10 tactics for managing resistance to change

Resistance is a normal, human reaction to change. This goes for our private lives as well as our working lives.

When it comes to work, if you are experiencing resistance in a change journey, consider the steps below. There is bound to be at least one tactic that can help you to help your team.

✅Listen and understand objections
First and most important is to listen to understand the reasons for objections. While this sounds like common sense even the most seasoned manager can forget to listen.

✅Focus on the "what" and let go of the "how"
Focus on what needs to be accomplished and offer your team the opportunity to provide input on how to accomplish the change.

A good example here is the move to a hybrid work. Organizations that transitioned quickly are typically the ones who encouraged people to share inputs on this change.

✅Remove barriers
Try to understand the source of the resistance. Are they related to job motivation, job security, career progression or personal commitments.

Probe to understand and help them address what's holding them back from adopting the change.

✅Provide simple, clear choices and consequences
Sometimes, the best thing to do is be direct. For example by saying, "I understand that you may not be interested in participating in this change, but the team will follow this new process as explained by our Awareness campaign. If you don't choose to adopt the new changes, X will be the result."

✅Create hope
This is about focusing on the future state. What's on the other side of adopting and using the change? What is the opportunity?

Think through: "If we just do X, we will be able to do Y."

✅Show the benefits in a real and tangible way
People can have a hard time envisioning the future state of a change. We like to think that the current state is rooted in emotion, but the future state is also rooted in analytics. Consider sharing case studies or information explaining how others have navigated the change and how things have been better because of it.

✅Make a personal appeal
Try making a personal appeal to teams with a high degree of trust and an open relationship. Ask for their support and restate why you believe the change will benefit them.

✅Convert the strongest dissenters
Sometimes the natural tendency is to avoid the strongest dissenters. However, if you can invest in interventions or tactics to convert dissenters, you may well find your strongest advocate.

✅Demonstrate consequences
As a last resort, demonstrating consequences can be useful but use this tactic with caution. Once employed, the results will become part of the organizational history that can impacts employee engagement.

✅Provide incentives
Offer bonuses, extra time off, or the ability to work from home in exchange for adopting the change—a little quid pro quo. Sometimes it's effective and sometimes it's not.

💭 Hopefully some useful food for thought in your change journey!

For more detail on these techniques click here.
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