Alright, picking up where we left off with the whole colleagues thing. Remember that attempt to get everyone on the same page with that project tracking idea? Yeah, well, that first try was a bit of a dumpster fire, honestly. Felt like hitting a brick wall.
So, I figured I couldn’t just leave it like that. Had to give it another shot, right? This time, though, I knew just sending out another email explaining the ‘benefits’ wasn’t going to cut it. People just ignore that stuff or nod along and then do whatever they were doing before.
Round Two: Talking, Not Telling
My first step was different. No big announcement. Instead, I grabbed coffee with Sarah from the marketing team. Last time, she was pretty vocal about how it would just add more clicks to her day. So, I sat down, shut up, and just listened to her workflow problems first. Then, instead of talking about the tool, I focused on how this specific process could actually make tracking her campaign leads less of a nightmare. Showed her on my laptop, using her examples. It wasn’t an instant sell, but she looked thoughtful, which was progress.
Next up was Mike in sales. He’s always about efficiency, hates anything that feels like admin work. His big complaint last time? Too complicated. So, I went over to his desk. Didn’t even mention the old tool. We just talked about tracking deals and follow-ups. Found out he used a weird combo of spreadsheets and sticky notes. Okay. I then showed him one specific feature in the new approach (we actually switched tools after the first disaster, more on that later) that could replace his sticky notes and link directly to client info. He grumbled a bit, but I saw him try it out later that day.
Then there was the engineering team. Dave, their lead, was the main blocker last time. Not because he disagreed with tracking, but because the tool we chose was, in his words, “a piece of junk”. And honestly? He wasn’t wrong. So, this time, before committing to anything, I asked Dave what he thought would work. We actually spent an hour looking at a couple of options together. He pointed out integration issues I hadn’t even thought of. We ended up picking one jointly. That single step? Made a world of difference. Suddenly, he was an ally, not a roadblock.
Still Not Perfect, But Better
Look, it wasn’t magic. Janet in finance is still… Janet. She loves her spreadsheets. We had a few tense conversations. I had to show her how pulling reports was actually faster once the data was in, but she wasn’t having it initially. Had to get my boss to gently nudge her department. That part felt stupid, like being back in school, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
But overall? People started using it. Slowly. Imperfectly. There were still questions, still moments of “ugh, this again?”. But data was actually going in. We could actually see where projects were. It wasn’t a fight every single day.
What did I learn this time around?
- Talk one-on-one. Emails get ignored. Face time matters.
- Solve their problem. Don’t just talk about the company’s problem. Show what’s in it for them, specifically.
- Involve the skeptics. Especially if they have valid points (like Dave did about the tool). Makes them part of the solution.
- Don’t be afraid to escalate (gently). For the really stubborn cases, sometimes a little push from management is needed.
So yeah, ‘colleagues part 2’ wasn’t about some miracle fix. It was just about being more… human? Less corporate-robot about it. Took way more upfront effort talking to everyone, but saved a ton of arguments and frustration down the line. Still a work in progress, always is with people, but definitely moving in the right direction this time.
