongside the words re-think, radical, and revolution. Too much anxiety is distracting and counter-productive.

In-house colleagues shifted in their seats as a Fortune 250 Deputy GC described how he challenges in-house lawyers to reduce cycle times and eliminate long-standing processes that “just don't make sense anymore.” If it's currently taking 15 months, shortening to 12 months doesn't cut it. Why not 3 months? What'll it take to get to 3 weeks? And he continually asks the question: Do we really need to be doing this?

Drive disruptive change without creating chaos

In that deputy GC's words, communications should aim to “drive disruptive change without creating chaos.” Remember these tips to steady the ship when things get rocky:

6. Be authentic. Walk the talk. Describe how you are personally learning and changing to reach collective goals. Acknowledge the difficulties, emphasize the rewards. Be willing to say: “this may not work for all of you—but this is the direction we are taking.”
7. Leverage your company's communications about change relating to competitive business strategy and actions across the organization. Explain why 'we're all in this together.” Get help from the communications function aligning the broad messages with your function's goals and actions.
8. Enlist fellow enthusiasts to help while you value the skeptics, too. Accept that some of your best people may be slow to change. Encourage your early adopters to help promote news tools and processes. They can help resolve glitches and talk colleagues through stumbling blocks. Gather input from your valued laggards, to improve training and effectiveness of online tutorials.
9. Change up your messages and channels: Communication happens in many ways: through your voice and your non-verbal messages, in group and individual discussions, through print and online text, with visual illustration. Use a mix to reach your team and other stakeholders—all of whom digest communications in varied ways.
10. Don't just talk. Listening is a key to any communication: to help your team know that you are with them and appreciate the challenges; to spot issues and resolve them; to adjust your messages to what seems to be most effective.

Leigh Dance advises corporate legal and compliance functions internationally to get better, faster results from change projects. She is executive director of the Global Counsel Leaders Circle, an exclusive in-house group: www.GCLeadersCircle.org. The discussions referred to above took place at November 2017 Leaders Circle conferences she chaired both in New York (hosted by Eversheds Sutherland) and London (hosted by Bird&Bird). [email protected]