Something they can agree to

At work, I create "standards" that I then have to roll out across six production sites across the country.  If some sites don't agree to use the "standards", then I'm not successful.  It isn't a "standard" unless everyone uses it.

The challenge is that I can't order people to use the "standard".  They don't report to me.  I can develop a "standard" that really works, and some sites might love it and use it.  But other sites might be so busy with other commitments and pressures that they never even try it.  I've struggled with this for years (as have all of my peers doing similar work).

But I got some great coaching this week from the plant manager of one of the six sites.  He told me:

• When leadership agrees that my standard must roll out, stop assuming that all sites will cooperate. They have so many pressures and so little staffing, they can't roll-out everything that hierarchy demands.  Even if the roll-out is a direct order, they sometimes have to say "no" because they get more direct orders than they can possibly deliver.  They'll say "no" if they think they can do so without too much pain and if they aren't sure that what I'm offering them is vital to their success.
• Therefore, never say, "My new standard has been approved for roll-out.  Who can you assign to help me roll it out at your site?"  Instead, say, "This is what my standard can do for you.  Is there one production line where we can try it, at least for a while, so that your people have a chance to evaluate it?"

The plant manager told me that he and his peers can easily agree to a "test line", but they think long and hard before committing to deploying something permanently across all their lines, even if someone outside the plant has declared that it is the new "standard".  He said that, if my "standard" really is great, I'll get my roll-out eventually.  If the test line likes my new standard, the next line will hear about it, and the next.  After a critical mass tries adopts the standard, then I can come back and ask for a resource to finish the roll out.

I've sometimes worked this way, and sometimes have not, but my mentor has convinced me it's always the way to go for my kind of work.  Some projects, such as a new product we're launching in the marketplace in the fall, are unstoppable.  No plant manager can say "no".  But my projects can always be put off.  They involve better ways of doing things that are already "working", just not as well as they could be.  My projects are not as urgent.  So I must always start establish a foothold at each site and then wait for momentum to build.