How can you deal with resistance to change within your organization?

Fear of organizational change often stems from perceived losses—control, identity, or competence. Conducting what we refer to as 'Fear Audits' has proven effective in uncovering and addressing specific concerns behind resistance. Through open dialogues, this approach transforms fear into collaboration, revealing opportunities for personal and organizational development. By aligning change initiatives with individual aspirations and values, we have found that it's possible to turn fear from a barrier into a motivator for embracing change, ensuring smoother transitions and more resilient organizational cultures.

I've found that addressing the underlying fears and concerns of employees is crucial to overcoming resistance to change. By conducting "Fear Audits" and engaging in open dialogues, we can uncover specific worries and transform them into opportunities for growth and collaboration. Aligning change initiatives with individual aspirations and values helps turn fear into a motivator for embracing change.

Understanding, in itself, is important and powerful. During the process of change, it's crucial to comprehend where the organization came from, what challenges it currently faces, and its future prospects, along with the impact on people and its overall existence. Many companies undergo continuous transitions due to management changes, often leaving employees facing an endless 'change process' with limited accountability and lost trust. The conflict is often driven by short-term goals and games versus long-term commitment and prospects. By understanding the complexity of the situation and gaining people's support, change seems plausible. However, it requires significant leadership investment and true commitment.

Understand specific team concerns through open, empathetic dialogue. Acknowledge their fears and provide reassurance. Be transparent about the reasons for change and its benefits for both the organization and individuals. Offer support through training and resources, and involve employees in the change process to give them a sense of control. Building trust and demonstrating commitment to their well-being can significantly reduce fear and resistance.

Depending on the change, before initiation, try to speak to those you think may have some fear of the unknown. Talk privately to understand their issues, resolve them separately before the announcement of the change, and address the concerns brought up in a public setting after the change has been announced. They are most likely not the only ones with these fears. Demonstrating that you have already addressed these concerns will give your team confidence that you have their best interest in consideration. Also, allowing your team to be part of the process will alleviate some of this fear.

Regular, clear, and consistent communication, coupled with opportunities to address questions and provide feedback, as well as transparent governance and accountability, are foundational for any change process aiming to succeed.

From working with our clients to craft internal narratives that connect changes to employees’ roles and the broader mission resonates on a personal level, effectively addressing the 'What's in it for me?' question. The approach involves using various channels to disseminate these narratives, blending storytelling with data-driven insights. Facilitating interactive sessions where employees can voice concerns transforms communication into a dynamic dialogue. By prioritizing transparency and empathy, it's possible to dismantle barriers and foster a culture of proactive engagement, leading to sustainable change.

Beyond simply announcing the change, clearly explain the rationale behind it. People are more likely to resist change if they don't understand the purpose. Frame the change in a positive light, emphasizing the benefits for both the organization and the employees. Use multiple channels to communicate the message, such as town hall meetings, email, and internal communication platforms. Actively listen to employee feedback and address their concerns. To solidify understanding, consider creating FAQs to address common concerns and develop a communication plan that outlines the key messages, target audiences, and communication channels.

Leaders must openly communicate the realities of the market and business environment. Without this perspective, individuals in an organization will see their personal fears of loss, change, and inadequacy as bigger problems than the ones their organization is facing if they don’t help the organization pivot and react to market realities.

Communication drives trust. More specifically, open, honest, and timely communication drives trust. Anytime your organization is going through change, big or small, communication is the cornerstone for a successful transition. Listen to concerns. Act on suggestions that make sense. Be open to adapt along the journey. This will build trust, reduce anxiety, and create respect and understanding throughout the change management initiative.

Involve Employees: When employees are included in the decision-making process and understand the rationale behind the change, they are more likely to be supportive and invested in its success. Furthermore, employees closest to the work often have valuable insights that can improve the change process itself. By incorporating their ideas and concerns, you can develop a more effective and workable plan.

Understand not all resistance is negative. Listening to concerns and addressing them will help support change adoption and create a better outcome for all. Use trained change champions who are trusted in the organization to facilitate two-way conversations deep in the organization.

It's important to involve employees or relevant audiences early on. Starting with a sample set of individuals who represent the total group can help us gather feedback, input, and identify possible hurdles. This helps us prepare before the actual change takes place, similar to the purpose of having pilots in projects.

By actively engaging employees in decision-making, problem-solving, and goal-setting, leaders can leverage their insights, expertise, and perspectives to drive meaningful change. Involving employees creates a sense of empowerment and accountability, motivating them to actively participate in the change effort and contribute their ideas and suggestions. This collaborative approach also enhances communication, transparency, and trust between leadership and employees, fostering a culture of openness and collaboration.

Involving employees is essential but I find it's normally something organisations get wrong... not because they haven't involved people, but because they haven't involved the right people. For example putting junior resources forward to give them an "opportunity", when really someone who is very experienced is needed to provide the additional insights.

Transforming training into a tool to mitigate resistance involves creating what we call "Change Resilience Modules." These training programs are designed to equip employees with the skills to navigate transformation uncertainties, focusing on emotional intelligence, communication, and problem-solving. This practical, scenario-based learning lets participants explore real-life challenges, ensuring training transcends theory. This method helps employees transition from apprehension to action, reducing resistance and fostering a culture of continuous learning, preparing workforces to thrive in change.

Too many organizations consider change management simply as a formal communication plan focused on announcing changes and aligning teams with new organizational priorities. It's often a belief that changes aren’t big enough to warrant training or that since the changes aren’t customer facing, an investment in training isn’t needed. The truth is that anything new in an organization should have some level of training and learning associated with it to help accelerate employees through the change successfully and minimize the cost associated with distracted or misaligned teams.

Training. When does it really begin? From the moment someone starts an e-learning or classroom course? Definitley not. People start to form opinions on a change from the moment they hear about. Training journeys need to be thought of as change journeys. Additionally, so many projects only roll out information on new functionality of a tool, but don't properly explore or provide information on what people really want to know - how the change impacts their way of working and why it's happening to begin with.

Training is the most overlooked and underutilized of the change management techniques. Without training and support, in a continuous way, not a one and done moment, you cannot expect anyone to ever move one end of the change curve to the next.

Through targeted training programs, employees can acquire the necessary competencies to embrace new processes, technologies, and ways of working. By investing in employee development, organizations can increase confidence, competence, and productivity, ultimately driving better business outcomes. Moreover, training fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement, empowering employees to stay agile and resilient in the face of evolving challenges. By offering training opportunities tailored to the specific needs of employees, organizations can enhance employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction.

What works reliably and consistently is identifying and elevating Change Champions, who are crucial for navigating transformation complexities. This approach has proven successful across thousands of our engagements worldwide. By equipping these champions with advanced change management tools and leadership training, they are enabled to lead by example and effectively articulate benefits at all levels. Investing in these leaders creates a proactive support framework, transforming potential barriers into opportunities for growth and ensuring successful, inclusive change across the organization.

Change champions must comprise SMEs, social/political influencers with credibility, members of the dominant coalition running the organization and perhaps 1 or 2 outside experts.

Encouraging and empowering change champions within our organization is an instrumental in overcoming resistance to change. These individuals, who are enthusiastic about the proposed changes, possess the influence to inspire their peers positively. By equipping them with relevant information, authority, and support, they can effectively advocate for the change, address concerns, and provide valuable peer-to-peer encouragement. Leveraging champions credibility and passion can help foster acceptance and drive momentum toward successful implementation.

At work, we need allies, because not everyone is on your side when it comes to an Executive Committee meeting or strategic decisions. When we run projects, it's the same thing: we need support. Not just from the sponsor or top management, but from people who are committed to the project. These are the people who will be your best spokespeople and allies in getting others on board. So you need to identify them right from the start of the project. They will help to ensure that everyone is on board and on track to complete the project successfully and on time.

Support Champions. It is important to identify and seek alliance of “support champions”. I have found it helpful to identify supporters closest to the change being implemented. This group is a great go-to for vetting the process from beginning to end.

By regularly tracking and assessing progress against established goals and milestones, leaders can identify potential challenges, measure the effectiveness of interventions, and make informed decisions to keep the change effort on track. Monitoring progress involves collecting relevant data, such as key performance indicators, feedback from stakeholders, and observations from frontline employees, to gain insights into the implementation process and its impact on the organization. This information enables leaders to identify areas of success and areas requiring improvement, allowing them to adjust strategies and allocate resources accordingly.

1) Allow for both open and anonymous feedback. Change impacts both personell and the organisation. Often voices are not heard to the detriment of one or both. 2) Measure impacts of change if possible using prior to change benchmarks

A leader with systemic intelligence will welcome the “resistors” and “rebels”, since they are trying to protect something important for the whole system that is under threat. Systemically speaking, “rebels” are not fighting a personal battle, they are taken in the service of the larger whole (living system) to protect it. Acknowledging that what they are protecting and including it in the change intervention ensures that the change will be successful.

Change the language you use. Talk is never ‘just talk’. The words we use for 'change' shape our thoughts and actions. Overcoming resistance may require new language. 1. Be specific. Don’t assume the term ‘organizational change’ means the same thing to everyone. Specify exactly what you mean. Ask specific questions of others. 2. Be self-reflective. What are your assumptions, mental models, metaphors, and terminology for organizational change? How might these limit how others think and act concerning change? 3. Rethink the use of mechanistic, engineering, or planned movement concepts, metaphors, and imagery in transformational change. 4. Consider other novel mental and word imagery to help address continuous whole-system change.

People generally don’t resist change, they resist being changed. One only has to look at society has embraced the continuous digital changes we face and embrace

With any change implenetation effort, it is important to initially communicate the change clearly, involve employees in the process, provide necessary training and support, and address concerns openly. Leaders should actively participate and set an example while recognizing and rewarding those who embrace the change. Leaders can leverage the power of storytelling throughout the process. Creating a compelling narrative that connects the change to the organization's mission and values, making it relatable and meaningful to employees, and illustrating the benefits of the change through real-life use cases and success stories within the industry can help the organization effectively manage resistance to change.