Resistance to Change Yields Valuable Insight
When there are major leadership decisions, changes to processes, or new expectations set forth, some team members might question those changes and resist the change.
It’s vital to pause and investigate the underlying issues, rather than dismissing or minimizing the discomfort — which only serves to choke off that line of communication, drive those feelings underground, and lead to resentment, a lack of engagement, and even quiet quitting.
Don’t fall for the trap of making assumptions or interpretations that could be off base. Dig in and make an informed diagnosis.
View resistance as signal or SOS the employee is trying to send — but why? What are they trying to tell you?
If you treat the resistance as a valuable data point, you can tweak your approach while also making your employees feel heard, seen, and valued. It can also lead to a better outcome that benefits the employee, the team, the project, and perhaps the entire company.
Behind resistance, there is usually anxiety over the unknown, a feeling of a lack of control, disbelief in the reasoning or logic behind the change, a sense of loss, poor communication about the change — or some combination of these things.
Let’s unpack some common reasons for resistance to change, and what you can do about it:
Anxiety over the unknown — Major change like a new executive leader, a new technology platform, new processes, or new requirements to your job can throw people off kilter. It’s different than what they are used to doing, it may threaten their sense of competency or achievement, and push them outside their comfort zone.
What do to: Address the uncertainty, reassure them it’s OK and normal to feel this way. Do a lot of listening, which helps people feel heard and reduces anxiety over the unknown. Talk about working together as a team to figure it out. Develop concrete, actionable plans for each member of the team to score some early wins so they feel engaged, relevant, and needed.
Feeling a lack of control — When people feel like they weren’t part of the decision making process or feel powerless over the change that is happening, it shakes their sense of safety and certainty. If they start to give minimal effort, demonstrative passive adoption of new processes, or suddenly become agreeable while seeming checked out, those are clear warning signs that they are disengaged.
What to do: To help people feel more included and in control of the change, find specific areas where they can directly impact or influence the outcome. Involve them early enough to shape and share insight and ideas for how your team can evolve its work or processes to meet the new expectations. Show them a path forward, and how they can contribute meaningfully as co-creators of this new vision.
Disbelief in the change — Your employees might simply not believe that the change is needed or beneficial. Skepticism over whether it will work or be better for the company and them personally can show up as negative attitudes about the change. Employees who feel that way might have valuable insights that middle or upper management haven’t thought of, a more detailed understanding of the situation, better knowledge of the problem or pain point the change is trying to solve, or better insight into how your customers or clients will receive the change. Maybe the new processes don’t reflect how the work actually gets done. Maybe there is already another workflow change underway that addresses the issue. Maybe the timeline is too short.
What to do: Ask lots of pointed, probing questions about what they think and why to uncover surprising insight that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. Approach these conversations with genuine curiosity, and don’t let their frustration negate or detract from what they are telling you. Be willing to change the plan, or make modifications that address their concerns.
A sense of loss — When you’re good at your job and excelling and have certain low-value parts of your job on auto pilot, and there’s a sudden change, many employees feel a sense of something ending. It can also shake their confidence, diminish their sense of authority, and threaten their sense of identity. Resistance might be their effort to protect the way things were.
What to do: Give them space and time to grieve the loss of what was, and validate that things are changing. Acknowledge that the old ways of doing things had some benefits, and then start turning their attention to the future by talking about how their knowledge, experience, relationships, and contributions are going to be valuable after the changes happen.
Poor communication — One of the biggest problems when major change occurs poor or unclear communication. When people feel blindsided at work, they tend to have a knee-jerk response that can quickly escalate to negativity and resistance, whereas having some advance notice or inkling that changes are coming can help them feel more mentally prepared. Another problem is that the change isn’t communicated thoroughly, clearly, or well.
What to do: If you can, loop your team in to the fact that changes are coming even if you can’t tell them much detail about what exactly is underway. You might be able to tell them at a high level that it’s an executive change, a round of layoffs, the spinoff of a division, a new technology platform being introduced, or some process changes.
Listening with intent to any resistance from your team gives you more credibility, builds trust, and starts to give them something to believe in.
People might not agree with every decision or all aspects of the decisions, and that’s OK. They will see that you took their concerns seriously, and they will feel seen and heard.
Your job as a leader is to get them all rowing in the same direction as a team, and to ultimately set expectations for your team and for each individual employee that they need to embrace the change that is happening and adapt to the new way of doing things.
If you find that anyone is persistently resisting change, undermining decisions, refusing to cooperate, and unwilling to work through the change, you may have a behavior issue on your hands. Things may escalate to the point where you need to set specific and firm expectations, have clear boundaries, and apply consequences.
