Resistance to change is a very natural and healthy reaction! As a generalisation, the older you get the more likely you are to resist change - you've seen it all before, you know what works and what doesn't, so why change it now?
Sources of resistance to change
The 2 fundamental sources of resistance are fear and aspiration.
Resistance to change in an organisational context often makes sense, and a healthy fear of change is a necessary and integral protective aspect of our survival mechanism. Very often we are right to be fearful of the potential consequences of a change and especially of an imposed change - and as it really may be detrimental to our best interests and survival in our current environment.
Uncertainty about the impact of the change and the extent and nature of that impact is another big factor in resistance to change. This is what I call "aspirational resistance" in other words: "What's in it for me" and: "Is it good for me or bad for me?" Until we are clear about the answers to these questions we will resist change.
So, to a very large extent, resistance to change is the default setting for adult behaviour, and frequently the level of resistance increases in direct proportion to life and work experience, for the very simple reason that: "We have seen it all before!"
Causes of resistance to change
In my experience, in an organisational context, the biggest causes of resistance to change are the behaviour and attitudes of the leaders introducing the change and the managers seeking to implement it.
The specific reason for this lies with their failure to take comprehensive account (often the failure to take any account) of the impacts of the change. This includes paying special attention to the assessment and mitigation of these impacts upon those people who will be most impacted by the change.
The best leadership and change management approach to dealing with resistance to change
The best strategy for dealing with resistance is not to have to!
A change leadership that is self-aware and exercises high levels of emotional intelligence will be sensitive to the emotional dimension and the need to recognise and help people through the transitions they will pass through as they adjust to the organisational change that is impacting them.
A change leadership and management that will recognise the importance of the cultural dimension and will undertake a thorough cultural analysis as a foundational and integral aspect of the change planning and preparation process
A change leadership that understands the major change models - the concepts, and the thinking, behind them. The leadership team recognise the need for a holistic comprehensive change framework that will bridge the massive gap between their strategic vision and the ultimate realisation of the intended organisational benefits.
They are aware of the critical disconnects that occur between management and employees of the organisation, they know where are they are and how they arise.
They make full use of the "shadow organisation" the web of informal networks and will plan and implement the different phases of the change initiative with forethought and skilful preparation and planning.
A change leadership and management that will also fully understand the need to manage the task level aspects of programme implementation. They won't make the common mistake of assuming that because they have told people what they want to happen that it will happen. They know that they need to provide hands-on detailed management in the specifics of what to do and how to do it.
Ultimately they will know that to a considerable extent there are many complex and inter-related aspects to a truly successful change initiative, and thus dealing with resistance to change is rather like handling a Rubik's cube.
So, to personalise this, if you have planned thoroughly and addressed all of the key areas in successfully leading and managing change, you will have removed many totally unnecessary and predictable causes and sources of resistance. You will also now understand where and why resistance remains.
Find out more about: Dealing With Resistance to Change.
Equip yourself to avoid the 70% failure rate of all change initiatives with the 8 FREE Introductory Lessons from Practitioners Masterclass
No comments:
Post a Comment