Your team doesn’t have to love the change for it to be right.
Hi y’all,
Every business I’ve watched roll out a new system has a holdout. Somebody who has done it one way for years and decides this new thing is one change too many. On our own team’s task-management system rollout, that holdout was me. I was going to stick with my paper to-do list.
If you’ve got a crew member digging in on a change you know is right, that’s normal. Back in August I wrote about outgrowing the system that got you here. This is the next step. Our brains like predictability, and learning a new way takes more energy than the old one. That’s true for a leader, a crew lead, or the only person in the shop.
I get into what changed my mind here:
Three things I’d hold onto as you push a change through:
The people who see the vision carry it. What kept our rollout moving was the teammates who could see how it would get all of us working from one list. They kept saying so while I was still hesitant. When you’re choosing tech for you and your crew, find those people early.
Insistency and consistency. Our CEO Andrew’s line was: “this is going to make everyone’s life better.” And then, week after week, he reminded us that this is how we’re operating now. My first month was inconsistent, but the expectation stayed, which helped me adjust to the new normal.
Pushback is what learning something new feels like. People dig in because they’re being asked to learn a new way, and that’s hard. The change can still be the right call for the business. If bringing everyone along happened on its own, you wouldn’t need a leader.
And so if you’re the one making the call, your job is to hold the line long enough for the new way to feel normal. That’s the hard work, and the joy, of leading a team. You set the vision and keep executing on it, even when it isn’t a straight line.
So who’s the holdout on your team right now? And if it’s you, what would it take to get on board?
See you next Monday,
Mallory Mullen
Goodshuffle
