Change and the Reluctant Minority
Earlier this week, Gartner offered up a press release that identified 5 myths of collaboration. If you have an interest in collaboration, it’s worth reading; but to summarize, those myths are:
- The right tools will make us collaborative
- Collaboration is inherently a good thing
- Collaborating takes extra time
- People naturally will/will not collaborate
- People instinctively know how to collaborate
The explanation given for #4 was something that particularly caught my interest:
Depending on their level of cynicism, people believe that humans naturally collaborate, or naturally don’t. While there are individuals at each end of the spectrum, most are somewhere in the middle and can be encouraged to collaborate under the right conditions. IT leaders should ignore the reluctant minority and work on motivating the majority of workers who can be persuaded to collaborate…
I think any of us who’ve observed ‘personality test’ scores for the legal industry know where lawyers sit on the continuum of cynicism (not that intuition and observation weren’t also worthy paths to the same conclusion). But cynicism aside, this tactical recommendation — bypassing the “roadblock” personality in order to effect some kind of change — has merit. It’s dependent, of course, that your firm’s leadership actually desires and supports the intended change; but whether we’re talking collaboration, deciding to add a new technology, or altering a work process — it’s not uncommon to find a reluctant person or group standing in the way.
Admittedly, some larger changes require firm-wide compliance, and are often accompanied by a directive from the firm’s leadership. But there are also the many smaller changes that happen in firms that don’t necessarily need to be globally accepted. Indeed, if it’s this type of change we’re talking about, how much time should we spend on the “reluctant minority”?
During my years in-house, I learned to appreciate the value of utilizing a ‘test group’ or ‘champion’ to drive innovation. It often only takes a single success story to spearhead further adoption within a firm. Get two or three groups to jump on board, and that change will often take a life of its own. My point being? There’s a time to invest in the ‘early adopters’, and a time to invest in the critical mass. Both these groups have proven value.
But the roadblock personalities? Unless politics prevail, why invest your time? I’ve logged a lot of hours trying to convince lawyers on the merits of trying something new. The split has become almost routine: some will poke endless holes in the new idea; while others are game to try. I always leave a healthy amount of grey area for the needs to be convinced personality; but individuals that can’t get beyond “finding reasons to say no”, don’t deserve the same treatment.
Besides, if you effect change all around your minority … a few of them might just buckle anyway.
Steve:
Great article. My views on collaboration have switched 180 degrees. As a lawyer, I cherished my independence and liked working alone on files. Bah humbug to working with others! I am a rock. I am an island!
Then came business school. The MBA program required team work on projects since they were too big to tackle alone. Everyone was required to work with people from different backgrounds – engineers, executives, nurses etc who came from industries and businesses that were all over the spectrum – from private, to huge corporations to non-profits. It didn’t take too long before everyone realized that the right team could produce exceptional results – so long as you learned to trust everyone to do their part and throw their enthusiasm into the project.
I now am reluctant to work alone on a project, paper or speaking engagement. I relish the different points of view and distillation of thought that takes place in a great collaborative environment. I know that projects with committed team members can be effective, productive and that the whole is much bigger than the sum of the individual parts.
But you need leadership and you need commitment. You can’t ‘direct’ this – the big thing about change management is changing attitudes….or as I have often said, “The hardest thing to change is a closed mind.”
The way to deal with a ‘reluctant minority’? I would say try individually including them in a highly functioning team and require them to do a task that cannot be done alone. Hold them accountable. One of two things will happen. Either they will realize what is required of them and step up to the plate…or they will resign from the team. At that point the firm has a decision to make …keep this person on working as an isolated island in the firm…or ask them kindly to move on.
But these days the idea of working in a firm while building walls and a fortress deep and mighty around yourself that none may penetrate is long since past.