The Power of the Onion

I frequently hear a complaint from leaders that people within their organizations are resistant to change.

Where does this resistance come from and how do we deal with it as leaders?   While a certain amount of resistance is human nature,

I submit that quite often leaders create their own resistance!

In the book “Spin Selling,” author Neil Rackham concluded that sales people themselves are the primary cause of objections and resistance in sales meetings. In observations of 35,000 sales meetings, his research team noticed that salespeople trigger objections by talking about products and solutions too early — before they have reached alignment with their prospects on the problems.

As leaders, we often do the same thing – triggering objections and resistance – when we jump ahead to the solution.  The source of the resistance is that we have skipped the steps that will build a shared vision around the solution. The effect is that we end up creating our own organizational resistance.  We trigger fears in people without creating a mechanism for them to voice their own thoughts and concerns.

So how do we deal with this effect?  First, we recognize that if we as leaders are the source of the problem, then we are also the solution.  We can take a different approach.

For an alternative approach that generates buy-in and co-ownership instead of resistance, let’s consider the power of the onion.  (I learned the onion model a few years ago doing consulting work with Eli Goldratt’s organization and his son, Rami.  They are the discoverers of the Theory of Constraints.)

The onion model shows how different layers of resistance to change appear – and how they appear in a particular order.  Just like peeling an onion, you have to peel the outer layers first.  If you try to peel an inner layer, you just end up with a mess on your hands.

Let’s use a real example. Imagine that you want to change a process or system in your organization – it could be order processing, fulfillment, forecasting, quoting, or even mergers and acquisitions, for example.   You see the current approach as inefficient or ineffective and have a better approach in mind.  If you have significant expertise and prior experience in this area, it is quite likely that you can see a better way while others do not, or that you are not biased by the current approach.

When you call a meeting to present your solution to the players involved, here’s where the resistance will show up, corresponding to six layers of the onion, in order from the outermost layer moving inward:

1. I disagree with you on the problem. Either there is no problem or there is a different problem.

2. I disagree with you on the direction for the solution.  We could solve this problem using a completely different approach.

3. The solution does not address the whole problem.  Ok, I accept the direction, but the proposed solution is incomplete.

4. Yes, BUT the solution creates other negative outcomes.

5. Yes, BUT there are obstacles to implementing the solution.

6. Unverbalized fear.  In my experience, this fear most often relates to loss of control, significance, or power.

A few key observations about the onion model:

• People, (even the same person), do not always have the same number and type of reservations – just as all onions do not have the same number of layers.

• People may be thinking about their concerns but may not express them.  This raises other questions about whether the climate you create as a leader encourages or discourages these discussions.

• Just like with onions, trying to address an “inner” reservation, without addressing first an external one, will only increase the resistance.  If you try to peel an inner layer of an onion first, you create a smelly mess that makes you cry.  The most common mistake here is to start talking about implementation too quickly – resulting in “Whoa! Back up – why are we even doing this in the first place?”  Not only do you have to go back to the beginning anyway, you now have to overcome increased defensiveness and skepticism.  If you start “in the first place” – about why you are doing it, then you can proceed through the remaining layers.

Now that you are aware of the onion model, you as the leader can structure a conversation to move through the layers of the onion effectively.

Here are seven questions you can use to begin to peel the onion in an effective way, using a question-based approach to developing solutions:

1. How do you see the issues/problems/opportunity from your perspective? Why would we do anything differently from what we are doing now?

2. What are the criteria for a good solution?

a. What about other criteria, such as ….

b. What options for solutions have you considered?

c. Would you be open to considering some other options?

How does each of these options satisfy the criteria?

d. Do they solve the whole problem?  What’s missing?

3. For each option, what are the possible negative outcomes, side-effects, or unintended consequences?

4. For each option, what would be the obstacles to successful implementation?

5. Based on our discussion, do you prefer a particular solution? Why?

6. What are your remaining concerns about moving forward?

After teaching this model to one of my clients, they used the seven questions to structure the entire agenda for a meeting.

Not only did they not trigger resistance as before, but they generated even more creative solutions than they anticipated going in. Let me know how this approach works for you.