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Human Performance

Published February 2010

Countering Performance Objections

  Harold D. Stolovitch, Ph.D.

Neuroscience researchers, with the aid of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), have demonstrated the phenomenon of "bounded rationality," loosely interpreted as "rejection of credible evidence." In brief, once people have made up their minds on an issue, they tend to seek out only evidence that supports their positions. Even highly respectable and seemingly incontrovertible research findings are rejected and, in many instances, twisted to strengthen contrary beliefs.

In the performance improvement arena you work hard to gather evidence that clearly and forcefully lays out what it will take to achieve desired performance for a group or organization, only to be met with illogical resistance. I wish I could hand you a foolproof means to overcome the quirky vagaries of human nature. Failing that, I can share some of the frustrating situations I have encountered when pushback has threatened to overwhelm my diligent efforts and offer you tactics that have actually worked. Of course, dear colleague, just like our clients, your personal beliefs may tempt you to reject these.

What follows are five frequent objections and tips to deal with these before or after they arise.

1. "This is bull! Who needs this? I've got more than I can handle, and here you come with nuisance changes." Sure. Who loves seemingly demanding change when you are busting your buns dealing with today's irksome realities? This is why you must create dialogue with affected performers at the outset. Early on, let them tell you where they experience annoying problems and downtimes. With them, develop counter strategies and actions to overcome their hurts. Keep them informed, stressing that you are working on their issues. Maintain a caring but low-key profile. Avoid interfering in their work. Don't be a pest.
2. "OMG! Whatever they're trying to do will probably result in more work for me." Verify current performer and manager workloads. Focus on reducing effort. Inform stakeholders your mission is to improve performance while reducing or eliminating unproductive effort.
3. "Uh-oh! This is going to be hard. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it." Change can be scary and breed insecurity. Verify current capability levels. Identify gaps with respect to new job demands. Build prerequisite, hands-on, friendly training along with performance-support tools. Eliminate new jargon; maintain familiar terminology. Break new performances into digestible chunks. Provide lots of practice — not expert talk. Build competence by degree with continuous reinforcement along the way (e.g. the Mary Kay approach). A great tactic is to select a credible, small sample of ordinary performers and help them achieve success.
4. "This change is not in my best interest. It may mean losing my job or fellow workers' jobs. It could hurt my income and career." Examine changes to uncover whether or not perceived threats are real. Work to reduce falsehoods. Emphasize meaningful benefits for customers, colleagues and managers. Meet with performers to dissipate fears. Build interventions and communications to minimize these.
5. "Ah! Another flavor of the month. If I keep my head down and smile while sticking to the old ways, this, too, shall pass." You must downplay management enthusiasm and hyperbole — including snappy slogans — and focus on fundamental performance goals. Collect solid evidence to support the need for improvement and personal benefits for all concerned. Avoid flavor-of-the-month labels such as empowerment and re-engineering and speak in terms of specific, local issues. Avoid fanfare. Stay task-focused. Cliches trivialize and generate cynicism.

These will work. Performance professionals build organizational successes through people, but not mechanistically, by browbeating, by imposition or by maintaining a professional — often viewed as snooty — distance. People have opinions and want to be respectfully heard. As stakeholders, they will tend to seek evidence — no matter how shaky — that supports their stance. You, as a performance professional, have opportunities to shape these initial opinions before they are fully formed. You can do this by presenting evidence they can connect and accept.     

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