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Does your team seem to be allergic to process?\u00a0 Have you been trying to implement project management best practices and meeting resistance?<\/p>\nDoes your team seem to be allergic to process?\u00a0 Have you been trying to implement project management best practices and meeting resistance?<\/p>\n
If so, have you addressed your team’s inherent questions, like “How will this make my life better?” and “Is that improvement enough to merit the hassle of changing?”\u00a0 Have you explained how this will benefit your business?\u00a0 Do they believe you?<\/p>\n
Where is the motivation for improvement coming from?\u00a0 Is it a company-wide initiative, or are you acting on your own initiative?\u00a0 Your approach will differ somewhat depending on the motivation.<\/p>\n
In any case, if you lead with “Here’s the new process we all need to adopt”, you’re bound to meet resistance.\u00a0 Cast yourself in the role of problem solver rather than process maven.<\/p>\n
Here’s how:<\/p>\n
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How to Introduce Company-wide Initiatives Successfully Put your problem solver hat on.\u00a0 Talk to the people who are resisting.\u00a0 Ask them about their concerns.\u00a0 Find out if they believe in the business benefit.\u00a0 Find out if they believe this will benefit them<\/em>.\u00a0 And when they tell you, really listen.\u00a0 Don’t use this information merely as a starting point to argue why you’re right.\u00a0 Don’t fall back on “because the execs said so”, unless you absolutely have to.<\/p>\n Think about what they’ve said.\u00a0 Can you address their concerns?\u00a0 If you think you already have, ask them why they<\/em> don’t think so.\u00a0 Make sure you’re really clear on where they’re coming from.\u00a0 Ask them if they agree the purported business benefit would be a good thing.\u00a0 Ask them if they have any other ideas to achieve it.<\/p>\n This approach has several benefits.\u00a0 First, people who have been heard are much more likely to listen.\u00a0 Rather than focusing their energy on blanket opposition, they may be more willing to accept some aspects of the process.\u00a0 Second, pooling your collective knowledge is a good thing.\u00a0 They may raise some real problems that, if you can solve together, will make your company more likely to reach its goals.<\/p>\n For more support on this topic, check out the Harvard Negotiation Project<\/a>‘s book, “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In<\/a>“, by Fisher and Ury.<\/p>\n How to Introduce Team Initiatives Successfully First, talk with the team about how you do things today, and together, identify what isn’t working.\u00a0 What causes the most pain for your team?<\/p>\n Work with your team to develop a list of process issues, then rate the importance of fixing them.\u00a0 How bad is it today?\u00a0 How much would it help if this were fixed?\u00a0 There will be some obvious hot button issues, as well as some you decide are good enough for the time being.<\/p>\n Review your project management best practices, and note ones that can help solve the problems you’ve identified.\u00a0 Bounce those potential solutions off the team to see how well they fit.\u00a0 Use them as a starting point for brainstorming new solutions.<\/p>\n You’ll need team member input to act appropriately, and those that contribute will feel more invested in the effort.\u00a0 At the same time, team involvement in deciding on and planning for change can be challenging.\u00a0 Everyone’s busy (including you!), so it’s hard to find time to spend on this.<\/p>\n That’s often why improvement efforts stall out: more urgent priorities take over.\u00a0 This can be frustrating, as the same old problems hang on.\u00a0 If that’s happening to you, consider bringing in a consultant.\u00a0 Not only will that free you up to focus on your immediate priorities, but a neutral, 3rd<\/sup> party perspective and expertise can help bring together a fractious team.<\/p>\n Build Trust with Incremental Improvements<\/strong> Well, I’ve come to the end of my week as guest blogger.\u00a0 I hope the information I’ve shared has been useful to you.\u00a0 If you’d like to discuss your particular situation in more detail, let’s talk<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cheers!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>You’ve explained how the new processes will benefit the company, you’ve documented them thoroughly, you’ve trained everyone: yet still you’re facing resistance.\u00a0 What’s happening?<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>This is both easier and harder than rolling out company-wide initiatives.\u00a0 Easier, because you are free to proceed however you (and your team) decide.\u00a0 There are no prescribed processes to follow or timetables to meet.\u00a0 Harder, because there is no top-down pressure to change.\u00a0 You’re motivated: how do you get your team motivated?<\/p>\n
\nIf you can, roll out changes incrementally.\u00a0 Pick an improvement that won’t take much effort to implement, but will give tangible results.\u00a0 Resistance to small change will be lower, and positive results will encourage people to accept, and perhaps even welcome, further change.\u00a0 Because the pace of change is slower, it will be easier to absorb without disrupting work in progress.<\/p>\n