In this article, I’ll show you a technique to overcome resistance from your teams and organization when introducing change.
As a Product Leader, it’s your job to keep things moving forward.
Sometimes, that means shaking things up with new processes. E.g. a new quarterly planning strategy. Or revamping product reviews.
These changes are vital – they set your organization up for bigger wins down the road.
But change is challenging.
People naturally resist change. They’re often more comfortable with the “devil they know” rather than something new – even if it’s better.
If you don’t handle things right, you face serious pushback.
Failure to convince your teams risks stagnation and missed opportunities.
Why Most PMs Fail To Drive Lasting Change
Product Managers often make the mistake of driving change by painting a rosy picture of the future.
“If we adopt this new process, we’ll get X, Y, and Z benefits!”
The problem with this approach is that it makes an assumption. Here is the same sentence, but with the assumption made clear:
“If we adopt this new process and it works as intended, we’ll get X, Y, and Z benefits!”
This assumption is the source of hesitation by teams to adopt new processes. Asking teams to fully commit to an unproven process risks serious disruption to their workflows if things go wrong.
And without team buy-in from the start, the new process is almost certain to fail.
Fortunately – there is a simple way to reframe the discussion, to overcome this hesitation.
Reframe Change as an Experiment
Introduce a change as a time-bound experiment.
Instead of: “We are changing how we do reviews.”
Try this: “We are changing how we do reviews, for the next 6 months. After that, we will reflect on the experience and decide how to proceed.”
Do you see why it’s better?
An experiment isn’t a permanent change – it’s a learning opportunity.
The second variation does not assume the new process will work as intended. Instead, it leaves space to evaluate and iterate. It implies “We will keep trying until we get it right.”
The risk of a permanent disruption to team workflows has been significantly reduced, if not eliminated.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to putting this strategy into practice:
1. Share Guiding Principles
Before introducing a new process, share the desired outcome of the change.
What isn’t working today, that you hope will work better after a change?
These principles define what success looks like for the “change experiment”.
2. Propose First Experiment
Introduce your new process, and explain why you believe it will lead to the desired outcome.
Ask for the team’s commitment to give the new process a fair shot for a set timeframe (e.g. 6 months). Choose a timeframe that allows sufficient space for the new process to show impact.
If you still sense hesitation from your team:
- Shorten the timeframe if it does not sacrifice experiment viability.
- Commit to a midway check-in to determine if there are clear signals the experiment should be stopped early.
3. Evaluate and Iterate
At the end of the trial period, gather feedback.
Refine the process based on the learnings.
And finally, kick off a new experiment to try out the adjusted process.
Rinse and repeat as necessary.
Final Thoughts
Change is hard, but change is healthy for a growing business.
Reduce resistance by treating change as a collaborative exercise, not a mandate.
Not convinced?
Let me suggest something.
Try out this new change management strategy for 6 months.
If after 6 months you don’t think the strategy has had enough of an impact, contact me and we’ll iterate 😉
