Change Management: When to Push and When to Get Buy-In (Episode 102)

Every leader comes home from a conference with a notebook full of ideas. The hard part isn't having them, it's deciding which ones to implement and how to roll them out without burning out your team. In Episode 102 of the Unlocked Podcast, recorded at the Brivo Cloud Security Summit in Arlington, Texas, Lars (Calgary Lock & Safe), Tony (Assured Security), and Chad (Loc-Doc Security) compare three very different approaches to change management.

Consensus Is Slow. Indecision Is Slower.

Lars came in swinging: most modern change-management advice, gathering every stakeholder and building buy-in at every level, is a recipe for making things painfully slow. His philosophy is that it's easier to say sorry than please, and that a business loses more to the indecision of doing nothing than to moving too fast. He doesn't skip the thinking, though. Ideas go on a whiteboard or into his phone first, get kicked around with his business partner, and only then reach the managers who are good at poking holes.

One of the hosts described the opposite journey: changing things too fast early on, swinging to consensus-building after the pushback, and now feeling that change happens too slowly. The truth sits somewhere in the middle, and it depends on your own style as a leader.

The Whiteboard Is Your Best Friend

If you're an ideas machine, not every idea needs to be implemented, and not immediately. Chad shared how a recent brainstorming conversation at his office was heard as "this is what we're doing," and it caused chaos. His fix: say up front when a conversation is discovery, not a directive. Today his new initiatives go through his leadership team, like Zach in operations, who push back on the details, raise concerns he hadn't considered, and then own the rollout so it actually sticks.

Too many directives create too much work in progress. When everything is a priority, nothing is. Keep a future-priorities list, plan projects each quarter, and give your team permission to ask, "Which of these seven top priorities is the top one?"

Why Your Team Says "Two Weeks"

Fast-moving leaders often hear "that'll take two weeks" for a task they're sure takes an hour. The hosts tied this to methodical personalities, the high-C profile in Culture Index, who work first in, first out and buffer their estimates so they aren't chased on day two. Ask two separate questions: How much effort will this take? And when can it realistically be done? Then ask what would have to happen to get it done sooner.

Connect Every Change to the Vision

Chad pushed through an unpopular software rollout in January, changing nearly every process from one Tuesday to the next. It worked because he had a clear strategy and clear rollback criteria, and because it tied back to Loc-Doc's 30 by 30 goal: a $30 million company by 2030. When every change connects to a vision the team already understands, people ask "How does this get us to 30 by 30?" instead of "Why are we doing this?"

The hosts agreed that the context and the why matter more than most leaders realize, because the leader already understands it and assumes everyone else does. And once a company passes 30 or 40 people, close to half will disagree with any decision. The goal isn't 100% agreement. It's making the call, explaining why, and knowing which trade-off you're choosing: speed or comfort.

As you look at your idea list this week, ask yourself: which one change matters most right now, and have I explained why?

🔗 Podcast Links:

Website: unlockedpodcast.com

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Assured Security: assuredsecurity.com

Loc-Doc Security: locdoc.com

Calgary Lock & Safe: calgarylockandsafe.ca