Rethinking Change: Addressing Friction Over Adding Incentives

I recently had an epiphany about change and felt compelled to share it with the #prodmgmt community.

For a long time, I used to believe that resistance to change was merely a hurdle to jump over or an obstacle to navigate around. I would devise all sorts of incentives to encourage the adoption of new products, thinking that if we could make the benefits clear enough, resistance would melt away.

I remember working on a product in the mental health space that had excellent customer experience (CX) and offered a lot of value to users. However, it wasn't getting the traction we anticipated. Despite its value, a social stigma attached to its adoption prevented users from embracing it fully.

Our response was to keep piling on the incentives and features, thinking that more benefits would tip the scales and overcome the resistance. But it was like trying to push a boulder up a hill – a lot of effort with little progress.

But here's the thing: we ignored the underlying friction that was the real problem. The more we pushed, the more the friction held us back. In this case, it was the social stigma attached to our product.

Years later, I came across this insightful podcast by Hidden Brain - Work 2.0: The Obstacles You Don't See - which helped me realize what I did wrong. We were focusing on the incentives but not addressing the actual friction. Our efforts to add more incentives without reducing the friction were not only futile but also drained our resources.

Addressing the friction is not just about providing solutions, but understanding the problem deeply and empathetically. We had to look beyond the obvious, understand the social dynamics and stigma associated with our product, and tackle it head-on. It involved changing perceptions, educating our audience, and embedding our product into the existing social fabric.

Quite frankly, I'm not even sure if we could have addressed the underlying friction. But that is exactly the point; by understanding the friction points, we would have realized that our model and product wouldn't gain the needed traction and could have pivoted to something else.

This experience was a revelation. Now, when I see resistance or friction to change, I don't just think about what I can push onto the situation but also what I can remove or mitigate to make the transition smoother.

This concept applies beyond product adoption to all facets of business interactions - including client relationships.

Sometimes, I take on consulting roles. As a consultant, it's easy to fall into the trap of believing that our role is to push for change, and to offer up incentives or benefits that will convince clients to adopt our proposed strategies or solutions. We come armed with impressive presentations and compelling arguments, convinced that if we can just make the benefits clear enough, resistance will melt away.

However, just as in the world of product management, there's often an unseen friction that we need to address. Whether it's fear of change, distrust of external advice, or a deep-seated culture that's resistant to new ideas, these factors can often become obstacles that no amount of persuasive rhetoric can overcome.

For effective client engagement, we need to take a step back and really understand their perspective - their hopes, fears, and challenges. We need to put ourselves in their shoes and anticipate the potential friction points that might arise.

In this scenario, reducing friction is about something other than bulldozing objections or sugar-coating problems (TRUST ME, THIS NEVER WORKS!)...

It's about empathy and understanding, about building trust and fostering open communication.

It's about acknowledging their concerns and working together to find solutions that don't just look good on paper but actually resonate with their realities and alleviate their friction points.

In my experience, addressing friction is not just about achieving successful outcomes in the present but also about building strong, enduring client relationships that will weather future challenges. As in product management, effective consulting isn't about pushing harder but understanding better.

So, the next time you’re strategizing with your clients or looking at your customers, ask yourself: what's the friction here, and how can we address it together?

Remember, overcoming friction often requires less pushing and more understanding, less speaking and more listening. Change isn't just about what we want to happen but also about addressing what holds people back from embracing it.

Let's start looking for the unseen obstacles and address them head-on. By doing so, we can usher in change more effectively and meaningfully.

Just something to think about as we navigate our way through this ever-evolving landscape.