“So many people are so used to their old ways, and they don’t like new ways.”
When a creative leader in our recent RoboHead LeaderLab said this, heads nodded around the room. Not because these leaders had given up—but because they knew exactly what she meant.
You roll out a new system designed to make everyone’s lives easier. You train. You explain. You demonstrate the benefits. And then… crickets. Or worse: passive resistance, workarounds, and the dreaded “Can I just send this to you in Slack instead?”
For creative and marketing teams, this pattern feels inevitable. These teams thrive on flexibility and iteration—qualities that seem fundamentally at odds with structured processes. But here’s the truth: it’s not that creative teams hate process. They hate bad process. Process that doesn’t listen to them. Process that slows them down. Process that feels like punishment.
The good news? When you approach change management strategically, you can build systems that feel natural instead of imposed. Here’s the blueprint—organized around the most common roadblocks and how to overcome them.
Problem: “Nobody asked us what we actually need”
The Fix: Start With Listening, Not Mandates
Rolling out a tool or process without team input almost guarantees pushback. One LeaderLab participant shared how they avoided this trap: “We sent a companywide survey to uncover what people liked, disliked, and struggled with in RoboHead. We took all of that data, and then we used that data to now implement the change.”
The revelation? The system itself wasn’t the problem—the process structure was. Tasks were too granular. Approvals took too long. Workflows felt overwhelming.
Armed with that insight, they simplified their RoboHead setup, automated repetitive steps, and removed unnecessary friction. The result: a system that reflected team needs rather than imposing them.
What to do:
- Send surveys or hold focus groups before rolling out changes
- Ask specifically: What slows you down? What confuses you? What would make this easier?
- Use RoboHead’s flexibility to address the real pain points—not the ones you assumed existed
Problem: “We tried this once and it was a disaster”
The Fix: Pilot, Test, and Refine Before Going Big
Change feels less threatening when it’s rolled out in stages. Several participants described starting with small groups before scaling process updates organization-wide. “We do a trial run with one group, then another, and by the time we roll it out to everyone, most of the issues are ironed out.”
This is especially valuable when updating RoboHead templates, workflows, or notifications. Piloting a new project request form with a single department can uncover blind spots—confusing field labels, missing steps, or unclear instructions. Once refined, the improved version becomes exponentially easier to adopt companywide.
Bonus: Piloting creates champions. When early testers experience how RoboHead makes their work smoother, they become advocates who bring energy and credibility to the broader rollout.
What to do:
- Choose 1-2 teams or departments as pilot groups
- Give them a safe space to break things and provide honest feedback
- Document what works and what doesn’t before scaling
- Celebrate pilot participants and let them tell the success story
Problem: “Leadership says to use the system, then doesn’t use it themselves”
The Fix: Secure Leadership Alignment Early (And Hold Them Accountable)
This is the fastest way to kill adoption. One participant vented: “You can teach them how to do it, prove that it works, and then they still say, ‘I’m gonna do it the old way anyway.'”
If leaders continue to bypass RoboHead—defaulting to side emails, Slack DMs, or hallway requests—the rest of the team will too. Period.
Successful adoption requires leadership to use the same project request forms, follow the same review stages, and respect the same templates as everyone else. No exceptions.
The leadership sell: With RoboHead, they gain visibility into workloads, accountability on timelines, and clarity on progress—benefits that are impossible to replicate with ad-hoc processes. Frame adoption as a leadership win, not a leadership burden.
What to do:
- Have a candid conversation with leadership before rollout: “This only works if you model it.”
- Show them the dashboards, reports, and visibility they’ll gain
- Create accountability: If a leader bypasses the system, the work doesn’t move forward
- Make it easy for them—templates, automation, and quick approvals reduce friction
Problem: “People forget how to use it two weeks after training”
The Fix: Reinforce Through Ongoing Training + Always-Accessible Documentation
One-time training isn’t enough. One participant described the pattern: “I can train people, but when I come back a couple weeks later, so many are lost or doing it wrong.”
Teams need layered, ongoing reinforcement: RoboHead 101 sessions, 102 advanced trainings, refresher workshops weeks later, and optimization check-ins as the system evolves.
But training alone isn’t the answer. Pairing live sessions with robust documentation closes the gap. RoboHead’s built-in help resources—videos, guides, webinars—support different learning styles. Some organizations even build internal glossaries of RoboHead terms so new hires and cross-functional partners speak the same language.
What to do:
- Schedule training in waves: initial onboarding, 2-week refresh, monthly office hours
- Create a centralized knowledge hub (internal wiki, shared drive, RoboHead help center)
- Record training sessions so people can revisit them on-demand
- Assign “RoboHead ambassadors” on each team who can answer quick questions
Problem: “People keep finding workarounds”
The Fix: Build a Culture That Enforces Your Process
Sustainable change happens when process is no longer something you “remind” people about—it’s simply how work gets done.
One participant described how their writers and designers refused to start projects that weren’t submitted correctly: “We tell them, no, you have to use the template, or the work doesn’t move forward.”
That’s culture in action. Instead of relying on managers to police compliance, the expectation is baked into daily collaboration. RoboHead makes this easier by centralizing requests, assignments, and reviews so that skipping steps isn’t an option.
What to do:
- Empower teams to push back: “This needs to come through RoboHead.”
- Use automation to make the right way the easiest way (auto-assignments, notifications, etc.)
- Celebrate teams that use the process well—highlight wins made possible by RoboHead
- Make dashboards visible so gaps are obvious to everyone, not just managers
Problem: “Our process from three years ago doesn’t fit anymore”
The Fix: Plan for Evolution, Not Perfection
As one participant reflected: “We set up everything a few years ago, but today our process is a lot different. What worked then doesn’t fit anymore.”
Creative teams evolve constantly. Your use of RoboHead should evolve with them.
That means reviewing templates annually, adjusting workflows as campaigns change, and revisiting notifications as teams scale. It also means planning for retraining, re-documentation, and recalibration over time.
Treat change management as an ongoing cycle: listen, pilot, align, train, reinforce, evolve. This prevents the system from becoming outdated and keeps your team focused on doing their best work.
What to do:
- Schedule quarterly or annual “process health checks”
- Survey teams regularly: “What’s still working? What’s breaking?”
- Stay flexible—deprecate what doesn’t serve you, even if it took time to build
- Frame evolution as growth, not failure
The Bottom Line
For creative and marketing teams, change management isn’t about tools—it’s about people, culture, and adaptability. RoboHead provides the backbone, but leaders provide the discipline and reinforcement that turn it into lasting change.
As one LeaderLab participant summed it up: “Half of my conversation is just trying to find out, what’s your resistance? And how do we make this work?”
That’s the essence of change management: not forcing people into a system, but helping them see how the system—and in this case, RoboHead—helps them thrive.
The Blueprint at a Glance:
- Listen before you act
- Pilot and refine
- Align leadership early
- Reinforce with training and documentation
- Build culture that enforces process
- Plan for evolution
Start with the problem your team is facing right now. Pick one fix from this blueprint. Make it work. Then move to the next one.
