Manage resistance to change in your organization effectively

In this article — you will learn

• -7 broad ways people react to change
• -12 advantages and benefits of resisting change
• -31 reasons why employees resist change
• -49 Strategies for dealing with ours and other’s — resistance to change

Reducing ours and others resistance to change

Change rarely is the major problem — but resistance to change is usually the bigger challenge.

How we manage change can further complicate and turn it into a major obstruction.

Most of us prefer stability comfort-of-routine and dealing with known rather than disruptive changes in all aspects of our lives.

Our automatic response to most changes happens with suspicion, anxiety and fear — [especially for all those changes which are in the realm of unknown].

This quote is slowly becoming true for me — the older I get — the wiser I become about embracing change rather than resisting it.

Acquiring this understanding and wisdom — has taken me the entire life — making this as most expensive way to learn.

Therefore I am trying to explore and create a list — on how we can — reduce our own resistance to changes and how we can manage more effectively the resistance of others to change.

The only truth [if we can call this as one] is that — changes will keep on happening — whether or not we want it and we cannot stop it.

Resisting change — only increases our miseries and sufferings — unnecessarily — especially in those cases — where we have to ultimately embrace this change.

Openly accepting the change, working on self and changing-self by learning and unlearning through being flexible — continuously — will become your most profound strength.

Our reaction to change usually is highly entrenched in our core.

Managing change has always been difficult — because it is so easy to mishandle execution of plans hastily configured.

And there can’t be one — perfect way to introduce and manage change. Resisting change in some situations can trigger a great development and paradigm transformation. 7 broad ways people react to change — could be any of the following as well as the ones I could not identify

• 1.Who always resist change
• 2.Who resist change initially as a knee-jerk — but then become part of the change
• 3.Who drive change, experiment and explore options
• 4.Who seek out change proactively
• 5.Who acts as cynics — create worst case scenarios — then create solutions
• 6.Who weigh the risks, explore options and then choose what is best and how to go about it the most effective ways
• 7.Who assess risk — then go for research, find what is working and then enlist help to drive the change

12 advantages and benefits of resisting change

• 1.It forces us to relook and go-through the whys more carefully
• 2.Which results into not only fine-tuning the strategies but also may change our perspective on the benefits and essentiality of this change
• 3.We will be able to take care of important points missed — they would in any case
• 4.It would make us ask the question — would this change drive significant growth
• 5.Is this change really worth the efforts, time, energy, the chaos and also the money
• 6.It would ensure that we use the scarce resources — only into most meaningful initiatives and projects
• 7.This would also help create more-robust planning, implementation and execution action-steps
• 8.Our communication to the major stake-holder — would incorporates — the natural objections and resistance issues
• 9.It would make us ready with most appropriate game plan to facilitate — smooth roll-out of change initiatives
• 10. Our focus would also become laser-sharp and we would avoid few costly mistakes
• 11. When we go through the change with this fine-comb — our own fears — too would become less impeding
• 12. Our managing change-initiative would be much-more effective and productive

31 reasons why employees resist change

• I.Unknown
• II.Failure
• III.Being laughed at
• IV.Appearing incompetent
• V.Inadequacies
• VI.Not having the skills, knowledge, expertise, experience and exposure
• I.Job
• II.Power
• III.Position
• IV.Control and influence
• V.Threat to status-quo
• 3.Lack of faith in themselves
• 4.Lack of trust on seniors, team-members
• 5.Apprehension of not getting support
• 6.Not convinced with the why of change
• 7.Find conflict with the change and self-interest
• 8.Ineffective communication
• 9.Misunderstanding the change and its impact
• 10. Misinterpretation of the cues
• 11. Lack of self-confidence
• 12. Unrealistic timelines
• 13. Undue pressure from bosses
• 14. Less tolerance to change
• 15. Dislike management, leadership and organization
• 16. Common values and customs of their groups.
• 17. Cave-in to peer pressure
• 18. Find it convenient to continue doing something — same way as they have always done
• 19. Don’t want to learn
• 20. Find learning difficult
• 21. Don’t want to give away their responsibilities to others — even when they are moving up
• 22. Adamant about processes and customs
• 23. Risk averse
• 24. Deep-rooted insecurities
• 25. Lack of awareness about why changes are being made
• 26. Fear of how change will impact job roles
• 27. Failed attempts at change in the past
• 28. Lack of visible support and commitment from managers
• 29. Poor timing of introduction of change
• 30. Not got the buy-in of major stake-holders
• 31. Pushing change down the throat by force

49 Strategies for dealing with resistance to change

• 1.Identified potential sources of resistance — both expressed and hidden
• 2.Create specific strategies to address all major concerns
• 3.Select the correct change management models & tools
• 4.Killing all the rumors effectively — by transparent communication and actions as well as involving the stakeholders
• 5.Lead from the front — demonstrate your own conviction in change
• 6.Create clear channels of communication
• 7.Check for understanding
• 8.Involve everyone in problem identification and creating solutions
• 9.Making brand ambassadors — for implementing these solutions
• 10. Providing all the resources, authorities and empowerment
• 11. Give them control over decision-making as per their levels
• 12. Train and educate — through all means — digital, 1-on-1, groups and through external experts
• 13. Support and facilitate — as transition is difficult for everyone — and most people associate change with cutbacks and lost opportunities
• 14. Communicate new opportunities for growth, learning and advancement
• 15. Counsel and mentor
• 16. Create new leaders — if the existing leaders try to sabotage the process
• 17. Change the change — and pivot fast — in case methods don’t work
• 18. Communicate the logic for the change — have a plan for those who will be negatively affected
• 19. Create robust plans to fill people’s skill and competency gaps
• 20. Resolve conflict immediately
• 21. If you are facing internal resistance — ask yourself what it is you’re resisting — be specific and honest
• 22. Focus on what you can control and let go of what is beyond your area of influence
• 23. Create strategic-plans to overcome the losses
• 24. Identify what lessons from this change will be useful in future
• 25. Identify all the major benefits of change
• 26. Brainstorm yourself as well as in team — asking what you would do if you wanted change to work
• 27. Help the employees identify what’s in it for them to make the change
• 28. State the problem using examples
• 29. State the importance of the change — highlight the individual as well as larger long-term benefits
• 30. Check, verify, ask and listen to the employee and look for misunderstandings
• 31. Give clear expectations and get their commitment — if employees commit to adapting to change, they are considerably more likely to follow through.
• 32. A good portion of resistance disappears when employees are clear about the benefits the change brings to them — let the individual employee know the positive impact on their own career or job this change will bring
• 33. Ask and listen attentively to the employees — create a feedback and improvement loop
• 34. Make those people as change leaders that people already trust.
• 35. Create realistic and implementable timeline — map out every action and set deadlines so that you have a general idea of how long the entire transformation will take.
• 36. Never implement change in on go — implement them in stages.
• 37. Consider the opinions of all employees on whom the proposed change will have an effect.
• 38. Do change right the first time
• 39. Leverage the right technology
• 40. Ditch prejudices regarding current and past generations — Instead encourage fellowship
• 41. Recruit individuals who seemingly are attuned with your organization culture
• 42. Do change right the first time — failed attempts to change aspects of your business process will have a negative effect on how employees view future initiatives.
• 43. Do readiness assessments
• 44. Listen first, talk second delegate change
• 45. Get excited show them the data — make it about employees
• 46. Provide information in advance
• 47. Make only necessary changes — don’t fix what is not broken
• 48. Increase engagement by asking questions — use social media and storytelling
• 49. Don’t be afraid to change your mind — some changes don’t turn out as well as others — nothing is gained by forcing your team to accept a change that is not working or needed

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Originally published at https://successunlimited-mantra.com on December 1, 2020.