Change: Selling not Telling
During a recent conversation with Daren, a product owner on a client engagement, he paraphrased our change method and said: "Sell It, Not Tell It." He's right!
In organisational change, a critical distinction often determines success or failure: are you selling change or simply telling people to change? The most effective transformations happen when people are engaged partners in the journey, not reluctant passengers being dragged along. This empowerment is a key factor in successful change.
The Problem with "Telling"
When we impose change from above, we create immediate resistance. People naturally protect what they know and understand. Traditional top-down approaches to transformation often fail because they ignore a fundamental truth: people don't resist change itself—they resist being changed.
As one IT consultant noted in a transformation survey, "Agile seems to carry the connotation of 'code-like hell' or just 'work faster'." This misperception stems from change being dictated rather than collaboratively developed.
Successful change agents understand that transformation begins with listening. What challenges are people facing? What frustrates them about current processes? Where do they feel stuck?
When we start acknowledging these pain points, we create natural allies in the transformation process, but that's not enough.
People are far more receptive to change when it addresses their problems rather than creating new ones.
Building Champions, Not Compliance
The most potent transformations occur when key stakeholders, such as cross-functional members, become champions for change. This happens when they see how the new approach will solve their challenges. This process of building champions is not just about compliance but about inspiring and motivating key stakeholders to lead the change.
As one business analyst shared, "I highlighted the benefits to the Project Manager: higher productivity and less team-management stuff since the team will take care of lots of team management and updating instead of PMs managing those details."
Rather than rolling out extensive change initiatives, consider starting with small experiments.
For instance, the 'Trial by Sprint' approach, which involves starting with a small change, allows teams to experience firsthand benefits without committing to wholesale change. As former CTO Dwight Gibbs promised his Director of Research: 'Trust me for two weeks. If you hate it, you can fire me.'
Change as Collaboration
Ultimately, sustainable transformation isn't something we do for an organisation—it's something we do with the people who comprise it. By selling the vision by addressing pain points, building champions, and demonstrating value through experimentation, we create willing partners rather than reluctant followers.
People support what they help create. When we engage them in designing the solution rather than forcing compliance, we don't just change processes—we transform culture from the inside out.