Stop saying "That's just what they are like"

Recently, I had an issue with some people on the sales team. They were repeatedly making suggestions that we had already told them were unhelpful (hiring a development team in India) and spending a lot of time telling us that we weren't doing the right things on the product program.

Let's get a few facts clear for people who don't live in the R&D world:

1. Just adding people to a problem generally doesn't solve it (it's like having a baby, if you get two women to do it you can't halve the time).
2. Indian development outsourcing is a very risky proposition for a small team. You have to deal with people 12 hours away. It's hard enough getting developers to talk to each other when they sit next to each other (often not the most outgoing chatty folks); getting them to talk to people in the middle of the night is another thing. 
3. Product programs are not owned by R&D. They are owned by product managers. If you are bugging the R&D team, it's like bugging your brother or sister to get your parents to change their mind. It may work, but everyone gets annoyed. 

When I reached out to the sales lead, he was willing to talk but said "their comments come from a good place", as in, they were really trying to help (yes, I am sure that is what mansplainers think too). And he also noted, "I really don't have time for this". When I talked to other executives, they said "Just ignore it. That is what sales guys are like". 

Here I am a co-founder of a company, who has a viewpoint and desire to see a different type of culture at the company, and I am confronted with this lack of support.

For the record, I did not want them to change because of the two items noted but because of the two items on top of the a seemingly endless list  - not following any corporate guidelines without constant reminding, not using corporate tools, not heeding any advice (and eventually coming around to the same position 9 months later thereby wasting the scarce resource of time), trying to force our product into a me-too (which never wins), making everything a last-minute crisis for everyone else - to name a few. 

I got thinking about why it is this way:

1. Are the sales people so valuable to my company that we can't afford to challenge them? I just don't believe that. 
2. Is this our biggest problem? The answer is absolutely not. 
3. Would it be difficult to get them to change their behaviour? And the answer here is yes. 

I am being told "that's just what they are like" because that is the easy way out. Changing them is possible but it's difficult. The easier choice given everything we have on our plates is just to let it go. 

If we all thought that way, our companies and our products would never progress. In R&D, we have redesigned how we work based on our experiences and the experiences of other companies and have built a very different model for releasing product. (side note: our VC have said our approach in R&D is world class).  We have also innovated around the delivery of our service. We dared to challenge the status quo and we are better for it.  It was often very hard and we met lots of opposition, but we persisted because we believed it was right. 

Will allowing the sales team to continue their behaviours be damaging - to a certain extent yes, I think it will hurt the culture of the company and probably cause some rifts,  but in the end, we will still be successful as a business.  Will people get hurt? No, perhaps a few feelings but nothing permanent. After consideration, I have decided to let it go and not pursue getting them to change.  As I noted - no one will get hurt and the damage will not be that large. 

You are now probably wondering, what the heck? Why write a blog to say that you gave up? Where is the lesson?

Well, I decided not to pursue this particular issue because the consequences of not doing it are minimal. But it has raised a much greater concern for me. I was so shocked at how quickly everyone was willing to accept the status quo.  "It's just the way they are, Kim".  Because changing behaviour and calling out people on their behaviour is hard. It is much easier to just let things continue as they are. 

When you look around IRL (as my kids say), the consequence of accepting how things just are can be extremely damaging. Be very careful before you join in and say its ok too (implicitly, often,  by not saying anything).  Sometimes it will be EXTREMELY HARD, but you have to go against the status quo, STAND UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT,  and WORK FOR CHANGE.  And if you don't know what I mean, let me leave you with a few names to ponder  ... Jian Ghomeshi, Travis Kalanick, Harvey Weinstein, and Donald Trump.  If only, much earlier, someone had stopped saying "that is just what they are like".