‘I'll decide for myself how I work best!’

In this series, I discuss different forms of resistance to change that I encounter in practice in organizations that are moving towards an experiment-driven culture and how best to deal with it from a psychology perspective. In this first blog: how do you deal with it when you can't put a pin between your arguments, but still fail to convince the other person?

To move to an experiment-driven culture as an organization, it is not enough to hire a few driven conversion specialists. You need support and approval from colleagues throughout the organization. After all, you need everyone: from product owners to analysts, and from designers to developers.

But how do you make sure you get everyone on board? Change doesn't happen by itself. Switching to an experiment-driven culture means that people have to do their work in a different way than they are used to. It is therefore understandable that this sometimes creates resistance.

‘Do you agree with me, or shall I explain again?’

When we come into a team or organization, we start by explaining at length the great benefits of experiment-driven work. Just by making decisions based on data and experiments, you gain certainty about which part of your work brings value to your organization and which does not. When the way of working does not change after this explanation, our first reflex is often to then explain it again. Apparently, they haven't understood. But as you've probably experienced yourself, repeating your argument is rarely successful.

The problem is not that people don't understand. The resistance is not to the content of your message, but to being ‘required’ to change. People have a strong intrinsic need to make their own free choices (need for autonomy[1][2]). If you are in danger of having to surrender some of that freedom, you will come out against it. Do you feel like clicking the button on the image below? This psychological reaction is even stronger if you feel that freedoms that are important to you - such as how you do your job - are being curtailed.

‘I don't have to do anything!’

So how can you best persuade people to change their ways without evoking resistance from them? From psychological research[3] and our experience in practice shows that two things are very important for this:

First of all, it is better to prevent resistance than to cure. Bluntness and a coercive tone lead to a backlash in people. One technique that helps to prevent bluntness is to draw attention to what can be done (‘you can make your designs even better by researching what effect they have on visitors’), rather than drawing attention to what can't (no longer) be done (‘you can no longer base your designs on what you, as a designer, think is best’).

In addition, wait for the right moment, be subtle and don't ask for too much at once. You don't have to demand that the entire backlog must be validated with experiments right away. First start with a few tests per month and build it up incrementally.

Next, it works well to put the message in the form of a story. This prevents the other person from feeling that you are trying to convince him or her. Thereby, it is easier to add emotion and people are less inclined to make up counterarguments when they empathize with a story.

Tips from practice:

• Be subtle and not coercive
• Focus attention on what can be done; not on what cannot be done
• Take small steps at a time so you don't overload people
• Deliver your message as a story

‘How do you think we can best handle this?’

The second important piece of advice: avoid making the other person feel like he or she is losing freedom of choice. The best way to do this is to involve the other person from the beginning and let them think with you. For example, it works much better to have teams first come up with their own test ideas for their own pages, rather than filling in for them what they need to work on. When the results come back, team members can figure out for themselves how experimentation contributes to their work. Arguments you come up with yourself are many times more persuasive than arguments you hear from someone else.

Tips from practice:

• Involve the other person, let the other person contribute ideas
• Always have something to choose from
• Self-conviction is many times stronger than conviction by someone else

But above all, don't let me tell you how to do your job - feel free to try the techniques discussed and determine for yourself what works best.

In subsequent articles, I discuss culture change further on the road to an experiment-driven culture.

[1]Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
[2]Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York: Guilford Publishing.
[3]Knowles, E. S., & Riner, D. D. (2007). Omega approaches to persuasion: Overcoming resistance. The science of social influence: Advances and future progress, 83-114.