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Leadership is about change, but what is a leader to do when faced with ubiquitous resistance? Resistance to change manifests itself in many ways, from foot-dragging and inertia to petty sabotage to outright rebellions. The best tool for leaders of change is to understand the predictable, universal sources of resistance in each situation and then strategize around them. Here are the ten I’ve found to be the most common.
Loss of control. Change interferes with autonomy and can make people feel that they’ve lost control over their territory. It’s not just political, as in who has the power. Our sense of self-determination is often the first things to go when faced with a potential change coming from someone else. Smart leaders leave room for those affected by change to make choices. They invite others into the planning, giving them ownership.
Excess uncertainty. If change feels like walking off a cliff blindfolded, then people will reject it. People will often prefer to remain mired in misery than to head toward an unknown. As the saying goes, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.” To overcome inertia requires a sense of safety as well as an inspiring vision. Leaders should create certainty of process, with clear, simple steps and timetables.
Surprise, surprise! Decisions imposed on people suddenly, with no time to get used to the idea or prepare for the consequences, are generally resisted. It’s always easier to say No than to say Yes. Leaders should avoid the temptation to craft changes in secret and then announce them all at once. It’s better to plant seeds — that is, to sprinkle hints of what might be coming and seek input.
Everything seems different. Change is meant to bring something different, but how different? We are creatures of habit. Routines become automatic, but change jolts us into consciousness, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. Too many differences can be distracting or confusing. Leaders should try to minimize the number of unrelated differences introduced by a central change. Wherever possible keep things familiar. Remain focused on the important things; avoid change for the sake of change.
Loss of face. By definition, change is a departure from the past. Those people associated with the last version — the one that didn’t work, or the one that’s being superseded — are likely to be defensive about it. When change involves a big shift of strategic direction, the people responsible for the previous direction dread the perception that they must have been wrong. Leaders can help people maintain dignity by celebrating those elements of the past that are worth honoring, and making it clear that the world has changed. That makes it easier to let go and move on.
Concerns about competence. Can I do it? Change is resisted when it makes people feel stupid. They might express skepticism about whether the new software version will work or whether digital journalism is really an improvement, but down deep they are worried that their skills will be obsolete. Leaders should over-invest in structural reassurance, providing abundant information, education, training, mentors, and support systems. A period of overlap, running two systems simultaneously, helps ease transitions.
More work. Here is a universal challenge. Change is indeed more work. Those closest to the change in terms of designing and testing it are often overloaded, in part because of the inevitable unanticipated glitches in the middle of change, per “Kanter’s Law” that “everything can look like a failure in the middle.” Leaders should acknowledge the hard work of change by allowing some people to focus exclusively on it, or adding extra perqs for participants (meals? valet parking? massages?). They should reward and recognize participants — and their families, too, who often make unseen sacrifices.
Ripple effects. Like tossing a pebble into a pond, change creates ripples, reaching distant spots in ever-widening circles. The ripples disrupt other departments, important customers, people well outside the venture or neighborhood, and they start to push back, rebelling against changes they had nothing to do with that interfere with their own activities. Leaders should enlarge the circle of stakeholders. They must consider all affected parties, however distant, and work with them to minimize disruption.
Past resentments. The ghosts of the past are always lying in wait to haunt us. As long as everything is steady state, they remain out of sight. But the minute you need cooperation for something new or different, the ghosts spring into action. Old wounds reopen, historic resentments are remembered — sometimes going back many generations. Leaders should consider gestures to heal the past before sailing into the future.
Sometimes the threat is real. Now we get to true pain and politics. Change is resisted because it can hurt. When new technologies displace old ones, jobs can be lost; prices can be cut; investments can be wiped out. The best thing leaders can do when the changes they seek pose significant threat is to be honest, transparent, fast, and fair. For example, one big layoff with strong transition assistance is better than successive waves of cuts.
Although leaders can’t always make people feel comfortable with change, they can minimize discomfort. Diagnosing the sources of resistance is the first step toward good solutions. And feedback from resistors can even be helpful in improving the process of gaining acceptance for change.
CAPRIVI CONSULTANCY 
I am aware about the constraints with regards to “blogging” and why there are so many “7 or 10 reasons”. Hence, the author’s introduction that these reasons are, in her opinion, the “most common”.
Nonetheless, these should come with a disclaimer/warning that it is contextual/circumstantial and various other reasons can become more serious barriers under different circumstances.
According to my experience, in a global more complex context the following can be more critical reasons for resistance:
1] Lack of Cultural Awareness (e.g. diversity, paradigms etc.) and lack of Trust.
2] Lack of Communication (especially bottom-up, e.g. consultation & dialogue etc.).
3] No Shared Vision and no Shared Values.
4] Low Tolerance for Change (e.g. organisational capacity/culture & behaviour, individual anxiety etc.)
5] Failure to consider Politics and Power (i.e. at senior level).
Cheers,
Phil
10 days ago • Delete
Posted by Philworldwide | 15/10/2012, 10:57 amThere seems to be consensus on the fact that the Change Agent should be capable to
manage the change episode and in particular the following:
a) Cultural customs & courtesies
b) Cultural awareness
c) Psychological paradigms
My experience is to remove biased perceptions and study the
cultural differences.
In case of managing cultures in a global context, I can
recommend; Management Worldwide, Hickson D. & Pugh D. or any relevant work
published by Hofstede G.
Cheers,
Phil
Posted by Philworldwide | 15/10/2012, 10:59 amRegarding the Change Agent’s ability here are some initial checks that can be applied:
1] Did the Change Agent understand the long-range strategic intent, guiding principles and vision for the particular business unit and for the organisation?
2] Was the compelling vision clear to CA, was it shared and aligned?
3] Did the CA consider the multiple interacting influences?
4] Can the CA manage the organisation conflicts including emotional and political dynamics?
5] Identify characteristics of organisational culture types.
6] Identify the influence and diversity of the national cultures.
(i.e. 6 different cultural orientations of societies & cultural dimension model & Hofstede’s dimension of national culture / GLOBE framework)
7] Assess relevance of cultural change to organisational change.
8] Assess cultural risk.
9] Avoid and/or remove filters and biases such as the following; Historical bias, Leniency bias & Severity bias etc.
10] CA to recognise and address following influences and related situations, i.e.
a) Stereotypes (preconceived, oversimplified, exaggerated, demeaning assumptions),
b) Ethnocentrism (evaluate other ethnic groups according to the own values and standards),
c) Xenophobia (fear and hatred for stranger/foreigners),
d) Megalomania (excessive preoccupation with one’s own importance),
e) Groupthink (individuals give in to the pressure of the group),
f) False beliefs (no substance; based on folklore, tradition or simple misunderstandings), &
g) Habit (the status quo)
Posted by Philworldwide | 15/10/2012, 3:19 pmBUILDING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY
http://dancingonhotcoals.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/building-organisational-change-management-capability/?goback=%2Egde_63688_member_212861079
Today, I’m posting the results of a productive discussion held this week with the Canberra Community of Practice OCM, of which I am a member. We discussed what advice we would give someone to build his/her own organisational change management capability.
I’ve structured our advice in five groups:
a) About You
b) About Change Management
c) About Your Organisation
d) About Your Managers
e) About Your Work
f) About Failing
A] About You
Discover and understand your own capability for change. Learn to learn.
Reflect on and think always about your communication – what you need to say, how you want to say it, why you want to say it, when you need to say it, and how you will know that what you have said has reached the mark.
Learn to make communicating integral to who you become as a change manager.
Learn to become authentic – whatever it takes. Learn not to hide. Encourage and recognise and reward authenticity in others, always.
Learn to see organisations as living systems, real communities made up of complex relationships and dependencies.
Understand grief – in all its complexity. Learn ‘to be’ and don’t avoid grief. Both people and organisations grieve.
Learn how to listen to people instead of talking at or telling them. Learn how to invite conversation, dialogue and storytelling.
Understand and appreciate peoples’ limitations. Realise that people learn at different levels and in different ways. Appreciate peoples’ different learning styles.
Help create environments where there is trust and openness and engagement with people. Let trust become part of business as usual. Be trustworthy yourself.
Study the power and art of listening to people – listen.
Reflect deeply about ‘motivation’ – your own and others’ – continually consider this aspect within people. Reflect on motivation compared to consequence.
Consider yourself as an elite athlete. You are not alone, you require coaches, mentors, nutrition, physical therapy, encouragement, rest and recovery and of course results. Treat your own organisational change management capability as that of an athlete. Find your mentor within the organisation.
B] About Change Management
Understand that change is always a journey, learn to look for road blocks along the way. Learn techniques to get to the truth. Learn to travel well.
Understand and appreciate that people absorb information differently, and at different rates and at different levels of understanding. Learn never to assume that people have ‘heard and understood’.
Realise that change happens in people’s heads – when they ‘get it’. Learn to find out if it makes sense for people. Learn how to ask people, ‘what will help you make sense of this?’
Realise and appreciate that organisational change is messy and ambiguous, learn to ‘get over it’ – learn to live comfortably with ambiguity, confusion, not knowing, failing. Don’t be ‘too precious’.
Study and appreciate the strengths of two aspects of organisational change: the scientific intellectual approach, and the emotional approach. Learn to become familiar with and comfortable with both aspects.
Discover and learn to appreciate that change is forever and ongoing and constant and continual.
Change is not going to ‘go away’. It never has and never will.
C] About Your Organisation
Find out what the current state with change is first by talking and listening to other people. Learn to listen well.
Talk to people. Learn to talk to people and learn to enjoy talking to people.
Know where you are and where you want to get. Reflect and think.
Understand deeply what you are trying to change and why.
Activate a change management network to help support your effort. Nurture such networks. Consider the power of EA and PA networks within organisations.
Consider the organisation in which you find yourself – similarly as an athlete requiring all the above support. Continually reflect on the systemic nature of this organic and alive organisation. Learn patience, tolerance, and a sense of humour.
Identify staff that support change and encourage them to support their peers and leaders – identify senior leaders who support change and encourage them to support their peers and staff.
Look for and recognise early adopters, ask them to help you.
D] About Your Managers
Discover and understand your leadership/managements’ capability, capacity and willingness for change. Learn how to find their strengths and their weaknesses for change. Learn how to build their capacity for change – as well as your own.
Know that organisational change takes time, energy, determination, drive, leadership, and even failure. Learn how to help leadership/management understand that change takes time – considerable time.
Appreciate that people at different levels in an organisation will have totally different perspectives of the proposed changes. Senior managers may consider the change through rose tinted glasses; staff on the ground may not. Understand where you sit on this hierarchy. Do you align with senior management or with ground staff – or somewhere in between. Learn to see, understand and respect all perspectives.
E] About Your Work
Understand and appreciate the power and relevance of stories. Discover and use stories to make sense of change for yourself and others.
Conversations build stories, people need stories, and people use stories to make sense of their world. People learn through stories. Learn to use stories.
Find examples to prove/cite changes and benefits achieved, show ‘this is what it looks like’ through your examples – don’t recite theory. Learn to collect and use real examples.
Listen actively to the scuttlebutt and myths developing – learn to identify and reflect on the underlying causes and emotions behind the myths. Learn to address myths promptly.
Acknowledge and name the rumours publicly and address them proactively (and empathically). Learn not to ignore them.
Help people learn to see their results of change for themselves, recognise their efforts and step-by-step achievements. Always look out for achievements and showcase each effort and result.
Learn to help people think about ‘consequence’.
Separate ‘technical problems’ from ‘complex problems’ – learn to appreciate the difference and treat differently. Technical problems include systems and process, and are different from complex problems: changing human beings.
Look for ‘quick wins’ to build credibility, relationships and profile, and to help find those like-minded colleagues.
Learn who all your stakeholders are – both internal and external – their names, roles and expectations.
Learn how to engage with your stakeholders, listen to them, involve them, and learn how to show them the results of small first efforts as well as large benefits. Learn how to talk to them about success and failure up front, early and often.
Ask your stakeholders for assistance early. Don’t hide failure from your stakeholders.
Learn to tell your stakeholders the honest truth – always. Help them make sense of the changes required.
Be the ‘honest broker’.
F] About Failing
Learn the lessons of failure.
Openly discuss and study failure. Expect and respect failure. Reflect on the adage ‘fail early and fail often’. Learn from failure. Learn not to fear failure.
Make failure visible early – do not hide failure.
Change is messy – you will fail. Recognise and acknowledge small steps of achievements – even amongst failure.
Stop trying to convince people – there is no perfect argument that will win people over, if they don’t want to change. Help people learn to change through their own insight – not power. Understand that an emotional reaction to change in people is required if you wish to succeed.
Posted by Phil Alberts | 20/02/2013, 11:37 am