Don't get too attached

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about change and how to manage it. Everyone agrees that change is hard. But why is it hard? Sometimes it’s tough because you have to motivate people, sometimes it’s the sheer amount of work required to make change happen. One often overlooked reason is that people get attached to things that they have built, structured, or created. This attachment is normal and expected. When you pour your blood, sweat, and tears into work, you don’t want to see that disappear. It’s even harder to let go if that work has led to past success for the team. Our biases will oversubscribe success to the things we work on and underweight opposing metrics making it harder to truly weigh whether we should abandon previous work in favor of a new direction. 

I find that this change aversion often creeps up when an initiative has been championed or is brand new. Even if your new initiative hasn’t been successful yet, the owner will want to give it more time to prove its success. Initiative creators usually want the chance to prove their projects out; they want the idea they have incubated to grow into something truly transformative and meaningful for the business. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s important to take a step back and analyze the program carefully to understand if the new idea is standing in the way of something that could be more impactful. This happened with an idea I championed at Adobe. We came up with a new framework to reposition our mobile products for individual audiences. I still think it was a good idea, but the cost of hanging on to this project would have delayed several other initiatives and taken resources away from other programs. In essence if we continued to move with this framework we’d have to re-prioritize analytic work, positioning, and growth team work that could have a larger impact through concentrated effort. In the end it was hard to let go of an idea I created and believed in as the absolute right approach, but the opportunity cost was too high.

The other attachment situation that occurs frequently is when initiative owners won’t give up a project they championed and is now successful. In these scenarios, initiative owners have a bias to protect their work, and a bias that what worked in the past will work in the future. This is a really hard one to break because teams are having success with the idea, even if that idea may not have as much success in the future. I see this one happen frequently in organizations and a recent example occurred when my team was trying to convince me to change up a customer success idea I championed. In this case, although the customer success model I helped put in place was working well, the team suggested changes that would ultimately lead to a better set of experiences, opportunity for growth, and happier customers. The team used data, a focus on principles (customer centricity, speed to value), and working backwards from our 2024 goals to convince me. I really didn’t want to give the idea up since I had championed it and it was working, but the team broke through my attachment with the focus on what else we could be doing instead.

The tactics from the above example are what I usually find best at overcoming attachment. Data and modeling tend to be great for working with analytical personalities especially when outcomes can be measured or modeled for the future state. I also love A/B testing the different approaches when you have a team that can deploy and measure quickly. Showing the pros and cons with a focus on principles is another great tactic. You tie the new method to the principles/ focus areas/values of your team to overcome the aversion to change. If you can get those who object to see how the new approach meets your company goals or values it helps overcome their resistance. Lastly, I try to get those opposed to the change to be bought into the new system, by getting them involved early. It helps to make the new idea theirs, give them credit, and let them help shape it. This makes it less combative as it's no longer your idea vs theirs, but their previous idea vs their new one. Giving them ownership can be a great way to overcome the attachment or change resistance.

Have you seen other examples of attachment that you find hard to overcome? How do you deal when your attachment stands in the way of change?