PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.
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tl;dr
People change their own minds, you don’t do it for them
Behind a defensive reaction are concerns – start there
Push the open door – make allies of the people amenable to the change
hello
It’s that time of the year again when people are returning reinvigorated (or perhaps exhausted) from some kind of extended break and the wheels of industry are spinning back up to speed again. There’s probably a new planning cycle starting, perhaps even a new and improved strategy in the offing, just as people were beginning to wrap their heads around the old one.
All of this tends to spell change, and not everyone is going to be equally keen on it. The reasons for resisting change will always be varied, although they probably boil down to three main categories:
1. The change will bring about a tangible disadvantage for the person
2. The person believes the change will be to their disadvantage, whether or not that is in fact true
3. The person views change of any kind as disruptive and undesirable regardless of whether it’s positive or negative
As with the Crossing the Chasm bell curve, there will be some people who are more amenable to change, some who prefer not to be on the cutting edge, some people who need proof points from peers before changing, and some people who resist change until they have no other option.
As the humble product person, we’re often on the leading edge, expected to be the cheerleader for whatever comes next, and to bridge the gap between senior leadership’s lofty ambitions and reality. If we’re lucky, we may have some top cover from our managers, but that doesn’t necessarily make the day-to-day reality easier. So what can we do?
The first step is to start with the one person you can directly change – yourself. Figure out to what extent you can frame the change as a positive for yourself. If you’re well up for it (= stoked) already, then you’re golden. However, you may have to work a bit harder to see the cloud’s silver lining – will you be able to live with it? And in rare cases the change may conflict with your personal values or ethics to such an extent that you have to consider whether you can continue to work there.
What you probably can’t do, however, is to dig your heels in and attempt to resist or protest the change. Rather like Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, your body will cause precisely no damage whatsoever to the metaphorical bulldozers you’re laying down in front of. (To this I can personally attest.) Whatever’s coming is going to happen, regardless of whether it’s a good idea or not, because a lot of senior people have committed publicly to it, and you can be certain they’re going to put their job security ahead of yours. (I’m sorry, this isn’t meant to be as bleak as it’s coming out. It gets more positive in a second, I promise.)
The next thing is to figure out who else is determinedly looking for the positive aspects of what’s coming. These people are going to be your allies, and we’ll return to them later. You’re going to be working on this long-term so it’s prudent to conserve your energy by focusing first on the people who are actually open to change. ‘Push the open door’, as the saying goes. Everyone else is going to need a bit of convincing. And by ‘convincing’, I mean that they’re going to need to convince themselves – you’ll be unlikely to change their minds solely through persuasive argument or empirical data.
When confronted by a perceived threat, people naturally go on the defensive to protect themselves, leading to a fight, flight or freeze response. In that state of mind, people probably won’t believe you if you tell them everything’s going to be okay, really. (Unlike Arthur Dent, who was rather easily persuaded to stop lying in front of the bulldozers and go to the pub as long as they promised they wouldn’t demolish his house while he was gone.)
The next step is to work with their defensive reaction. Challenging it will only intensify their reaction, so instead let it play out by listening, playing back and acknowledging the other person’s concerns sincerely (you don’t necessarily need to agree though). Then it’s down to you to show (not tell) them that their fears are unfounded, or that it was nowhere near as bad an outcome as they envisaged. Only then are they likely to convince themselves that maybe the change isn’t so bad after all.
Author of Social Physics Alex “Sandy” Pentland described how people will tend to adopt the behaviour of their peers if they them experimenting with and benefiting from a new way of working. This where you and your allies can model the behaviours you want other people to emulate. As well as choosing to listen first, techniques such as working and communicating openly, and being honest about your team’s wins and losses all take advantage of this social effect. Doing all this still won’t win everyone over, but it will help those who were seeking that social proof before convincing themselves to try it for themselves.
For you this week #
Louise Deason continues to tackle the everyday dysfunctions she and many others have encountered both constructively and pragmatically. This time she’s answering the question of how to manage underperforming peers in a small team, with no support from leadership.
John Cutler wrote a piece recently on how different types of people react to the great unveiling of a corporate strategy that patently isn’t a strategy. With doggos. (That should be worth the price of admission alone.)
Speak to you soon,
Jock
what to think about this week
You cannot manage your peers
How do you manage underperforming peers in a small team with no leadership from above? On the two things make this hard, and what you can actually do when nobody is in charge.
[Louise Deason / Technically Feasible]
TBM 433: The Border Collie Faustian Bargain
Picture a company annual kickoff.
Leaders are sharing a strategy that is objectively not a strategy. Not just by a purist’s standards, but assume for a moment that the experienced people in the room all know it isn’t a strategy.
How flexible are your principles?
[John Cutler / The Beautiful Mess]
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PRODUCTHEAD is a newsletter for product people of all varieties, and is lovingly crafted from a shiny new pencil case.