One thing that I can see that Tiffany didn’t mention in favor of her approach, is that when you give the compliant children the cool new toys, and keep them out of the hands of the resistant ones, eventually the resistant ones will want to play with th cool new toys too, because they keep hearing from everyone else how they are missing out.
Tiffany and I do recognize that we may not be talking about the same people. Is it possible that there are different sorts of squeaky wheels? Ones that are laggards, who are forever asking “Who moved my cheese?”, and others that have legitimate issues that need to be addressed?
It is your turn to weigh in on the debate.
What is your experience? Am I off the mark? Is my example an edge case? Is Tiffany’s point of view more valid in your experience? Or should you indeed keep your “enemies” closer? Are there different kinds of squeaky wheels? If so, how can you tell them apart?
Are we both missing the point?
Weigh in below!
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Missed the other posts in this series?
SharePoint Saturday Houston Throwdown: Whither the Squeaky Wheel?
Keep Your Friends Close, Keep Your Enemies Closer, by Jim Adcock
Keep Your Friends Close, Keep Your Enemies Far Far Away, guest post by Tiffany Songvilay
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I think you hit the nail on the head when you mention the two different types of squeaky wheels; one who won’t change because they don’t want to get out of their comfort zone and isn’t interested in being convinced otherwise, and one who wants to make sure that potential problems have been headed off at the pass or at least will be addressed. It’s like the difference between trying to teach a kid that doesn’t want to learn or one that needs glasses to read. If you’re discerning, you can tell the difference; but that means you take a moment to understand the issue and don’t just assume.