Resistance to change is a phenomenon as old as time itself. When you think about how hard it is to make changes in your personal life, such as trying a new diet or starting to exercise, you can imagine how difficult it might be to implement changes at scale in your business. In that case, you must overcome your resistance and that of your employees.
What is Organizational Change?
Organizational change involves updating or completely revamping internal processes, including workplace culture, workflow, technology, or infrastructure. Every business needs to make changes to grow, and managers and CEOs will inevitably encounter resistance to change.
Consider Philip’s in the early 1980s, a company at the forefront of audio cassette, video recording, and CD technology. However, with Sony and Panasonic taking the lead in the market, they needed to adapt quickly. Their highly matrixed structure needed to become more agile, and they needed to decentralize their divisions.
Miraculously, the company was back in the lead by the decade’s end. They discovered that managing resistance to change, by adequately communicating change to employees, was key to their continued growth. If you’re dealing with resistance to change in the workplace, here’s what you need to know.
Acceptance versus Resistance to Change
Almost every business will encounter resistance to organizational change at some point in the process, especially if it’s a large or international company. The key is to overcome this resistance before it impedes progress. The first step is getting your employees to accept that change is needed in the first place.
Acceptance might be the first step in making a meaningful change, but it’s often the hardest. Managers and leaders might not want to acknowledge that growth has stagnated. They assume “what got me here will get me there,” but they’re often mistaken. This is usually the reason why managers resist change.
When managers and employees are not enthusiastic about organizational change, milestones get missed, and ultimately, the results fall below expectations. However, when CEOs and department heads adopt and embody the changes the organization needs, it becomes easier for other employees to follow suit. It’s crucial to get higher-ups to a place of acceptance fast.
Overcoming Resistance to Change
Why do employees resist change in the workplace?
There are three primary reasons employees resist change: they feel their autonomy is threatened, they need help understanding why the change is necessary, and they fear they won’t thrive under this new system.
It can be frustrating when you know a change is needed and devise a great plan, only to be met with uncertainty and a lack of enthusiasm. Here are three ways you can smooth over employee resistance to change:
- Put yourself in your employees’ shoes. Try to understand their expectations, experience, and potential points of confusion. Remove your rose-colored lenses and consider whether their resistance to change has merit. There may be more to the story that you haven’t considered.
- Address the job descriptions your employees signed up for when you hired them. Are your proposed changes aligned with their original roles, or have things changed? Understandably, an employee would be unenthusiastic about a fundamental shift in their everyday work.
- Create and participate in round-table forums or town hall meetings for your employees. When considering how to communicate change to employees, leave the boilerplate responses behind and take their resistance to change seriously. No one wants to feel like the CEO doesn’t understand their job, and they need to be heard to feel secure.
The best way to overcome resistance to change is not brute force but genuinely helping employees cope with change in the workplace.
Are Certain Personality Types More Likely to Resist Change?
When considering how to handle employees who resist change, your approach should vary depending on the employee’s personality. Certain personality types are more prone to resistance to change than others. Here are 5 profiles of the most common change-averse employees you will likely encounter.
- The Skeptic: This employee has seen many attempts at change throughout their tenure with the company. Enough of these attempts have failed that they now doubt that lasting, positive change is possible. They may remind you of these previous failed attempts when an opportunity for change is first discussed, which can lower morale.
- How to Manage: This employee is right to point out if previous, similar attempts have failed, even if it’s not fun to hear. You can validate their experience while overcoming their skepticism with facts. Show them why this change differs and how it can succeed where previous efforts did not.
- The Devil’s Advocate: This employee enjoys poking holes in a plan “just for the sake of argument.” They are resistant to authority and dislike the feeling of being ordered around. They like to debate and are likely very intellectual. Their focus on hypotheticals can derail the conversation and keep you spinning your wheels.
- How to Manage: This employee’s resistance to change comes from a lack of control. If you involve them in planning the upcoming change, they can use their intelligence to solve any problems they foresee. If they are insubordinate, speak to them about their tone so as not to encourage open defiance.
- The Know-It-All: This employee is confident in their abilities and not without cause—they work hard and get results. However, they mistrust any change that will uproot their tried-and-true process. They don’t like to be micromanaged, believing they know better than anyone else which methods will result in the best outcomes.
- How to Manage: It’s essential to make these employees feel valued for their hard work. If possible, allow them some flexibility with how they implement the changes. They may need time to fit the updates into their workflow, but they usually want to ensure the new system is effective.
- The Risk-Averse: This employee tends to be on the anxious side. They value stability and want to reduce risk at all costs. They are reluctant to act without answers to their questions and a hard-and-fast plan. They aren’t great at improvising, and their stress can be contagious to other employees.
- How to Manage: Help them develop a step-by-step implementation plan and make your expectations clear. Be patient while addressing their resistance to change and provide as many details as possible. Then, check in regularly with concerned employees to discuss the change.
- The Discouraged: This employee has seen many changes similar to the Skeptic. They’re burned out, noticing any changes as just more work on their plate. They don’t believe that leadership is well-intentioned and feel overlooked and unseen. In short, they are completely demoralized.
- How to Manage: This employee’s trust has been broken. In this case, the key is to build up confidence and get the employee to re-engage. Focus on baby steps to encourage them and reward them for their wins. You need to show them that you do value their work.
As a business coach, I’ve helped countless clients overcome resistance to change in their organizations. If you’re stuck, schedule a complimentary video call with me here. You can also sign up for my email list for weekly leadership resources.
Coach Dave
