The person with the most doubts about a change has usually seen a real problem in it. Arguments rarely change their mind. Trying the new way on real work often does. This Practice gives the critic that experience, in a role where the doubts are useful. The rest of the team is watching them, so when they say the new way works, it counts for more than anything the leader could say.

A tool that supports it

Critic Conversion is a behavior, and it can be built in different ways. One idea that fits it well is “Trialability,” from Everett Rogers’s book Diffusion of Innovations.

Rogers studied why some new things spread fast while others stall. He described five attributes that make the difference. Trialability is one of them, and it means how easily a person can test the new thing before committing to it. Another is observability, which is how visible the results are to everyone else. A change that people can try on a small scale gets adopted sooner, because their opinion comes from their own experience.

For this Practice, you build a trial for the critic. They use the new way on real work for a short, fixed time, and the verdict is theirs. When the verdict is good, the whole team sees it.

When to use it

Use it when a change has been announced and one person keeps raising problems with it in meetings. Look around the room when they speak. If others are quietly nodding, the critic is saying what several people think.

It fits critics who argue about the work. The change itself is still going ahead, and you should say so. What’s open is how to make it succeed.

How to use it

  1. Hear the objection to the end and write it down.
  2. Talk to the critic alone, and invite them to try the new way on real work for a fixed time. Two weeks is usually enough.
  3. Agree up front on what you’ll both look at when the trial ends. Use their objection as the test.
  4. Fix what the trial shows is broken, with the critic’s name next to each fix. This is the hard step, because the plan really has to change.
  5. Have the critic tell the team what they found.

Example

A sales team is switching to a new customer database. Its most senior salesperson says in every meeting that it will slow everyone down.

The usual way “I hear you, but the decision is made. Please give it a chance.”
The Practice “You’ve used the old system longer than anyone, so you’ll spot what breaks first. Will you run your own accounts on the new one for two weeks, and bring us the list of what has to be fixed before launch?”

After the second answer, the salesperson is using the database on real accounts. Whatever they think of it in two weeks, they’ll have tried it.

Phrases you can use

  • “You’ve seen something the rest of us haven’t. Walk me through it.”
  • “Would you lead the pilot? I want the hardest test we can give this.”
  • “Try it on your own accounts for two weeks, then tell me what you think.”
  • “What would you need to see in the trial to change your mind?”
  • “Can you show the team what you found?”
  • For a leader, when someone does it: “You gave the toughest critic the pilot. What changed in the plan because of it?”

How to know it worked

The critic starts sentences with “what if we” and brings fixes along with the problems. Later, you hear them explain the new way to a colleague. Over time, the people with doubts speak up sooner, since they’ve seen where doubts go on this team.

In a Skill Deck Track on Change Management, a person can choose this Practice, and the meetings they already have show when they use it.

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