Resistance to Change - Overcoming it by Working With Informal Networks

Resistance to change is the inevitable consequence when management do not recognise the people dimension of change and when management do not employ change processes, and change management techniques that recognise and work with the political and relational aspects of informal networks that exist within every large organisation.

According to Jon Katzenbach and Zia Khan (Authors of "Leading outside the Lines")

"Learning how to mobilize the informal elements of an organization to accelerate the formal elements goes a long way in helping leaders fill the gap between intention and results."

In his famous 8 Step Change Model, John Kotter emphasises the importance of creating and sustaining an energy for change starting with a sense of urgency and then building on that to build a coalition for change. Kotter advises that for a significant change initiative to have any chance of overcoming resistance to change and succeeding, it requires the support of at least 75% of the management.

The recognition, identification and utilisation of informal networks takes these insights a quantum step forward.

UK based change management practitioner Neil Farmer has led 5 successful major change initiatives and he observes that whilst the formal organisation determines all routine aspects of what takes place, and in so doing provides the necessary "glue" of stability and repeatability, the shadow or informal organisation largely determines the scope and pace of change:

"Where the shadow and formal organisations come into conflict in a change situation, the balance of influence in the shadow organisation will almost always win the day."

Key steps to dealing with resistance to change via informal networks

(1) Relaxing "command and control"

The first and biggest step is one that can only be taken by the CEO and senior management of the organisation, and that is to relinquish (or at least relax) "command and control". Not totally of course, as there is always a need for firm direction and senior management edicts, but sufficiently to empower the change leaders to identify and work in collaboration with the informal networks.

In my direct and observed experience, this seldom happens. The DNA of the leaders and senior management of most organisations ( especially large ones) is hard-coded to resist this - thus resistance to change starts at the top. In the UK at least, this resistance to change in management style reflects the myopia that results from a general business culture fixated on short-term results.

All too often, the only conditions that encourage directors to relax command and control are either the appointment of a new CEO and/or senior management team, or the threat of a fairly major exposure i.e. an issue that is severe enough to create a personal accountability and potentially one that could be politically exploited to the personal detriment of the individual executive.

You may feel this is a cynical view but it is (sadly) reflected in change leaders and managers failure in dealing with resistance to change and the resultant 70% failure rate of all significant change initiatives.

(2) Organisation Network Analysis

Organisation Network Analysis (ONA) is an extension of cultural and sub-cultural analysis - moving beyond the identification of entities and individuals who inhabit a range of sub-cultural attitudes and behaviours (which may or may not be receptive and open to change) and into the identification and mapping of the networks of these individuals.

The applied methodology for conducting an Organisation Network Analysis (ONA) is similar to that employed to conduct a cultural analysis, namely an iterative process of informal interviews commencing with a known change positive influencer and preceding on a referral basis until all referrals in the network have been interviewed.

ONA scans are guided and enabled by known change positive influencers and can move from "shallow" scans to increasingly "deeper" (or more detailed ) scans.

(3) Identifying the "change positive" key influencers in the informal networks

Jon Katzenbach call these "change positive" key influencers "master motivators" - these are people right down at the front line who are naturally and intuitively collaborative, who are already recognized amongst their colleagues for their unique ability to gain the emotional commitment of their people - those who intuitively make better use of informal networks and communities of common interest than most good managers do.

There are 2 types of key influencers/master motivators: those who are open-minded to change and those who are by nature positive to change.

(4) Introducing key influencers/master motivators into first line management roles

This first level of management has the most contact and thus most direct influence on people and is thus critical in dealing with resistance to change. Neil Farmer suggests that typically there may be only as few or 30 or 40% of key influencers/master motivators in these positions, and is highly desirable to increase this to 80% as soon as possible.

(5) Don't try to manage the informal networks like the formal networks

Jon Katzenbach says that the biggest mistakes leaders make when trying to manage and maximize the informal organization is to try to manage the informal like the formal. Informal networks will not be told what to do or accept a top down imposition, rather they need to influenced and energised. As Katzenbach says:"...mobilize the informal and manage the formal".

So one of your first steps to dealing with resistance to change is in identifying and mapping the informal networks that exist within your organisation and specifically the individuals within these networks and their relationships.