Intrapreneur and longtime LinkedIn VP Mike Derezin shares our favourite framework for leading large groups through change, including how to overcome the dreaded “passive resistor.”
What’s the Support Continuum?
The Support Continuum focuses on how our teams feel about a change we're driving. At LinkedIn, we both learned it from its creator, Mike Derezin, an incredible intrapreneur and revenue leader. The power of the Support Continuum lies in its simplicity, plotting everybody involved with our change initiative on a 5-point level of support scale from Active Resistor (1) to Active Supporter (5):
The starting point is knowing where others around us sit on the continuum: They could volunteer their position, we could ask them, or we could infer it.
The crux of the framework is Mike’s emphasis on weeding out 2s (Passive Resistors). As he outlines in the video, 1s (Active Detractors) may vehemently disagree with our proposal, but they're willing to engage and are showing leadership, even if it's not in the direction we were hoping for. To adapt Oscar Wilde’s quote, at least they’ll stab us in the front. It's the 2s who aren't showing dissent on the surface but are looking to sabotage our proposal and stab us in the back.
Therefore, the key is to instill a culture in our team or broader company where 2s aren't OK: we can celebrate people speaking up and disagreeing because it starts a dialogue, but we can't tolerate 2s because it shuts down communication channels. And communication is the key to change management, so we need to do whatever keeps communication channels open.
When to use the Support Continuum?
When we're leading a major change initiative, especially one that involves emotions. Perhaps we're being acquired or acquiring a company; perhaps we're overhauling our compensation structure internally or pricing structure externally; perhaps we're sunsetting a product or launching a new one.
Therefore, usually, it's at the intersection of big and emotional changes. Although the more the Support Continuum terminology becomes the parlance of the team, the easier it becomes to use for smaller change initiatives too. Perhaps we're proposing a new learning and development module for our teams or creating a Sales Performance Incentive Fund (SPIF) to drive sales rep behaviour, both of which would be smaller changes: teammates can jump in with "Sold! I'm a 5!" or "Maybe; I'd say I'm a 3" or even "I hate it, I'm a 1!" so it's much quicker to understand where the rest of our team is.
We can also use it one-on-one. Perhaps we're sharing a big proposed change with a colleague and want to get their pulse early in the process, well before we enact anything across our whole organization/company. Everybody uses language a little differently, so having a simple 1-5 scale that we can all agree on is a great shorthand.
How do we use the Support Continuum?
John:
I once learned that most plans fail not because they are poorly conceived but because they fail to achieve buy-in. Said another way, buy-in to the idea is as important as the idea itself.
Adding to this idea, I subscribe to the Fred Kofman notion that great leaders have no followers: they inspire others to follow a mission. So how do you get others to follow a mission? The Support Continuum is a key part of that.
I enjoyed watching Mike in action at LinkedIn, especially when partnered with HR Business partner extraordinaire Anne Manhart and Sales Readiness Superstar Jamie Hager to create and launch the Support Continuum at LinkedIn [note: Mike explicitly called out and thanked both Anne and Jamie in our recording, it just didn’t flow into the final product we edited down to].
James:
I'm always a sucker for an easy way to move from qualitative to quantitative, the whole "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it" ethos.
Mike's Support Continuum reminds me of (longtime LinkedIn CEO) Jeff Weiner's idea of 3 types of feedback that a leader can give to their team. His is only 3 steps - that a leader should be clear on whether they're sharing "One person's opinion" vs "A Strong Recommendation" vs. a "Mandate" - but the idea is similar in that it's an easy quantitative way to understand where somebody falls on a spectrum. And it lends itself to a clearly understood vocabulary.
It's the same reason I like Net Promoter Score (NPS) or Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) because it clarifies how somebody feels. On a silly, non-work note, it's why I give a "J-Rayting" grade for all the books I read or films I see: it's an easy way to categorize my overall take, so not only do I know how I reacted to a piece of content many years before but it’s also an easy way for others to react to my ratings.
John:
When I think about my job as a leader, especially as a sales leader, perhaps the #1 job requirement is leading through change. Whether we’re selling a skincare product or B2B software application, our company is helping people change in some way. While the vision for change often starts at the top, a true movement is only possible when the broader organization finds religion. I’m excited to supplement The Support Continuum with Mike adding his 5-Step Reinforcement process for change, coming to a Blueprint near you soon.
Want to learn more?
WANT TO GO DEEPER ON THE SUPPORT CONTINUUM WITH MIKE DEREZIN?
Mike has an excellent ~20-minute LinkedIn Learning course on “Leading Your Team Through Change” that digs into this topic and more [Note: LinkedIn Learning is a paid subscription product with free trial options; neither of us makes any money from LinkedIn anymore].
Here’s a good piece by a former Amazon exec, including the memorably phrase, “At Amazon, we spent significant effort trying to turn every door into a two-way door.”
WANT TO GO DEEPER ON CHANGE MANAGEMENT?
This is a topic full of oldie-but-goodie business books. Here are 3 of the best selling all-time:
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