Let’s face it...if you are attempting to implement change, whether it is transformational in scope or a minor procedural adjustment, resistance is going to happen. It’s inevitable...someone somewhere is going to let it be known they don’t like what’s happening. 
In our 25+ years of Change Management Consulting experience, we have walked the halls of many different organizations. During every single project we’ve ever worked on we’ve heard one version or another of these phrases, sometimes out in the open and other times whispered in the dark corners of the break room:
- This is never going to work!
- We don’t need this!
- The timing on this is all wrong.
- This is NOT going to be good.
- I refuse to change the way I’ve been doing my job for the past x amount of years.
- I'm worried. Are we downsizing? Am I going to be out of a job?
- We tried this same thing years ago and it didn’t work. Why would it work this time?
- The current (insert tools/systems/processes) are just fine the way they are.
- Now, we’ll never be able to get our deliverables to the customer on time.
Simply put, resistance to change is a function of the degree of disruption for those individuals who are impacted by the change. "How a change is implemented is as much a source of resistance as the content of the change {Tweet This}." It doesn’t matter whether the change is “positive” or “negative”. The fact of the matter is, the more disruptive the change, the greater the resistance is going to be.
Effective Behaviors in Managing Resistance to Change
What if you had a model for managing resistance to change you could follow that actually works? And even better, the methodology helps your organization move the change, level-by-level, business unit-by-business unit through your organization. If you are implementing change within your organization, managing resistance should be on your daily to do list.
Here are 10 strategies from the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM); a structured, practical change management process for the human side of organizational change, on how to manage change resistance:
- Surface Resistance Early - Resistance becomes problematic when it goes underground. If you can’t see it, you can’t manage it.
- Determine the Source - You need to understand the source of the resistance, and acknowledge it.
- Make Surfacing Resistance Safe - Since you are looking to bring covert resistance out in the open, don’t punish individuals for expressing their resistance!
- Identify Non-Supporters and Involve Them in Key Roles - If it is not inappropriate to get people involved in deciding what to change, get them involved in how to implement the change in their daily work. We will often take the most vocal non-supporters and actually put them on the team!
- Occupy Less Than 25% of the Air Time - Simply put, if you are doing too much of the talking, then you are not getting the information you need to effectively manage the resistance. Managing resistance is more about listening than it is about talking.
- Explain the Change from the Target’s Frame of Reference - What is a small change in the eyes of one person may be very big from another’s perspective. Make sure you are communicating from each Targets’ Frame of Reference, and that you answer the two “me” questions: What’s in it for me, and what does it mean to me?
- Create Personal Rapport - Talk directly with the Targets of the change by asking questions to better understand their personal Frame of Reference.
- Establish the Expectations - People want to know what is expected of them, and how they will be evaluated.
- Ask Open-Ended Questions - It's the best way for Change Agents to really understand where the resistance is coming from.
- Create "Win-Win" Situations When Possible - Make it easy for the Target to back down from his current position without losing face.
You will never combat or overcome resistance to change. Approaches such as discounting resistance, denying it exists, or trying to beat it down, ironically only serve to worsen the situation. Instead... take heed of our advice... resistance is there whether you see (or hear) it or not. In fact, if you have no identifiable resistance, you likely have an even bigger problem, because the resistance has gone underground! Take the time to surface it, understand it and then manage it. Adding it to your daily “to do” list will make for a much more peaceful change process.
