Nobody likes change but baby… and my granddaughter seems to still cry every time we put on a fresh diaper on her. But one of the things the most successful leaders do is accept the need for change and then facilitate it. As General Eric Shinseki famously said, “If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less.”
The question becomes what is the best way to do this?
Baseball has been going through an analytics revolution for the past couple of decades. “Old School vs. New School” methods of scouting, player evaluation, and strategy have been a constant debate. Elite athletes were being told by statisticians how to play the games. Pitchers, in particular, who spent their entire lives perfecting their craft were being told by, how can I say it nicely, less-than athletic people how to do their jobs. Some long-time scouts, coaches, and players embraced these new methods. However, many were resistant.
However, it only takes one thing to get players to buy into the analytics revolution.
How To Get People To Accept Change
Zack Meisel of The Athletic writes, “Transforming the game required data and technology to provide long-awaited reference points, and then it required front offices investing in those resources, coaches embracing the information they spit out and, ultimately, players buying into the new ways of thinking about pitching. It also required success.”
What we learn from Meisel is getting people to buy into change requires making a good case for it using facts, financial support, and leadership buy-in.
But most of all, it requires success.
When you as a leader suggest or make changes, do those changes actually work and make things better? Do you have more success this way than the old way? This is the ultimate litmus test and will determine if people accept or resist change.
An additional thing all leaders should know is – if your change works, it builds trust and gives you the credibility needed to have greater buy-in when making changes in the future. So make sure you do your homework beforehand and don’t just change for change-sake.
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