63. How to Influence Change or The Three Joys of Work

August 31, 2022

This week, our heroes discuss the difficulties and nuances of changing the way our teams have always done things. There are some techniques we can use that work better than others.

Moving from one team to another can be hard. You and your team were in a groove and you liked the way you worked. You liked your process. You liked your standards. You liked your file structure.

You end up on a new team and everything they do is different. You think the way they do things could use some improvement. You decide to try to change something.

But change is hard.

Most people don’t like to be told their way of doing it is wrong. They really don’t like it when someone from outside their team points this out. For some, it can be especially troublesome when someone with less experience is the one who brings it up.

So changing the way you have always done something is hard. But what’s harder than change?

Influencing other people to change the way they’ve always done something. That’s really hard.

There are some techniques we can use to help us influence our teams and be the change we want to see.

Topics:
• 05:40 – How does one influence change on a team?
• 09:26 – There are different mental modes as we progress through our careers
• 15:36 – Think hard about what you’re trying to change
• 18:46 – Leaders should challenge team members to think critically about their idea
• 19:05 – What works for one team won’t work for every team
• 20:04 – Give the thing you think is wrong a chance
• 22:25 – If you want to build a boat…
• 23:18 – If you inspire your team the outcome might look completely different from your initial vision
• 24:03 – You may find that the thing you want to change isn’t even worth it
• 24:51 – Don’t shoot down ideas. People hate to be told no
• 27:11 – Being principled is more important than anything else
• 28:19 – Don’t be afraid to refine your principles
• 29:05 – Before you decide to change minds, ask tons of questions

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