You see something shiny that’s working somewhere else (Sporting) and think, we want some of that. Let’s get in an expert, or even better, let’s go big and recruit the one who made it work for them (Ruben Amorim).

What could go wrong? Quite a lot by the looks of things at Man United.

They seem to have taken a team full of demoralised people who lack the skills needed to thrive in the new system and thrown them into a sink or swim situation in one of the most pressurised leagues in the world.

Add to that a set of toxic cultural issues that need to be addressed and you have a recipe for disaster.

Anyone else seen this happen in the IT world before?

“we’re going agile and will be using [𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚]. We’ve bought in the expert who’s implemented this in [𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚], it’s going to be great”

After a short course/sheep dip, people get to work (they still need to deliver, it’s a business after all). A lot of them struggle, mistakes get made and Tempers fray. Next thing, people leave and productivity drops.

Finally, the expert leaves the company proclaiming that “they just weren’t ready and were not in it for the long haul”. While those left behind have to pick up the pieces.

A lot of us have learned the hard way, massive and sudden change usually causes a lot of short term pain and does not usually lead to the place you hoped, instead:

🔸 Know your end goal and the reasons you want to get there
🔸 Make sure that your teams understand ‘the why’
🔸 Gradually make changes in a manageable way
🔸 Listen to your people, think and tweak your plans as needed.

Basically, don’t be Manchester United (Sorry man u fans)!