Overcoming Resistance to Change

Introduction

Organisations face resistance to change when attempting to implement new processes or ways of working. Resistance is a key barrier to successful change.
Effective change leaders need to look at the origins and nature of such resistance, and explores ways to handle and reduce the resistance.

Some key concepts

Types of resistance

• Internal resistance: where employees don’t verbalise objections but quietly resist by holding resentments or refusing to change behaviour.
• External resistance: where objections are voiced openly, allowing management to identify and respond to concerns.
• Shared resistance: where many or all employees share the same concerns, often amplifying push-back and potentially leading to industrial action.

Some causes of resistance
Some common drivers include fear of the unknown, fear of failure, threat to status or job, learned behaviours, lack of perceived benefit, poor information or communication, etc.

Nature of resistance
Resistence can be categorised as:

• Systemic: arising from lack of skills, information or management capability.
• Behavioural: emerging from assumptions or perceptions already held in the organisation.
• Cognitive/emotional: when individuals internalise how the change will affect them and react emotionally.

Concepts of resistance management

• Psychological perspective: understand that human nature tends to resist change unless there are clear benefit(s) and process participation; empowering and consulting people reduces anxiety.
• Systems perspective: redesigning systems and processes to support the change helps reduce resistance.
• Organisational culture perspective: because past learned behaviours and ingrained culture are strong barriers, shifting culture (via policies, procedures, new behaviours) is necessary.

Practical Suggestions

Some practical suggestions for how to mitigate (not eliminate) resistance:

• Engage staff early: involve them in the change process to create ownership.
• Communicate clearly: explain why change is needed, what benefits it brings, how roles will adjust.
• Provide training and support: address skill/knowledge gaps so people feel more confident.
• Revisit systems and procedures: align them with the new direction so the status-quo doesn’t keep pulling back.
• Address culture and behaviours: replace old routines with new ones through reinforcing structures (policies, processes, role models).
• Recognise that resistance is natural: treat it as data/feedback, rather than simply “bad behaviour”;

NB Resistors could be identifying areas that need to be modified in the change process.

Summary

Some key take-aways you could leverage:

• During planning and facilitation of change, build in participation deliberately; this aligns with the psychological angle.
• Use effective change-frameworks as a basis to build on and modify them to suit your particular context (eg, schools, educators, curricula) rather than treating them as rigid designs.
• Recognise the emotive/cognitive side of change (fear, loss of status, unknowns), not just the systems/structure side.
• Be aware of cultural, historical, status and systemic issues of change implementation; resistance may appear not just as individual reluctance but as structural/institutional mistrust.
• Design communication and training interventions that are aligned with your strategic aims, ensuring people feel empowered rather than imposed-upon.

(main source: Niall McCreanor, 2004)