Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [402]
Going through this buy-in process significantly improves the odds of convincing the other party to go along with us. The logical order and the intuition to know where to pause and how to handle each type of objection provides us with a way to better master this dialogue. Utilizing the Layers of Resistance also gives us much more control than we would have if we conducted such discussions in the intuitive way. In the intuitive way, after we present the change we usually resort to addressing whatever objections the other side raises, so we are actually giving them control over the discussion. Utilizing the Layers allows us to know which layer we are in and what we should talk about, so that when they raise another objection we can tell if it belongs to an earlier Layer or to a later one. We then know if we need to go back, or we need to show the other party we heard them (preferably write their objection down), and explain why it makes sense to postpone dealing with it until a later stage. This way we remain in a better position to steer the conversation.
And what if we got this far, covered all eight Layers, and the other party still resists? Here again we have to listen very carefully to what they say. The first thing we have to consider is that we may have lost them at an earlier stage and they are still stuck there. If this is the case, evidently we need to go back and pick up the ball from where we dropped it. Another cause for resistance at this point is that they simply need time. Often people are not comfortable with giving their blessing right away. They need to take their time to think it over and after they get used to the idea they will most probably come back to us with a positive answer. If it is not a problem at an earlier layer and it’s not the need to digest, resistance at this point means we clashed against Layer 9.
Layer 9: “I don’t think so”—Social and psychological barriers
The Layers of Resistance provide order to the objections that relate directly to the change at hand (i.e., inherent objections). However, we cannot ignore the fact that people may also resist due to reasons that are not inherent to our change (i.e., external reasons). As was mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, people may possess personality traits that make them more prone to resist change. People may feel pushed out of their comfort zone and resist the excessive (perceived) uncertainty. People may resist because of social pressure or because they conform to social norms that our solution challenges, or because of various other reasons. Whatever the external reason is, it may stand in our way from the very beginning of the buy-in process, but as long as we haven’t addressed the inherent objections, we should not focus on it (see again Fig. 20-3). As tempting as it may be to cling to it, all it does is lead us to blame the other party instead of take the responsibility to buy them in.
Think, for example, of a case where we would need to present an innovative change that contradicts the way things have always been done. Let’s assume that we detect fairly quickly that the other party objects because they prefer to stick to tradition and conform to the way others in the field behave. One way to react is to call them “conservative” or even “primitive” and . . . and then what? Another way to handle the situation is to have faith that this external