TL;DR: Resistance can’t be overcome, combatted, or eliminated. It’s a signal. The goal is to surface it early, understand it from the Target’s Frame of Reference, and manage it using practical behaviors, involvement, and reinforcement.
This article is part of our Change Management Problems series.
In this article
- You can’t eliminate resistance (and why that’s good news)
- The CAST of characters – key roles in implementing change
- What resistance is (and what it isn’t)
- Even positive changes generate resistance
- How resistance slows implementation
- Frames of reference about resistance
- If you don’t see resistance, it’s not good news
- Go to the resistance early
- Sources of resistance – individual or organizational
- Resistance can look like something it isn’t
- You can predict levels of resistance
- How to surface resistance early
- 9 effective behaviors for managing resistance
- Behaviors that backfire
- Use involvement to build readiness
- Practical tactics you can apply right now
- A structured framework for the people-side – AIM
- Talk to us
- Download the eBook
Resistance to change is one of the most misunderstood concepts in management today. Many leaders spend enormous energy trying to “overcome” or “eliminate” resistance – but resistance can’t be overcome, combatted, or eliminated. In fact, it may even be a sign of organizational health.
You can’t eliminate resistance (and why that’s good news)
Resistance to change is often treated like a problem to “fix.” But resistance can’t be:
- Overcome
- Combatted
- Eliminated
In fact, resistance may be a sign of organizational health. It can indicate that people are engaged, that the change is real, and that you’ve touched something important.
The goal is not to eradicate resistance – it’s to surface it, understand it, and manage it.
The CAST of characters – key roles in implementing change
To manage resistance well, roles must be clear. The eBook uses the CAST model :
- Champions – believe in the change and attempt to obtain commitment and resources for it
- Agents – implement change; performance is evaluated based on implementation success
- Sponsors – authorize, legitimize, and demonstrate ownership for the change (authorize and reinforce)
- Targets – the people who must change behavior, processes, knowledge, perceptions, etc.
Key point: Sponsorship is the single most important factor in ensuring fast and successful implementation.
What resistance is (and what it isn’t)
Resistance is an attempt to defend a current Frame of Reference – your world-view and perspective. Your organizational Frame of Reference is also known as culture.
Resistance isn’t logical. If it were, people would always do what they know is best. Instead, we protect habits and patterns – and we don’t change them just because a message makes sense.
Resistance is a function of disruption. The more Targets believe their work habits and patterns will be impacted, the greater the resistance will be.
Even positive changes generate resistance
It doesn’t matter if your change is “positive” or “negative” – you will still be faced with resistance. Resistance is caused by disruption to habit patterns, not whether people like the change.
If you’re staying up trying to find the perfect argument that makes everyone like your change – you can stop. You can’t communicate your way to eliminating resistance.
Bottom line: A communication plan is not an implementation plan.
How resistance slows implementation
If resistance isn’t identified and is left unmanaged, it slows down implementation. The eBook ties implementation success to two major factors:
- Implementation Climate – past implementation patterns and the number of competing priorities happening at the same time (no change occurs in isolation).
- Organizational Readiness – driven by Sponsor capacity (what they express, model, reinforce), Target readiness, cultural consistency, and Agent capacity to implement locally.
Organizations with high stress and an unsuccessful implementation history require more resources and more time to create readiness. Organizations with lower stress and a successful history require less.
Frames of reference about resistance
One of the fastest ways to improve how leaders respond to resistance is to reframe what it means. Here’s the contrast the eBook highlights:
- Inevitable and manageable
- A natural function of change
- An attempt to protect the individual for something (not against you personally)
- A sign you’ve touched on something important
- A sign the potential for change exists
- A learning process
- Necessarily logical
- A sign of disloyalty
- Something to overcome or combat
- A personal attack
- Designed to discredit your competence
- Indicative of poor performance
- A sign the change process is out of control
If you don’t see resistance, it’s not good news
If you can’t find any resistance, it means one of two things:
- Nobody’s changing
- The resistance has gone underground (especially if resistance is met with force)
Either way, it’s not good news.
Go to the resistance early
There is value in resistance – it tests your change. Innovation and resistance are two sides of the same coin. An innovative organization isn’t resistance-free – it’s resistance-laden.
A sign of an engaged organization is one where people feel free to resist. Listen to it early – and make it safe to stay overt.
Sources of resistance – individual or organizational
The eBook points out that people often express individual resistance as organizational resistance:
- Logistics: “We don’t have the time…”
- Economics: “We don’t have the budget…”
- Politics: “We don’t have the right people…”
The key is to uncover the real source of resistance because it constantly masquerades as something else.
Resistance can look like something it isn’t
Some resistance is easy to see. Much of it isn’t. The eBook contrasts what’s observable vs what may really be happening:
- Ability (“I lack the skills”) vs Willingness (“I’m not motivated – training won’t make it better”)
- Overt (“I express resistance”) vs Covert (“It looks like I’m changing but I’m really not”)
- Action (“I’m busy changing”) vs Inaction (“If I wait, this too will pass”)
- Conscious (“My actions demonstrate resistance”) vs Unconscious (“I don’t realize I’m being resistant”)
Reminder: The pain of uncertainty can feel greater than the certainty of pain – which is why people often cling to what’s familiar.
You can predict levels of resistance
You can’t assess resistance based on whether you think the change is positive or negative, or only on what you’re seeing. Instead, predict resistance by putting yourself in the Targets’ Frame of Reference and asking what the implementation implies:
- Low perceived need
- Unclear expectations
- Unknown outcomes
- Negative impacts
- Irreversibility
- Low reward and high cost
- High disruption
- Low involvement
- Implication of poor past performance
How to surface resistance early
What’s problematic isn’t resistance – it’s resistance that has gone underground. The eBook recommends using multiple techniques to surface resistance early, including:
- Surveys and interviews (including third-party interviews)
- Blogs and social network media
- FAQ sheets, Q&A sheets, webcasts
- Focus groups and hotlines
- Email, voicemail
- All-hands meetings and team meetings
Use multiple vehicles and build feedback loops so communication is cyclical and iterative – not one-way broadcasts.
9 effective behaviors for managing resistance
Once resistance is surfaced and you understand it from the Targets’ Frame of Reference, these behaviors help you manage it:
- Create rapport
- Establish expectations
- Recognize you’re dealing with resistance after two good-faith attempts to explain
- Explain the change in a way that demonstrates you understand the Targets’ Frame of Reference
- Ask open-ended questions
- After the “why’s” are agreed on, focus on “what we can do to work it out”
- Occupy less than 25% of the air time (listen)
- Utilize the Target’s energy to manage the situation
- Create win-win situations
Behaviors that backfire
The eBook also names common mistakes that make resistance worse, such as:
- Trying to beat people into submission with logic
- Dealing with the person instead of the issue
- Ignoring values, emotions, and behaviors
- Dragging out the “hammer”
- Trying to combat, solve, or overcome resistance
- Assuming what is logical to you is logical to the Target
- Arguing while the Target is stating their perceptions
- Giving up
Use involvement to build readiness
Involvement leads to higher-level feelings of control. If you can’t get people involved in deciding what to change, get them involved in how to change.
Practical tactics you can apply right now
- Make communication cyclical and iterative – each vehicle should include a feedback loop
- Surface resistance early and manage it
- Involve Targets as much and as early as possible to minimize uncertainty
- Communicate in the Target’s Frame of Reference – minimize jargon and focus on “What’s in it for me?” and “What does it mean to me?”
- Identify cynics or vocal non-supporters and involve them in key roles
- Make surfacing resistance safe and keep it overt
- Provide continuous, multiple vehicles for surfacing resistance over the full cycle of change
A structured framework for the people-side – AIM
AIM drives business value by:
- Creating a standard language and approach that increases efficiency and speed
- Serving as a risk dashboard to guide where finite resources are best applied
- Staying extremely practical and operationally-focused on business outcomes
- Providing a unifying foundation for managing change across boundaries, cultures, and geographies
For a full view of the AIM Toolkit and assessments referenced throughout AIM, see: AIM Toolkit and Assessments.
Discuss Resistance Sources and Build Readiness
If your organization is experiencing change fatigue, slower adoption, or resistance that seems to “come out of nowhere,” we can help you surface the real sources, engage Targets early, and build readiness with a disciplined approach that sticks.
Surface it early, then manage it.