"My Team Won't Let Me": How To Make BIG Changes (Without Alienating Your Team)

Quick update…

Every month, our Scale & Exit Accelerator clients run focused “sprints” where we design and build a new critical business system together.

October's sprint is called Build My AI Leadership Team.

In four weeks, you'll install your own Brain Trust: an AI CEO, CFO, Head of Sales, Head of Marketing, and five more AI executives…

…all living inside the Claude or ChatGPT account you already use, so there's no new technology to buy or learn.

The catch?

This sprint is for clients only, so if you’re interested you need to apply by Tuesday, September 29 at 5 pm, because the build cohort kicks off Tuesday, October 6.

Click here for details and application.

Ok, onto this week's article…

I hear some version of that line from clients all the time.

The business owner spots a problem, and comes up with a plan to fix it.

But when they roll out their “grand plan,” their team pushes back so hard that the plan gets abandoned.

What do you do?

Damned if you DON’T…damned if you DO.

Fortunately, there is a way to avoid this lose/lose scenario, while still implementing the change that needs to happen.

It's a 3-step process I call The 3 Agreements, and it works whether you're changing a process, a tool, or overhauling an entire department.

Here's how it works…

One of the biggest mistakes we make as leaders is that we spot problems in the business that no one else has seen.

We're "problem-seeking missiles." We don’t just notice problems, we relish the idea of SOLVING problems, so in a twisted sort of way…

…we see problems as a GOOD thing.

But our team members are different. They see problems as things to be ignored, avoided, and even hidden.

To them, problems are a sign that they’re doing a bad job. That the company is failing. That they’re going to be out of work, broke, destitute and living under a bridge.

(Ok, so maybe it’s not quite that bad, but you get the idea.)

So when we point out problems, our people don’t think…

“Yay, a new opportunity to grow, improve, and become an even better business than we already are!”

They think, “Crap, is this my fault? Am I getting fired?”

That's why you have to get everyone to agree that:

If you don't have problem agreement, you're not going to have open minds on how to solve the problem.

The simplest way to get problem agreement is with a shared company scorecard.

When the numbers are on the screen, you have an objective measure of what's broken, and nobody has to take your word for it.

But even without a scorecard, you can still get agreement.

At your next leadership meeting, before you mention any solution, put the problem on the table and ask:

"Does everybody agree this is a problem?"

Here's what that looks like for the problems I see most often:

Then, listen to how they answer…

If you get, "Actually, that's not really a problem, because…" or "We're already on it, here's what we're doing…"

…then congratulations. You just avoided “fixing” something that isn’t actually broken. But more than that, you’re building trust with your team (and vice-versa), because you’re aligning on a shared problem rather than jumping straight to the solution.

Now, if you do get a clear "Yes," you're ready for Step 2…

Once everyone agrees that the problem is, in fact, a problem, you can shift into solution-mode.

But (and this is important) you can’t just dictate the solution…

Remember, you saw the problem before anybody else. You’ve done hours of research and considered a dozen possible alternatives before you landed on your answer.

Your team didn't see any of that, so you can’t expect them to be as enthusiastic about your solution as you are.

Now, you might be thinking, "But this is my company. They should just do it because I told them to."

But that's not leading…that's dictating.

So, do you want to be a dictator, or do you want to be a leader?

Here's a better way:

When the feedback comes back, it'll usually land in one of two buckets:

That's why Step 1 is so essential. You can't have solution agreement without having problem agreement.

Once you have problem and solution agreement, now is the time to demand consensus. (And yes, I said DEMAND.)

I tell my teams that if they still disagree with the solution we’ve settled on, they have three options:

OPTION A: Come to me, we'll discuss it, and hopefully you become a true believer.

OPTION B: Come to me, we'll discuss it, and you can "disagree and commit." That means you've made your concerns known, but as far as anybody else is concerned, you're all in and will do everything you can to support the project as though you're a true believer.

OPTION C: Come to me, we'll talk about it, and you decide you can't be part of the project. Which means you can't be part of the team. In other words, you need to recuse yourself, or quit.

Complaining and undermining is NOT an option!

Once we agree on 1) the problem and 2) the solution to resolve that problem, you either need to get on board or you need to get off the bus.

I know that sounds harsh, but I will not be held hostage by people who work for me, and I will not tolerate open dissent and undermining once I've taken the time to explain the problem, walk through the solution, and open the door for feedback.

And I DO NOT negotiate with terrorists.

You can disagree… you just can't undermine our efforts and expect me to continue paying you.

And if someone doesn't want to be a part of what the team is doing, that's ok.

It doesn't make them a bad person for disagreeing, and it doesn't make me a bad person for wanting to move in a different direction.

It just means we’re no longer aligned, which means we probably shouldn't work together anymore.

Fortunately, in over a decade of implementing these “3 Agreements,” I’ve never had to go there.

My team either fully buys in and becomes as excited as I am (or even more) to implement the change, or they point out something I didn’t see that keeps me from doing something really, really stupid.

What they don’t do is sabotage a change that should take place.

⚡️ Action Step: Pick the one change your team "won't let you" make (or the next one you're about to roll out). Before your next leadership meeting, write the problem down in one sentence and pull the one number that proves it. Then open the meeting by asking, "Does everybody agree that this is, in fact, a problem?" and don't mention your solution until the answer is yes.

Give it a shot and let me know how it goes…

-Ryan

Ryan Deiss
Co-Founder and CEO, The Scalable Company

P.S. The 3 Agreements work A LOT better when the change you're bringing to your team is a good one to begin with…and that's hard to pull off when you're making every decision alone.

That's the whole idea behind October's Scale & Exit client sprint, Build My AI Leadership Team.

In four weeks, you'll install a Brain Trust of 9 AI executives who all read from one source of truth (your company’s operating system). Once it's running:

The catch? This sprint is only available to clients.

So apply for our Scale & Exit Accelerator by Tuesday, September 29 at 5 pm, because the build cohort kicks off Tuesday, October 6.

Click here for details and application.