Taking the Whole Company with You: Overcoming internal resistance and driving meaningful change

When considering the strategies and techniques for reducing resistance to change, there are six broad areas in which organizations must operate.

1.     Communication and education

Common issues that cause resistance to change include fear of the unknown and a misunderstanding of why change is needed.

People will only accept change if they believe the risk of doing nothing is higher than the risk of changing direction. Similarly, if people don’t understand why change is needed, they will question why you are changing something that they believe works well.

Communication and education about the change should begin before it is initiated. This will help your people to rationalize the change, and ensure that individuals and teams receive adequate information to make positive judgements.

2.     Participation

A lack of belief that the organization can make effective change leads to resistance to change. Likewise, when people aren’t consulted and change is forced upon them, there is likely to be more resistance. This is especially the case if people believe their jobs will be at risk.

It is critical that the stakeholders and those implementing change are involved in its design. A collaborative effort will engage people in the change, and in the identification of potential issues and solutions. People are far less likely to resist change that they have helped to create.

Many studies have shown that participation has wide-ranging positive effects during periods of organizational change.

Another participative strategy is to employ socialization, putting people before practice and ensuring that shared values crush resistance to change.

3.     Support

Organizational transformation is usually accompanied by a change to routines, taking people out of (long-established) comfort zones. This may also lead to exhaustion, especially if the organization is subject to frequent change or business evolution.

Even if people appear to be accepting of change, it may be that they are simply resigned to it. They must be given the support needed to enable new skills to be developed and ensure that change burnout does not become a reality.

Support requires managers to develop their emotional intelligence and connect with their people. Offering adequate support is also time-consuming, requiring trained managers and leaders to employ coaching tactics to be most effective when managing change in an organization.

4.     Agreement

Resistance to change is also precipitated when people feel they will be negatively affected by its consequences. This may be because of a perception that their earnings or career potential will be harmed or that the rewards of the change are not worth the effort required.

To combat this type of resistance to change, an organization may consider offering incentives. Such incentives may include extra pay, improved benefits, or offering structured career plans. This strategy requires negotiation to reach agreement. The drawback is that such agreements can be expensive and do not guarantee engagement with change.

5.     Co-opting

People become connected to the way that things have always been done. There are often strong emotional connections to processes and procedures that employees may have been at least partly responsible for developing. To bond with the old may require a Herculean effort.

One strategy is to co-opt those who may be most resistant to change into central roles in the implementation of change initiatives. This can gain the support of would-be resistors relatively cheaply, though it does come with a caveat – placing people who are deemed to be resistant to change in such positions could give them a position from which to influence greater resistance across a wider audience.

6.     Coercion

Sometimes it is necessary to coerce people into accepting change. This is often the case where people feel they cannot learn the new skills needed or if they feel that change is a temporary fad that will be reversed.

Techniques for implementing change include wielding the threat of disciplinary action while insisting that people fall into line with required behaviors and actions. If speed of change is critical, coercion may be the only viable option.

A major drawback of this strategy is that it does not remove resistance to change, which may continue to bubble under the surface and result in a destructive atmosphere at a later date (particularly if the proposed transformation does not produce at least the outcomes promoted by the initiator of change).

Tactics to overcome resistance to change

Having identified the causes (or potential causes) of resistance to change in your workplace and the strategic approaches that your organization should take to overcome this resistance, the next step is to consider specific tactics and techniques for reducing resistance to change that your organization and its managers can utilize to eventually eliminate that resistance.

Leadership is an organizational imperative when managing change, and leaders who inspire a cultural shift in their staff have the greatest success in managing resistance to change in an organization.

Here are seven techniques for reducing resistance to change in the workplace and helping to embed engagement in your change process.

1.     Structure the team to maximize its potential

After communicating the change initiative, consider the strengths and weaknesses of each team member.

In one-to-one sessions, establish how the team member is best suited to aiding with the change initiative, and consider ways in which it may help the individual improve personal weaknesses while simultaneously taking advantage of their strengths.

Give team members appropriate roles and responsibilities that use skills to their best advantage, while also providing the potential for personal and team development. Such a personal collaboration within the team effort will help engage each team member in the change effort.

2.     Set challenging, achievable and engaging targets

Be clear in guidance about goals and targets. Break change projects into smaller milestones, and celebrate achievements. Goals should be progressive and in line with values and beliefs.

Don’t limit the creation of milestones and measurement of goal achievement to the overall effort. While these are important team milestones that will help to motivate the team to continue with maximum effort, it is also important that you consider individual progress. Seek ways to anchor personal development to the creation and continuation of team goals along the change journey.

3.     Resolve conflicts quickly and effectively

It is imperative to engender a good team spirit, so you should consider ways in which you can do so. During periods of change, tensions may run high and personal anxieties will be heightened. Team meetings and team bonding sessions will help your people to understand and appreciate their colleagues more easily, especially if you ensure transparency of communication and a systematic approach to problem solving that encourages frank exchange of view to reach a collective and collaborative partnership.

4.     Show passion

Communicate passionately and be an example of belief in the future vision. When other people see leaders’ behaviors emulating those required by change, they more quickly come into line with the new behaviors and become change advocates themselves. Only by being the change can you expect others to onboard the new values and behaviors expected.

5.     Be persuasive

Engage employees in change by being an energized leader. Focus on opportunities, and persuade rather than assert authority. Share experiences as you persuade change through stories that focus on positive change. Discover ways to explain culture, brand and the future vision with similes that help employees relate to organizational motives and goals.

6.     Empower innovation and creativity

Give opportunities for feedback and remain flexible as you alter course toward your change goals. Encourage people to be creative, to discover solutions to unfolding problems, and to become part of the change process.

Remove the fear of taking risks by framing failure as an experience from which to learn, and a necessary step on the path to success. Help people to be accountable for their own actions, while also encouraging collaboration across silos. This will aid pollination of innovative ideas in an environment in which people develop greater knowledge and expand their professional capacity to think more creatively.

7.     Remain positive and supportive

People find change unsettling, even though change is a constant in personal lives as well as professional environments. They will need the support of a positive leader who inspires free thought, honest communication and creativity, as personal and team development is encouraged.

Employees expect leaders to manage change. Inspirational leaders create a culture where change becomes the remit of all.

In Summary

Research has shown that resistance to change is a psychological and physiological reaction. In short, you should expect resistance to change. Managing resistance to change requires you to first understand why people resist change, then identify the causes of their resistance, before considering your strategic approach and formulating the tactics and techniques for reducing resistance to change.

Equipping your leaders with a deeper understanding of the emotional effects of change is an essential first step. With better self-awareness and social awareness, leaders and managers are more able to inspire and influence through change – and develop a winning project change team.