Resistance to change....ain't no such thing!

One of the most frequent questions that seems to crop up when we're working with leaders and facilitators is: 'What can I do to overcome resistance to change?'

Try doing a search on the internet or browse the bookshelves for help in this area and you will be confronted by dozens of models describing the emotional roller-coaster that change creates along with strategies for overcoming 'resistance' to it.

But how's this for a first response to the question of resistance to change....the isn't any such thing. Think about it for a moment. You would be the first to admit that in the past you have been slow on the uptake, need to be convinced or even prefer other choices when it comes to change but you would hardly describe yourself as 'resistant'. The first problem with this line of thinking is that it somehow categorises all these thoughts about change as wrong.

The second challenge to the notion of 'resistance to change' is that both words are nominalisations i'e' they are both nouns that have been converted from the verbs 'resist' and 'change' and therefore don't exist. All you're left with is behaviour which may be helping or hindering your team or organisation.

So here's what you could do:

1) Dont' make a big thing of it. The more you involve the people concerned, the less of an issue this will become.

And for those who would rather take more of an active approach...

2) Confront it - covertly. Use a 'force field analysis' with the group or individual who seem to be 'resisting' - and get them to come up with resistance to change as a hindering factor. Have them brainstorm strategies for influencing those other people (not them of course!) to move past, get over or work around this. And miraculously they might become "us" rather than "them".

3) Confront it - overtly. Be the honest broker and use the "I'm noticing that...." type intervention. Use a process for getting their real fears out on the table - anonymously if necessary (e.g. they can use post-its or write concerns on cards which others read out and then discuss how to address these). It's important to remember that unhelpful behaviours can have a number of underlying causes such as lack of trust, concerns about the consequences, fear of failure or are even simply defence mechanisms caused by stress.

4) Translate it. It may be that they don't yet have a compelling enough vision of what it's going to be like in the future. What would help is doing more work on helping them translate the vision or desired future into real things that have meaning for them and have them create a list of 'What's In It For Me'. If the future looks really, really positive, we can tolerate some things that we don't like about the journey there.

...resistance to change....there ain't no such thing!

Trevor Durnford

trevor@lorensbergs.se