By Angélique BUDIN, Revue RH&M, n°69, p.48 - 04/2018
Legal departments or "GRC1 "Impacted by technological and regulatory tsunamis - HR concerned
Technological disruption is forcing companies to constantly evolve - the famous agility - and three tsunamis (national, European and global) of regulations are shaking up the way business is conducted and, by ricochet, the legal departments. Change is becoming imperative. However, according to McKinsey2Less than 25% of organisational restructurings are successful: 44% run out of steam after start-up, and 33% fail to achieve their objectives. Can we finally do better?
How can change management be applied to GRC departments?
According to the famous Kotter method, successful change follows 8 stages, adapted here for GRC teams:
1. Create a sense of need or urgency
GRC departments need to be involved at a very early stage in the company's strategic thinking and decision-making, in order to provide solutions that will protect the company's strategy. How can this be achieved? By identifying potential risks and business opportunities, and showing what could happen from a legal point of view. The legal director will be able to mobilise the management committee and get its "buy-in" on the need for change.
2. Identify the leaders and powerbrokers in the organisation
You have to win hearts before you can win brains!
3. Formulating a strategic vision
Next, demonstrate the added value of the legal system and present a clear action plan that everyone can take ownership of.
4. Communicating the vision to get the company on board
Then, add know-how to know-how.
5. Removing obstacles to change
In addition, make sure that every member of the team is in proactive mode. Empower them to innovate: transform inefficient processes, review interaction with management, operational staff and the company's stakeholders.
6. Generate short-term results
Celebrate and communicate.
7 Build on initial results to accelerate change
Analyse the successes and areas for improvement at each stage. Training and recruiting people to embody the change, equipped with the expertise, human and technical skills and soft skills needed to understand the company and its business, the issues at stake and the risks - new or otherwise - with leadership, flexibility, creativity, vision and courage.
8 Anchoring new practices in the corporate culture
Finally, using storytelling to sustain change and instil a legal, risk, ethics and compliance culture that inspires new behaviour.
How can HR departments support this transformation?
At each stage, the conditions for success call for soft skills and competencies that go beyond legal expertise: adopting and deploying a new approach to performance management, supporting the recruitment of new profiles adapted to the new requirements and supporting cultural transformation.
1. GRC* Governance, Risk and Compliance Department
2." Getting organizational redesign right" | McKinsey Quarterly | June 2015
ANGÉLIQUE BUDIN
Angélique Budin is now a Partner at BCP Executive Search, a recruitment consultancy specialising in "strategic protection" functions. These are directors, governance, general secretariat, legal and tax, risk management and compliance. She was previously a lawyer at the Paris Court of Appeal. She also worked in an international law firm before turning to human capital.
