The Secret to Overcoming Tech Resistance: It’s Not What You Think
Think You Know Why Teams Reject Tech? Think Again.
This is
- your weekly guide and shortcut to mastering emotional intelligence through the power of empathy. I talked recently about how to deal with shifting project requirements, and still keep your cool.
You have just shown the software application that is going to solve all of the problems you have been hearing rage for months.
The people watching you look blank - blank, as in they are holding back their words. They want to rage!
You know they don't like it. Despite all the features you just showed them that will fix their issues (user error ones, too), they do not care.
Now you are getting irritated.
Why don't they care?
Why is this not working?
Why are they resisting this new tech?
Why Selling Too Soon Kills Your Pitch
I sat there, listening to a sales rep talk for what seemed an eternity, with no time to breathe in between. He was ecstatic about his product to sell and went on about its features.
His mistake? Yes, there were great features, but none addressed my concern. There seemed to be zero empathy for the questions I had started to ask. I had real concerns that our current program was not working but that this new one would not magically solve our issues either.
Without addressing the core needs, the sales pitch goes out the window.
This is not just applicable if you are a sales rep. You can be in any role where you are rolling out a "product," whether you are an Analyst with a new Dashboard, a Product Manager with an actual product, or just someone internally trying to convince your manager to get a new application to make your job easier.
The challenge to you, as the person to "sell," is to not move too fast to the "sale." What I mean is that you have to make a good first impression. In this case, the first impression is about addressing the other person's needs first.
It's not about you, it is about them. Focus on them first, then address your needs.
As the person pushing for the tech, you are probably on the first 50% of the bell curve as an Innovator, Early Adopter, or Early Majority. I get it -you're excited!
The trick here is appealing to the Late Majority and Laggards or even someone in the slightly hesitant Early Majority crowd. Address their needs first, then work up to the "sale." Selling them too soon will never work.
Pain Points First, Solutions Second: The Game-Changer in Rollouts
In my early days of Analytics, I was eager to collaborate as I am now, but I did it differently. I would listen but not question much.
I allowed my stakeholders to find solutions without asking questions to get to the root of their pain points.
This was a mistake.
The solution that a stakeholder addresses will not necessarily solve the problems they think it will. You, as the Analyst, Developer, Engineer, Data Architect, etc., are equipped more with the technical know-how on what "solution" might actually work. But first, you have to get to the pain points. This takes amplifying your emotional intelligence game.
Ask questions. Do not assume. As part of developing your own Social Awareness, listen for hidden words like "the wait," "the customer has to," or "this is confusing.""
The challenge here is not just to listen but to guide the conversation to get them to talk even more. Ask questions without leading. Veer them away from the solution until the end, when you have the pain points established. Recap the pain points if you are unclear. Withhold your judgement to the best of your ability. Then, you can move forward with some preliminary solutioning if it makes sense.
A smooth rollout is built upon addressing the needs and concerns of stakeholders first. Pain points come first, and then solutions to resolve them follow.
Talk Their Talk: The Fast Track to Building Trust
Talk their language; otherwise, go in circles. SPIFF vs. SPIF
I was talking with a technical manager once about the planned pay structure for the next fiscal year, which sounded like it would be a complete cluster.
Making things worse? We were going in circles for 10 minutes. Why? We were using the exact same word, but I was referring to a process while he was referring to a new program to deploy. Both coincidentally had the same word. Yikes!
Words can have different meanings. I was confused, and we lost time. He was at a loss. In retrospect, I should have called a timeout on our conversation earlier and made sure we were talking the same language.
Once we were aligned, trust was immediately built, and we were able to iterate. We split our time between addressing the process and the program.
Think about what would have happened had we not aligned. One or both of us would have walked away not feeling heard. This, my friends, foments the feelings of mistrust.
Check for understanding and make sure you are aligned. This is good relationship management, reduces friction, and builds trust.
Trust First, Tech Second: The Formula for Success
Teams do not reject new tech because of its features; they reject it because they perceive it will not solve their problems, and they might even assume it creates more problems!
It's a mistake to assume you are all aligned. Ensure you have empathized and heard their pain points; ask questions, not just hear their solution. Make sure you are speaking the same language.
You could get through to a huge deployment only to find the crowd it is meant to serve is rejecting the product. They are jaded and not even trying to leverage it because they see no point. That puts you in a bad position after all of your hard work
Remember, at the core, this is about interacting with people and making them feel heard, listening to them, and addressing their needs. Flashy features do not necessarily address this if they do not perceive them the same way. It is about them, not you
Resistance to new tech is common. We are human and tend to hate change, even good change. With the right steps, you can master this, shatter the resistance, and drive impactful change.
✅ What I’ve been Analyzing this week (reading, watching, listening, etc.)
📖 I’m reading Emotional Intelligence Habits by Travis Bradberry. I read about how to handle liars. One of the ways he recommends is to deflect the situation with humor.
🎧I’ve been listening to this song, “Time is Now” by Kohei Yoshii on repeat. It is great for getting in a flow to write.
✍️ I commented on a post by
, where he kindly highlighted this , and said “I think everyone can learn a thing or two about empathy by taking a dive to her other posts.” Give Hugo Acosta’s Substack, The Though Bazaar a look!Want more on Empathy and Emotional Intelligence to Elevate your career? 📈
I empower💪tech people to elevate their empathy, to accelerate their careers
I can relate to resistance. And sometimes people may underestimate the power of asking questions and not assuming. it can make all the difference.
As a developer, I can totally relate to this. We often get so caught up in showcasing all the features we've worked hard on that we forget to connect with our customers. It's easy to be biased because we know every line of code inside out. However, as pointed out, customers care more about how our solutions address their pain points than the features themselves. Building empathy and understanding their needs is key to making a real impact!