Why No One Listens to IT – And How to Change That
Influencing Skills for IT teams
In today’s decentralized organizations, influence matters more than authority—and nowhere is that clearer than in IT.
We were reminded of this again just last month. One of our clients—a major global brand—asked us to help after a critical technology rollout stalled. The platform itself was solid. But adoption? Almost non-existent. IT was left wondering why no one was listening.
It’s a pattern we’ve seen time and again, in every sector.
IT sits at the heart of digital transformation. Predictive maintenance, digital twins, Python workflows, ServiceNow integrations—these aren’t side projects. They’re business-critical.
And yet, despite this central role, IT teams often struggle to get traction. Adoption rates are weak. Compliance mandates are ignored. Business units bring in their own tools—duplicating effort, draining budgets, and diluting impact.
Everyone sees themselves as digital now. Everyone’s a “tech expert.” And IT is left fighting for adoption, credibility, and a seat at the strategy table.
Why This Problem Matters Now
These challenges aren’t new. But they are becoming more acute.
- Digital is everywhere—and every team believes they know tech, sometimes better than IT.
- Decisions are decentralized—and teams often move ahead without consulting IT at all.
- Emerging tech is hot—and business units want to move fast, sometimes leaving IT behind.
- The pace of change is relentless—and IT risks being seen as slow or out of touch.
And when IT is seen as a handbrake, not an enabler, the costs are real: Wasted investment. Fragmented systems. Increased risk. Misaligned strategies.
A Story We Were There For
We sat with the IT director of a global FMCG company as she reviewed the results of a major rollout. Her team had built an advanced inventory tool—developed in Python, integrated into Salesforce, designed to flag supply issues before they happened. Technically, it was brilliant.
But six months in, adoption rates were poor.
IT had “consulted” the business early on—but it had felt like a tick-box exercise. Later, they launched the tool with detailed training and a confident message: “We’ve solved the problem. Now please adopt it.”
But the business didn’t see themselves in the solution. Some felt it duplicated tools they already had. Others couldn’t see how it solved their day-to-day challenges. The harder IT pushed, the stronger the resistance became.
We weren’t surprised. The evidence from behavioural science is clear: people don’t resist because they’re difficult. They resist when they feel unheard or imposed upon.
Why Pushing Doesn’t Work
At Threshold, we teach what we call the Holy Trinity of Influencing:
- Insistence leads to resistance.
- Great meetings are built on rapport, not agreement.
- Resistance is a cue to change strategy, not push harder.
Social psychology backs this up. When people feel pressured, they instinctively look for reasons to push back. The more forcefully someone argues, the more we assume there must be a flaw.
This is the backfire effect—and IT, often leading with logic and certainty, walks straight into it.
There Is Another Way
In clinical psychology, the gold standard for changing behaviour isn’t confrontation. It’s Motivational Interviewing—a method we draw on in our training. The research shows that when people feel heard and involved, they are far more likely to change.
We’ve helped IT teams around the world put this into practice.
It’s not about pretending to be someone else. It’s about learning how to communicate in ways that build trust and shared ownership—even in the tough conversations.
The Risk of Getting It Wrong
Without influence, IT is left reacting to decisions made elsewhere.
Shadow IT takes hold. Governance and security start to fray. And IT’s credibility erodes, making it harder to influence future decisions when it matters most.
The Good News: This Can Be Learned
Influence isn’t a gift. It’s a skill. And at Threshold, this is what we do—week in, week out—with IT teams across industries.
Our training is grounded in evidence and built for real-world practice. We use:
- Immersive theatre to bring stakeholder dynamics vividly to life.
- Facilitated discussion to unpack what resistance really means.
- Simulated conversations with expert coaching and feedback.
- Real-world scenarios, from ServiceNow rollouts to AI strategy clashes.
People leave with practical tools they can apply right away—and the confidence to use them.
The Payoff: Respect. Influence. Strategic Impact.
When IT stops pushing and starts partnering, things shift.
Resistance fades. Adoption rises. The old story—that IT is the bottleneck—starts to fall away.
And in its place? Influence. Respect. And the strategic voice that IT has always deserved.
The technology is already strong. What’s needed now is a stronger conversation around it
At Threshold, we are helping our clients to ensure that their human workforce is committed, engaged and ready for the technology revolution. We do this by bringing about small shifts in line manager behaviour that make a big difference. To find out more visit www.threshold.co.uk
