Ask Christa! How to Introduce a New Idea within a RIGID TEAM? (S2E14)

Hi everyone and welcome to Ask Christa! the place where you can ask questions about how to work through business challenges and workplace issues. I'm Christa Dhimo and today's question is, “I’ve been working within the same team for almost two years. Half have been here for more than ten years; the other half have been here for over twenty years. They immediately resist anything new, even things that will make their work easier on them. What is the best way to introduce a new idea when a team is so resistant?”

I remember years ago helping a company get through an enormous remediation program because they had so many regulatory violations—for those of you in highly regulated industries, it was at Warning Letter levels: old systems, old thinking, old equipment, old or absent training. Most of my matrixed team worked in the department where the remediation was taking place, and the consultant team of remediation experts were embedded in the teams, working alongside of them to learn from them, get to know them, engage in their thinking and develop solutions based on their knowledge while sharing some of our knowledge. 

There were two things that stood out that are almost ALWAYS part of what feels like a rigid team:

Number 1,  and this may surprise a lot of you: they weren’t resistant or afraid of change, at all. They welcomed it. They also weren’t rigid thinkers by nature. Change and lack of flexibility wasn’t the basis of their resistance… it was because, 

Number 2, there was such a pronounced lack of leadership, sponsorship, anyone paying attention that they stopped caring about what they couldn’t change so they could carry on in their workday with lower frustration levels and focus on what they COULD change. Essentially, they had done what a lot of employees do after years of hearing “no” or being neglected: learned helplessness. 

Now, “Learned Helplessness” is kind of like Imposter Syndrome: what it sounds like isn’t what it is. Learned helplessness ISN’T a situation where someone decides they aren’t going to try because it’s too hard, or they don’t want to learn because it’s too much work—it’s the opposite: after trying and trying and trying, and learning, and learning, and learning… and trying to convince their managers and other sponsors to do something,  the employees experience so much resistance and hear “NO” so frequently, and deal with rigid leadership so much that they LEARN that their efforts are of no use. It won’t matter how hard they try. They’ve learned they have no control, even with small changes that could lead to improvements. In a way, it’s not the work that becomes too hard… it’s dealing with the obstacles that leadership won’t remove that wears good employees down. Soon, they stop trying as an act of conservation, and they put their attention and energy toward what is expected—often, the bare essentials.

The biggest signal of learned helplessness is someone who says, “why bother?” The second biggest signal is a team that immediately resists new ideas… because, sure, every team has someone who doesn’t like change—but an entire team? That’s a cultural thing, not a tenure thing.

In fact, the person who submitted this question is probably one or two years away from their own learned helpless—their own, “why bother” moment.

Of course, in the workplace, very few will actually say, “why bother”—instead, they’ll say things like, “Yeah, we tried that years ago and it didn’t work,” or “give it a few years, you’ll learn,” or they’ll simply show immediate resistance to new… ideas.

So, how can you introduce a new idea when you work in a team you perceive to be rigid? Learn about their past new ideas. Ask how they have pitched new ideas and innovation to leaders in the past. Spend time learning about how they think of new ideas: which ones might generate the most excitement? Which ones would be considered lesser in priority?

Often, rigid teams aren’t rigid to new ideas—perhaps their experience serves as quick process analytics and within seconds they can determine whether a new idea can actually be done. And maybe their right, and that’s when they dismiss it. Or maybe their experience has nothing to do with whether the idea itself is good or not—it’s whether they believe it will flourish and be able to grow and take hold in the environment you’re in.

It's true that the longer the tenure in a workplace, the more the culture takes hold. And it’s also true that there are “Nope!” cultures where any new idea receives an instant “Nope!” But we can’t assume that’s happening until we learn more about those we are working with and what the basis of their resistance is. My guess is it’s not because of the idea, but because they, too, thought of it and slowly learned—perhaps even subconsciously—that leadership isn’t the type to easily warm up to new ideas.

By engaging with your co-workers differently, you might also receive surprising support. Depending on your trust and relationship with the team, you might even be able to say, “What do I need to do to have a new idea listened to before you all dismiss it? I’ve pitched four new ideas in the last six months—some of them I offered because I thought it would make work easier. Should I not say anything at all?”

You might be surprised by their reaction. Maybe you hear there is a certain way to go about pitching a new idea, or the team will be surprised hearing how they’ve responded and decide to hear the ideas out. Maybe it’s because you’ve always pitched a new idea during a status meeting and the best thing to do is to have a quarterly “new idea” meeting instead so you’re not pitching during a time when regular block-and-tackle work is being discussed, when people’s brains are in daily ops mode.

Or maybe they had no idea you were pitching something serious, and thought you were throwing something out there for them to respond to, and they all did what they’re used to seeing: batting it around until it drops.

Whatever the case, if you’re working with what seems to be a rigid team, closed off to any new ideas—especially if they’ve been at a company for more than 2-4 years, assume first that they are open thinkers more ready to embrace change than it may seem, and second, that there is likely a “why bother” attitude permeating throughout the culture where new ideas aren’t easily embraced. And, the third possibility is that you have to create a different forum specifically to discuss new ideas so the team is clearer about how they should be listening and responding. If you’re talking about day-to-day items, like supply chain issues, and pitch a new idea when the team is simply trying to get product through customs in a different country, I can see how the team may become rigid. You simply need a meeting that is purposed for the new ideas. 

For your resources, I have included a very brief, but pointed article from PeopleMatters called “5 ways to handle an employee with rigid mindset” by Praveen Khandelwal. It was published in March 2019, and what I like about the article is how simple and straightforward it is. You could put all 5 ways on a card and bring it with you to the meeting, and each would prompt you throughout your meeting. All five tips are common sense, but I like how they’ve been organized into one short article.

I’ve also included an article about learned helplessness in the workplace, although I have to say, there isn’t a lot of readable business research about this topic. There’s various business research, but it’s very technical and based on population studies in different countries. For this segment I chose an article from Executive Forum called, “6 ways to break through the wall of learned helplessness,” from June 2017. 

I included a second article about learned helplessness in the workplace by Dr. Tetiana McLemore called, “Learned Helplessness: Why Leaders Should Know About This Phenomenon.” It’s an excellent read and not only offers more details that the other two articles, but also points to some studies and specific factors that contribute to this unique cultural issue that is often behind resistance to new ideas.

Ok, there it is—Episode 14, and Season 2 is underway! Remember to submit your questions to my podcast website, AskChrista.com, that's Christa with a CH, and while you’re there, sign up to receive my weekly Sunday Night newsletter called “More Answers.” You’ll receive a free issue of the Survivor's Guide to Business Challenges and Workplace Issues, too, and you can see a history of my newsletters in the Blog section. I appreciate your support—so like, encourage others to follow and subscribe.

And remember, if you have a business challenge or workplace issue, Ask Christa!