How to Convince Coworkers to Try Something New
Get tips on persuading people to try new techniques for improving process.
Today’s topic is how to get your co-workers on board with working less and doing more..
How to Get Co-Workers to Do Something New
Listener Brian calls in:
Hi Stever –When I try to implement these concepts, my coworkers say they’re just overhead. They say agendas kill flow and creativity. They say we’re all smart people so we’ll just get everything done. How do I deal?
Well, Brian, now you know why I’ve been unpopular at past jobs. I was once sent to learn Total Quality Management along with the senior vice presidents of the company. When we got back, I said, “Let’s implement some of what we learned.” The veeps explained, “We’re smart people. Now that we have the information, we’ll just sort of do it.”
Thank goodness for your smart colleagues! They’re spending their time and effort coming up with bureaucratic, hypothetical arguments instead of just trying something new to see if it works. That’s what smart people do. They don’t actually try new things. They think about trying them. Then they learn from the experience, which they never actually have, except in their imaginations. And because they’re so good at turning their ideas into real world outcomes, smart people always automatically do the right thing. Smart people know about exercise, diet, and self-care. That’s why they’re all thin, healthy, in great shape, and stress-free. No, smart people are a total wreck, because they’ve never learned to be wrong and ask for help. The famous article Teaching Smart People How to Learn by Chris Argyris covers this in detail.
Process Has a Bad Rap
Your colleagues pooh-pooh new ideas, saying you’re too “process-oriented.” That is a bad thing? “Process” means you’re paying attention to how you do something. Content is what you’re doing. Bernice and I decided to eat better. I did it by buying healthy food. Bernice did it by buying a case of Twinkies and putting them on her counter, under the theory that she would develop the willpower to say “No.” Some processes work; others don’t. Hers doesn’t. I’ve lost three inches of waistline and look like a sexy version of Zac Efron. Bernice is ankle-deep in Twinkie wrappers and resembles a sexy version of the Death Star.
Do What You Can On Your Own
I helped roll out a project management course at Harvard Business School. Silly me, I suggested we use the project management tools we were teaching to manage the project of creating the class. They laughed in my face. But since I ran the meetings, I just went right ahead and gave meetings an agenda, kept an outstanding issues log that we reviewed at every meeting, and basically dragged them kicking and screaming into practicing what they preached. Surprise–our meetings (I just loved these meetings!) were over in mere moments, we got a ton of stuff done, and our program was a smashing success. Only afterwards did they admit, reluctantly, that the tools worked. I’m still waiting for them to apologize for that wacky little sugar-in-the-gas-tank prank.
Fight Process with Process
If you want the group to do something different, use their own complaints as leverage. We all know the real issue is that they’re scared of change, don’t want to admit they have room for improvement, and are scared that if your ideas are any good, you’ll be promoted and they’ll be laid off. You can’t just say that, of course.
Your coworkers may argue against your new ideas by claiming that your new process will slow them down, decrease their output, make the process less fun, and stifle them. It could happen. For example, if you use agenda time limits to squash debate, that could be bad. But if you simply check in when you’re near the end of a time block, so the group can decide how to deal with the item that’s running over, you could end up with better outcomes.
[[AdMiddle]Why not suggest that you make it a group exploration. “For the next two weeks, let’s use an agenda. We’ll reserve five minutes at the end to review whether we went slower or faster, whether we produced more or less than usual, and how much fun it was.” Then schedule an agenda item at the end of each meeting where you review the meeting and decide whether your tweaks to the process made things go better or worse. As usual, if things got better, give everyone else the credit. “You guys really pulled it off and made this whole agenda thing a success!” If things got worse, take the blame. “Well, my idea didn’t work out this time. I’ll have a new one next week…”
Bribe Them
If they won’t agree to an experiment that explicitly measures whether the process was a success, you know your smart colleagues are wedged in “I’m so smart I hafta wear shades” mode. Bribe them. Tell them if your theory is wrong, you’ll spring for an Oreo Ice Cream cake to make it up to them. Change your own process if you can, make it a group experiment to change group process, and if logic fails, use ice cream and Oreos, a force that’s too powerful for anyone to withstand.
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
RESOURCES: –
Teaching Smart People How to Learn by Chris Argyris Teaching Smart People How to Learn
Business Meeting image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
