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Hey all,

I think I’m more just venting here, but I have a feeling some of you might be understanding.

I’m getting ready to roll out a new IP phone system. I’ve spent a lot of time fixing up the network and getting things ready. Lots of research prior to that. Lots of input and communication with management and key stakeholders. We’re going to get users trained on everything soon and cut over to the new system in a couple weeks. I’ve been doing my best to communicate to everyone why we are making this change, the new features that we’ll be able to use, and talk with people face to face when I get the chance.

People are already complaining to me about how they don’t like the new system and just want to keep the old one. I’ve heard similar complaints from another project I’m working on. I mean, I know change is hard at times. Most people don’t care about tech and just want stuff to work without thinking about it.

It’s just annoying to spend all this time and for people to shoot stuff down right away. This is more a personal problem of mine, I can take things personally in work and that’s something I need to deal with.

How do you guys deal with this kind of negativity for a large project? I guess I should just suck it up and realize this comes with the territory, but I’m kinda annoyed right now.

4 Spice ups
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Beat them in the face with kindness and over the head with facts. Every time we’ve changed something here, we got the same behavior. Until I would send out emails that literally placated and explained everything they were bitching about and basically called them silly and old for not wanting change simply because it was change.

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Hah, thanks koaladomingo, that’s some sound advice. There’s bound to be the odd problem with the implementation as well, rarely does anything go as smooth as I’d like it to. Hopefully if such problems occur, people don’t jump on it as a reason why to jump on the bitching bandwagon.

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Listen to them patiently. Then, nod and say, “I understand. After the new system goes in, we’re going to have a 4-week ‘no complaint’ period where no one is allowed to criticize the system. After that, we’ll start to take tickets on any issues or changes that might occur. Oh, and let me thank you in advance for your cooperation. I know the others look to you for leadership in cases like this.”

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Training, classroom and in small groups, too. Continuing education. Sell the benefits. Look at it like a storm, which will pass. Meantime, you’ll get a little wet.

Once I got power users/C-levels on-board with unified messaging, everyone else pretty much fell in line quickly. Only thing they really missed was our ancient 2-digit intercom system, but our standard message was the same: new building, new phone system, new features, new policies.

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Very diplomatic, I think I’ll try that out. Thanks!

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Thanks Jeff. Yes, we’re about to start doing extensive training. I think part of the problem is the project has taken a lot longer to roll out as problems arose during installation. So people were looking at these new phones sitting there that weren’t fully operational.

I’ll do my best to keep at it though and keep the lines of communication open.

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Yea. It’s a culture thing. Once you bash them in the head enough to get them to respect that you’re the expert in the field and you know what they’re talking about, they tend to bitch less about you and change and more about how companies suck at producing stable products. At least that’s always my goal. You want to bitch? Me too. Let’s bitch about why, 4 months in and only 20,000 pages, this printer just blew its laser engine.

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Over communicate - in fact address the complaints in an Q &A format so you can refute their issues and point out the benefits of the new system. Also provide them with a reference sheet so they can figure out how to use the system without bothering you.

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