It’s Not the Tool, It’s Your Team: Rethink, Then Rebuild
Stop blaming the tool. It works. That’s why you bought it. Your salesperson had glowing case studies, you spoke with their customer references, and their stock price is soaring.
So why isn’t it working for your team?
If they believe a new tool will save them, they’re destined to replicate their current outcomes in the new tool. A tool doesn’t fix broken outcomes, it just makes broken outcomes happen faster, and more expensively.
This isn’t about blaming anyone, it’s about recognizing a pattern. Too often, teams expect tools to be the magic bullet. But tools don’t create high performance. Thinking does. Culture does. Behavior does. When those are off, the tool just automates the outcomes you’re getting today.
I hope you are ready for what I am about to share with you because it will make you and your team irreplaceable.
That means that your team's thinking (vision), drives their culture (behavior), and that’s why you are getting the outcomes you are getting today. Your team is the architect of their current outcomes. The only way to get different outcomes is to shift their thinking, once they think differently, they will behave differently.
"True change is driven by a shift in thinking, new thinking leads to new behaviors, which then drive the results we’re after."-J. Scott
I had a customer responsible for a customer service center that no matter how hard their team worked, never got better than a 3 out of 5-star review. They were all working hard, they all wanted to succeed with their customers, and they were all miserable about their client satisfaction scores.
When I started working with them, they told me they were migrating their call center tool from Service Now to BMC Helix. When I challenged their “WHY,” it was because their current tool couldn’t help them get better outcomes without significant optimization. I told them it wasn’t the tool, but they weren’t ready to hear it.
So, they spent the time and money migrating to BMC, and two years later they are talking about migrating to Jira Service Management. This time they have two reasons, the first is that BMC isn’t helping them solve the original problem, and the second is that they have an enterprise Jira license already, and this move will save them money.
The plan is to have the customer service team members and the executives that architected and deployed the first and second tools deploy the third. This is where we need to head Einstein's warning…
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" – Einstein
Here is how we are going to prevent Jira from becoming just another tool, in a long line of tools that failed to improve this team's outcomes.
First, we are going to shift the team's thinking. Tools are just an extension of our thinking and organizational culture. If our outcomes are off track, so is our thinking, the tools will just perpetuate our thinking and automate the outcomes we’re trying to escape.
Here’s how we can break away from relying too heavily on tools and start fostering a mindset that cultivates genuine improvement:
Shift the Mindset
We need to educate our teams. They must understand that tools are not solutions but amplifiers of our existing capabilities. By shifting our mindset first, we can fundamentally change our approach to any problem and get the outcomes we need. But we need to think differently before we will do differently.
2. Introduce Fresh Thinking
Find a consultant who has spent their career measurably solving the problem you are tackling. To be clear, I mean a consultant, not an implementor, or integrator, and definitely not part of the team selling you the new tool. Aside from expertise, being up on all the latest better practices, they aren’t entrenched in your culture, they are NOT anchored to any of your “this is why we do it this way,” or “that won’t work in our culture.” These are limiting beliefs that need to be shifted by someone who has seen it work.
These consultants need to be measured based on their expertise and ability to explain what works but are not tied to your outcomes. They need to feel safe telling you that you are blowing it by caving into your limiting beliefs and taking an approach that won’t serve you. That is not something you will get from an implementor or the company selling you the tool. They will customize to your heart’s desire.
3. Architect New Behaviors
Identify the Outcomes you need to get 5 out of 5-star reviews. Then work backward to architect and document the thinking and behavior necessary to achieve those outcomes. These are not processes or procedures, these are your “whys” and your “what’s,” Because people will ignore processes and procedures and align with the culture. You are going to use the “why” and the “what” to lead a shift in thinking and behavior/culture. The “how” will be defined iteratively in the next step until you begin getting the outcomes you need. Then you will write your process and procedures.
4. Implement New Behaviors
Be ruthless about reinforcing the new thinking, if you don’t hear it constantly coming from your managers, and hear it being echoed back by the people doing the work, nothing is changing. Keep messaging, point out to people when you aren’t hearing it and that you need to hear it. It should be like a concert where everyone knows the words and sings along with the band.
5. Continuously Improve
Keep refining these new ways of thinking and behaving. This isn’t a one-and-done deal, it’s about ongoing enhancement, making sure each step forward is measured and effective until you are measurably, and consistently getting the outcomes your team needs.
Align Tools with Successful Outcomes
Only after we’ve shifted our thinking and seen tangible improvements in our behaviors and results should we consider documenting the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and deploying new or tweaking old tools. This way, the tools we introduce or modify will truly amplify the successful strategies we’ve developed, not the outdated ones we’ve moved past.
Recognizing that the root of the problem, and the solution, lies within our approach and mindset is a powerful shift. It moves our focus from external elements back to where it belongs. We are the architects of our outcomes, by addressing our thinking first, we set the stage for tools that don't just automate, but elevate our outcomes to new heights.
So… Enough with the tool swaps and the wishful thinking. Your team’s mindset is the product. Your culture is the system. Your behaviors are the process. Get those right, and the tool won’t matter. Get them wrong, and no tool will save you.