Reducing resistance to change with Product Ops
How do we support resistant colleagues as we roll out improvements?
I say this over and over: Product Operations is a role focused on people more than anything - how they work individually and together, and how to approach changing habits or embedding new habits to help them work as efficiently and effectively as possible.
As soon as we begin dealing with how colleagues work, their ‘behaviours’ and asking them to do something differently, do more, we can be faced with a multitude of emotions, reactions and conflicts. If you are in role, you are likely to have faced this at some point.
There is an entire field of study around change management, and the psychology angle and tips to successfully navigating this. But this is Practical Product Ops, and this article focuses on practical tips for product professionals to use or consider.
Common pushbacks to changes
Here are some examples of common responses you may hear to a change or proposed change, new process, or new idea to how teams work:
“There is too much change happening right now, we need to slow down”
“This makes my job harder"
“Is this helping? Is this adding value?”
“I am too busy to spend time learning this new way”
“We are already working well why are we changing it”
“We spent a lot of time optimising this last year, we should focus on that”
“This is making things more complex, we should have less process not more”
“I prefer my way I’m not going to change” (usually followed by something along the lines of “Talk to my line manager”)
Heard something else - tell me and I’ll add it to the list!
Let’s talk now about how we can respond, and how we can support colleagues through the changes that, more often than not, need to happen and will happen.
Remain Calm
The pushback may come as a surprise (though the more you understand your business, it may not!), and you may feel attacked, embarrassed and many other emotions. This is normal. After all, the hard work you have already put in is not appreciated and is being written off. You may be under more direct orders and now you need to deal with a difficult situation that may actually be between others and you caught in the middle.
Remain calm. Keep any emotions in check. This is not the end of the road, it is the start.
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