Any time you get a response different from what you expect, it is an opportunity to learn. The big question is whether you take advantage of it.
Mark Graban's Leanblog podcast usually has some interesting conversations with thinkers and authors in healthcare and the Lean arena. (And he coined the fun acronym LAME = Lean As Mistakenly Explained). This time it's his podcast 289 with Kathleen Sharp and David Schoenwetter discussing the Geisinger Mobile Health Paramedic program that they developed and piloted.
The thing that jumped out at me while listening, and that Mark has highlighted on his blog is a comment from Kathleen Sharp:
In my view, resistance not something to be “overcome”, rather, I consider resistance as additional information (albeit in an unpleasant form). Resistance can signal lack of clarity in messaging, a need for focus, and/or gaps that need to be considered.
This is a great comment - and completely in line with the Theory of Constraints "layers of buy-in". Any push-back you get in conversations about change are signals that people have other worries and concerns that you haven't necessarily covered. Some of these layers of buy in, slightly modifying the layers of resistance that have been articulated by a variety of TOC thinkers. I like Kelvyn Youngmans version too.
- We agree what to change
- We agree there is a problem
- We agree that _this_ is the problem
- We agree that we can do something about it (we have control / influence over it)
- We agree on what to change to
- We agree on the direction of the solution
- We agree on the details
- We can see how negative ramifications will be overcome
- We agree on how to cause the change
- We agree to overcome obstacles
- We agree on the details of implementation
- We agree to overcome hidden / unspoken barriers (that could arise during the implementation)