Adoption Planning and Dealing with Difficult People

There are many occasions when CSMs find themselves dealing with people – indeed people management is a primary skill for all CSMs, and one they used regularly in much if not all of their day-to-day work. However when it comes to planning for the implementation of a customer adoption program, the CSM may find themselves facing far more stakeholders and other interested parties from a greater range of backgrounds and with a much wider range of interests, concerns, fears, political affiliations and personal and professional desires. That being the case and even just allowing for the greater numbers alone, the CSM may need to take special care during the adoption planning phase to manage all people in an effective and professional manner.

The article below is adapted from my forthcoming book Customer Success Management: A best practice framework for managers and professionals to be published by Routledge in the summer of 2019

Rick Adams, January 2019

Numbers and Diversity of People

People management is a critical skill of any project manager and indeed of any CSM. Prior to launching the adoption program and during the research and planning phases it may well be the case that only a small number of key stakeholders have been involved. Now however it is entirely likely that not only a much greater number of people will be involved but also that they will come from a wider and more diverse range of backgrounds and have a wider and diverse range of opinions about the initiative itself and the adoption program that you have developed to support that initiative.

Not Everyone will be Supportive

The CSM may well find therefore that there are different levels of support for the project and that not all people are comfortable or happy with the role that has been allocated to them within this project and/or the use of their assets and/or resources by the project. Some might not be happy but are still acceptant and compliant. Others however may be reluctant to agree to whatever needs of them the project may have. For example a sales person may not wish to take time away from their selling activities to attend training on what they perceive as unimportant administrative tasks that they are not interested in, or a manager may be reluctant to allow access to their team because they are concerned about meeting productivity targets.

Note that at least some of these peoples’ concerns are actually very reasonable and indeed no-ones’ concerns should be summarily dismissed, regardless of whether the CSM agrees with them or not. Each person who takes the trouble to express a concern should be taken seriously and their concerns should be considered carefully and where necessary steps taken for them to be addressed within the plan.

Some People are Difficult by Nature

Not all people who end up presenting difficulties are doing it deliberately. Some peoples’ personalities or the circumstances they find themselves in that are causing them emotional problems might make them awkward to deal with regardless of whether or not they agree or disagree with what is happening or have any rationale for their behavior. This might include people with behavior traits such as unreliability or those with poor people skills.

This category of people also includes those who may even be in favor of the adoption program, but still end up providing difficulties due to external circumstances beyond their control. They might for example fall ill, or be transferred at the last minute to a different role, or be stuck at an airport, or have to deal with an emergency of some kind.

Forewarned is Forearmed

Some people do not present as being difficult but later they turn out to be so. Others however may already be known for being difficult to get on with or awkward to deal with. This sort of information about known personality traits that may need careful handling can be very useful for the CSM to learn, especially regarding key stakeholders whom they will need to communicate and/or negotiate with on a regular basis. Aside from the CSM’s own colleagues who might already know the some of the key stakeholders within a customer organization, it may be possible to approach the SPL (senior project lead) or other customer stakeholder with whom the CSM has struck up a sufficiently close and trusting relationship, and ask them as an internal resource who may have worked with these stakeholders for several years to provide a rundown of any useful advice they might be able to give the CSM regarding the personalities and characteristics of their colleagues.

If the CSM elects to raise this topic with the SPL or other customer stakeholder they should first of all make sure they have established a sufficiently close and trusting relationship to enable that stakeholder to feel comfortable about opening up and revealing this sort of personal information about their colleagues to an “outsider”. Additionally, they should try to make it as comfortable as possible for the stakeholder. For example, do not raise the issue in a formal meeting or in front of others. Instead wait for an opportunity in a more informal setting (for example over lunch or a coffee) and when the two of you are alone and not in danger of your discussion being overheard by others. Raise this issue carefully and ensure you give the stakeholder room to answer in as much or little detail as they wish without it being awkward for them. For example rather than asking “Which of your colleagues are the most awkward to deal with, and in what ways are they difficult?” you could instead ask “Is there anything else about any of the people we will be working with that you think it might be useful for me to know about in advance, and which might help me to deal with them more effectively?”. This softer approach gives the stakeholder much more scope for answering in a way that they feel comfortable with.

A final point is not to record what they are saying, so that they do not feel that their words are “on the record”. If it is a voice or video call do not press the Record button on the conferencing tool, or if the meeting is already being recorded, now is the time to pause or stop recording and make the stakeholder aware that you have done so. If the meeting is face to face do not make notes in front of them to document what they are telling you and instead just listen and remember.

Steps for Dealing with Difficult People

The important thing about dealing with difficult, awkward or unresponsive people or with people who let you down is not to take it personally and not to let it affect one’s own personality or behavior. Assisting with project managing an adoption program can be stressful, so if unexpected additional difficulties are suddenly thrust upon the CSM it can sometimes be tempting to respond emotionally. It is therefore a good idea to prevent this from occurring in the first place by anticipating in advance that problems of this sort are very likely to occur, and preparing oneself for responding appropriately when they do. This reduces the emotional impact when they do occur since it does not come entirely out of the blue, and it also enables the “autopilot” to take over and perform the prepared response whilst any initial emotional impact is being absorbed and dealt with.

In short however, the best way to deal with difficult people is to be an emotionally resilient person who has the strength of personality to deal with difficult people in a friendly and professional manner without allowing it to impact their own emotional wellbeing. CSMs are advised to continually work at increasing their emotional resilience and strength of personality as these are in any case characteristics that tend to improve all round happiness and wellbeing and I would suggest that no one can have too much of them.

Be a Good Negotiator and a Great Listener

Note every desired requirement that you may have of someone’s time, money or other resources can be gotten from them. Sometimes you might get everything you want, sometimes you might get nothing at all, but oftentimes you may need to reach a compromise with the other person. Learning when and how to gain commitments and make compromises is a very important skill for project management of people, and this is referred to as the skill of negotiation. Sometimes the CSM may need to negotiate on their own behalf, and sometimes the CSM may need to step in to assist negotiations between two or more key stakeholders who for example might disagree on a detail such as responsibilities for performing activities or for funding those activities.

Whatever the case, the CSM should be aware of the basics of negotiation. My recommended eight steps for high quality negotiation are as follows:

Step 1:   Do not allow emotions to enter into the discussion. Instead leave all such personal considerations at the door – they have no part to play in work-related negotiations, which should be conducted professionally and with regard only to objective not emotional criteria

Step 2:   Determine your minimum position. This is the absolute worst case result from the negotiation that you would be prepared to accept. Once you have defined it and validated it, do not budge from it and if necessary walk away from the negotiation if this minimum position cannot be met

Step 3:   Determine your ideal position. This is the best case result that you might be able to attain from the negotiation. Make sure it is clearly defined and includes all the possible things you wish to achieve. This might include both positive and negative aspects (eg you might state what activities you want to have included within a task whose details are being negotiated and also what activities you want to make sure are left out of the task)

Step 4:   Define the agreement. Before commencing the negotiations with the other party or parties, first define and agree with those parties what an agreement will mean. For example this might include start and end dates for taking any agreed actions, commitments to report back on activity, and so on. If this is done ahead of any negotiation then everyone is already clear on what an agreement will look like and what will happen after it has been reached.

Step 5:   Start by sharing your ideal position. This will now become your starting position which you can share with and explain to the other parties. At the same time learn from the other parties what their starting positions are, and again make sure you understand them fully.

Step 6:   Look for the commonalities and differences between each party’s starting position. If there are sufficient commonalities between starting positions such that all parties can get what they have stated they want within these starting positions then an agreement can probably be concluded straight away.

Step 7:   Negotiate fair trade-offs between each party’s positions. If an agreement cannot be concluded from the starting positions, the parties can trade-off desired aspects of their starting position against aspects of the other parties’ starting positions to find a single position where all parties at least maintain their minimum position whilst equally winning and losing in terms of any additional desired aspects.

Step 8:   Conclude the negotiation. Make sure that each party is 100% clear as to what has been agreed, document the details of the agreement and distribute to each party. If necessary get contracts drawn up and signed. Don’t feel you have to do this on your own – include the account team when necessary.

The above eight steps can be used equally as an interested party (ie as one of the parties with a position that needs to be negotiated) or as a disinterested third party acting purely as an unbiased negotiator. The CSM may find themselves in either or both of these positions from time to time.

Maintain your own Personal Integrity

Above all else, when managing people within the context of the project management of an adoption program or indeed at any other time, always remember your own center in terms of your personal code of ethics and morality and philosophy on what is right and wrong. Trust your instincts to give ground where it feels right to do so and to maintain your position when that feels like the right thing to do. Treat others with politeness, kindness and consideration at all times, but never allow anyone else to dictate your emotions.

About the Author

Rick Adams is an independent author, trainer and consultant, specializing in helping technology companies deliver measurable business value for their customers. Adams has over 25 years’ experience of working in the IT industry, including owning his own startup software-as-a-service business which he sold in 2012 to focus on writing, training and consulting. Having delivering training and consultancy to many hundreds of businesses and thousands of technology professionals in over 30 countries across four continents, Adams is now based in the rural west coast of Ireland where he lives with his two dogs Zeus and Terri.

Adams’ recent work includes the development and delivery of a global certification program on customer success management for Cisco Systems Inc. He is currently working on a book titled Practical Customer Success Management: A best practice framework for managers and professionals which will be published by Routledge in the summer of 2019. His current interests includes helping individuals and companies develop best practices in customer success management and in business outcomes focused selling. He can be contacted via LinkedIn at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/rickadams01/, via Twitter at https://twitter.com/RickAda84728077 or by email at [email protected].