Paul Saunders
Practice Innovation Partner, Stewart McKelvey

“When I was still a practicing lawyer, we were required to attend a training session on a new practice management application that promised to centralize all matter-specific content into a single platform. The software was being installed on our computers back in our offices at the same time. Panic ensued. We hadn’t been told why the software was necessary or how it would improve our practices, just that we were to use it. The interface was clunky and counterintuitive. The application placed limitations on how we could use other software that were instrumental to our practices. Within weeks the training was discontinued and the project deemed a failure. As I’ve come to realize years later – this was a complete failure of change management. It hadn’t been communicated to us in advance as to why it was important to the business and what it meant for us. I keep this experience in mind today as my team rolls-out new solutions so we’re careful to avoid those same pitfalls.”