Resistance is Inevitable!: Managing Change in an Organization
By Lon W. Schiffbauer, BA, MBA, PhD, SPHR
The purpose of business communication is to inform, influence, and affect the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors of others for a business-specific intent and purpose.
Influence and affect behavior of others necessarily means changing their behavior…
…and, well, we don’t always love change.
In many ways, business communication is all about overcoming resistance to change and persuading people to embrace a new direction.
In this article we’re going learn how to recognize resistance, talk why people resist in the first place, an discuss ways we can try and overcome this resistance.
RECOGNIZING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
First, let me posit that resistance is not something to be defeated but instead understood and addressed. Truth is, we all resist change. All of the types of resistance—both the positive and well as negative ones—we’ve all employed these techniques in an effort to retain the status-quo, and likely will again in the future. Furthermore, there are in fact many good reasons to resist change—reasons which the change agents would do well to consider. But we can’t address the concerns that people may have unless we recognize the resistance in the first place.
But won’t people just tell us they don’t like the change?
Not always, so let’s look at how resistance may manifest itself.
Active resistance
Let’s start with the easiest form of resistance to recognize: active resistance. Active resistance means that people are actively, in the open, sometimes in your face, resisting the proposed change. They are arguing and negotiating, trying to modify the proposed change or throw it out altogether and replace it with a different solution. Sometimes this sort of resistance can be very constructive. If the people resisting the change are approaching you in good faith and genuinely want to come together to find the very best solution, then their input can be valuable. You may find that you’ll need to adjust your proposed change somewhat to get them onboard, but once you do so they’ll not only become your supporters but your advocates and champions as well.
On the other hand, active resistance can also be destructive. These resistors are not really acting in good faith and are more interested in destroying the proposed change rather than collaborating to find a mutually-beneficial solution. This kind of active resistor ridicules the change and those who conceived it and is critical of what the change is trying to accomplish. This person also tried to recruit others over to his or her side in holes of creating a battle front between those who support the change and those who do not.
Passive resistance
Active resistance can get ugly, but at least you know who is resisting and why. On the other hand, passive resistance can be much more difficult to identity. Whereas active resistance invites the spotlight, passive resistance works in the shadows, trying its best to go undetected. When asked to adopt a change, passive resistors will agree verbally to do as you ask but then fail to follow through. They’ll do this by:
- Procrastinating, choosing instead to just let things be and see how serious the organization is about this change in the first place.
- Failing to take action altogether, choosing instead to just make the right sounds to avoid conflict but then forget that they were ever asked to change at all.
- Feigning ignorance if challenged, saying they didn’t understand what was expected and that they need more time, resources, information, etc., all in an effort to stave off the need to act.
- Standing by and keeping quiet when they see the change begin to faulter.
WHY WE RESIST CHANGE
Okay, so these are some of the ways we resist change, but now let’s look at why.
Unclear Expectations
Sometimes we resist change, not because we want to resist it, but because expectations are unclear and we lack the information necessary to successfully make the change. This failure falls at the feet of leadership whose job it is to clearly and persuasively communicate the need for the change, the benefit to be found on the other side, and their new expectations of the organization.
Complacency
Complacency also can play are role, especially when we are satisfied with the status quo and see no need for change. If we like how things are now then there’s little motivation to muster the considerable resources required to make a change.
Conservatism
Conservative is another reason we may resist change. We’ve worked hard to create the status quo, so rather than gamble what we have, we may instead choose to protect and safeguard the way we do things today. Loyalty to the ways we feel served us well in the past can be a strong basis for resistance.
Conceit
Conceit is another point to consider. Sometimes we see no need to change because, as far as we’re concerned, the way we do things today is a best practice. Why would we change if we’re already world-class and our performance is second-to-none? This is the “if ain’t broke, don’t fix it” argument. Our winning past performance may prevent us from seeing better ways still to run our business.
Lack of Skills
The change may require us to draw upon skills that we simply don’t have. It can be understandable if we resist a change because we lack the skills necessary to be successful in the new world order.
Protect Our Reason for Being
Similar to lacking the skills, we may perceive that the proposed change challenges our raison d’etre—our reason for being. Sometimes we so completely wrap our sense of belonging and self-worth in how we do things today that any threat to the current state is a threat to us individually.
Disagree with the Ethics of the Change
We may also resist change because we perceive it to be a breach of an ethical contract; that is runs counter to our corporate culture and vision. In such cases we might here terms like “this isn’t who we are” floating down the hallway.
Disagree with the Nature of the Change
In some cases we may in fact agree that change is necessary but disagree on the nature of the change. We may believe that the specific proposed change is inappropriate, that the timing is wrong, or disagree with how the change is being managed.
Tired of All the Change
Finally (and this is perhaps one of my favorites), it may be that we’re just tired of all the change and have just fallen into a general state of apathy and ennui. Let’s face it, some organizations are addicted to change. They’re convinced that one more branding change, one more organizational change, one more strategic change is all that stands between them and success. Problem is, they never stay put long enough to reap the benefits of the change before they hurl themselves into the next one. To me it’s analogous to buying a new car, driving it off the lot, then pulling right into a neighboring dealership, trading it in for another car, then driving that car off and doing the very same thing, over and over and over.
Yeah. This one sort of bugs me.
IT’S NOT WHETHER TO CHANGE BUT RATHER HOW
Whether consciously or not, we all perform something of a cost/benefit analysis when presented with change, with a slight edge given to the “resist” side of the equation. You see, even positive change means leaning into some level of ambiguity, and I believe that it’s our nature to favor the known over the unknown. Better the devil—or in this case, the status quo—over the devil you don’t—what lies in the future if we choose the change.
That said, on a whole, people will change if they perceive it to be in their best interest to do so, understanding of course that we all have a different view, understanding, and perception of what is and isn’t in our best interest.
Another thing to bear in mind that is most of the time it’s not a question of whether to change or remain the same, but rather in what way to change. In very few cases, when faced with a decision, is there an option to keep things exactly as they are right now. No matter what you decided it will come with plusses and minuses.
HOW TO COMMUNICATE DURING CHANGE
When managing an organization through change, it’s helpful to bear in mind the transition curve, or change curve, or in fact any number of other names. You’re probably already familiar with this idea; moving from shock to denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and eventually acceptance. And just as in there are any number of names for this curve in the ether, there are any number and descriptions of steps involved in the process. For me, I like to consider these nine steps:
Shock: A numb feeling. Everything seems unreal, as though it were all part of a bad dream.
Denial: A feeling that this can’t possibly be happening, that they’ll no doubt reverse this decision, or that, in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t really that big a deal.
Bargaining: Grasping for ways to avoid the change.
Anger: Feelings of anger, fear, and anxiety. Disaster scenarios begin to be imagined. Insistence that this is not fair. Frustration and suspicion of those making the decision. Seeking to place blame on others as well as ourselves.
Depression: A sense of dejection. Apathy kicks in; a feeling that nothing matters any more. We become detached and resign ourselves to our fate.
Exploring: We start to ask “what now?” Rousing ourselves out of our depression and looking for actions we can take. We start to think about the possibilities and envision ourselves in these imaginations.
Experimentation: We start to test the waters and see what success we might have as we work to make the possibilities we imagined before a reality.
Choose/Resolve: When experiments show promise, we make the switch to the new reality. We make plans, set goals and milestones, and schedule time to make it happen.
Perform: Benefits of the change are seen, creating a better state than before the change.
The key to a successful organization change is communicating the right information to the right people at the right time and in the right way. For example, during the Anger phase, don’t tell people that they’re being unreasonable or overreacting. No good will ever come from this. Instead, acknowledge that they have a right to their feelings and give them the time and support they need to work through them. During the Depression phase, validate their feelings and be supportive. Remind them where they have navigated change before and express confidence they can do it again. During the Experimentation phase, commend them for giving the change a try and ask for their thoughts and feedback on how you can help others get to this point as well.
When it comes to helping an organization navigate change, nothing is easy. However, communication will always be the key to success. Change may take time and be somewhat difficult, but that doesn’t mean it needs to take forever and be heinously painful. Good communication will mean the difference between the two possibilities.
Lon is an Associate Professor of Business Management at Salt Lake Community College and holds an MBA, a PhD, and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). In addition to his academic background, Lon spent close to 30 years working and consulting for such companies as FedEx, Intel, eBay, and PayPal, as well as a variety of small to mid-sized companies around the world.