Implementing change in an organization is an exciting opportunity, especially when you’re the force behind it. However, not everyone in the company will welcome it with open arms. “Change, like healing, takes time,” says Veronica Roth.
Resistance to change at work is common and seen as a response to the uncertainty and perceived threats that come with the change. To deal with the resistance to change at work, you must not see it as an obstacle, but a sign of employee involvement, one that says there are things worth exploring.
If you’re trying to implement change, here’s how you can manage resistance with ease!
What Is Resistance To Change At Work?
Resistance to change at work is when people aren’t willing to adapt to new rules or protocols. Change resistance in an organization can be active or passive meaning that employees can either express this openly or can keep it to themselves.
It can also happen unknowingly in smaller forms. Such resistance to change examples can be using language or actions that go against the change. You can break down resistance to change at work into two categories: individual and organizational.
If employees are against change because of who they are, what they need, or what they think, that’s individual resistance. This can be caused by factors like economics, job security, habit, and more.
Organizational resistance, however, happens because of a company’s tendency to not accept change. Some of its key signs include internal power struggles, poor decision-making, unconfident leaders, etc.
How To Identify Resistance And Its Causes?
When it comes to identifying resistance and what’s causing it, you need to first accept that resistance isn’t bad!
It’s a sign that employees care enough about what they’re doing for it to not change. People who have resistance to change at work are often at the front end of the business. They’re the ones who’ll be most impacted by the change.
When you address their concerns, you increase the likelihood of success. Active resistance is easier to identify because of its open nature. To do this, you should hold group meetings with different teams, share the change, and ask “What does everybody think?”
Passive resistance is a bit more difficult to identify, but this doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. The best approach here is to have one-on-one meetings with employees you feel are resisting passively.
Ask them “How do you think this will impact your job” to gain a broader perspective of the change itself. Some of the key causes of resistance include:
1. Lack Of Trust
One of the most common reasons for resistance to change at work is lack of trust. If your employees don’t trust you, they won’t be willing to accept anything with open arms. The lack of trust for change can happen because your employees think along the lines of:
- “This person is new. How can they change everything we do?”
- “This company never does what they say!”
- “They’re always changing things! How can I get any work done?”
- “They didn’t ask me! What value do I have!?”
2. Poor Communication
As a leader, you need to know that communication is vital when it comes to implementing change. Without it, employees feel as if they don’t know what’s going on and tend to become defensive and develop their own beliefs. If you don’t communicate effectively, these beliefs can strengthen over time which increases their extent of resistance.
3. Emotional Responses
Like it or not, emotions are part of our everyday life. They govern how we think and how we act and changes in the workplace are not immune to this. When employees are unaware of a change or can’t fully comprehend it, emotions can cloud their judgment.
Some of the most common emotional responses to change can include fear, uncertainty, or stress. These are all things the human brain doesn’t like and if employees feel this way about workplace changes, their go-to response is to avoid them altogether.
4. Job Security
When employees hear about a change, the first thing they think is “How is this going to change what I do?” Change initiatives are implemented to make the company more efficient and productive. You know this but your employees might not. For them, it might mean more work that they can’t handle.
It can also mean that tech solutions will replace or supplement their roles which may lead to pay cuts. For you, it’s productive. But for them, it’s a creepy thought that says “AI’s taking over and I’m going to lose my job!”
5. Previous Experiences
It goes without saying that if you’ve implemented change in the past and it wasn’t much of a success, employees are likely to think “This company failed the last time they tried out a new policy and it just wasted my time.” The reason for the failure can vary from lack of employee acceptance to ineffective management.
But, regardless of what the reason is, if employees feel you’re not capable of implementing change, they’re likely to resist because the implementation would create more work, waste of time, or office stress for them!
How To Manage Resistance To Change At Work?
Did you know that 94% of decision-makers believe implementing change without change management is likely to result in failure?
A huge part of that management process is planning how you’re going to deal with resistance because, as Benjamin Franklin said “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” So, with that in mind, here’s how you can deal with resistance to change at work:
1. Listen To Your Employees
The very first thing you should do to tackle resistance to change at work is to let employees initiate the conversation about their resistance. You need to give them the opportunity to share their concerns, frustration, and confusion regarding the change. This gives you insight into the sentiments driving that resistance and will allow you to deal with it with a broader and more effective perspective.
2. Define And Communicate The Change
Once you have insight into what’s causing the resistance, you need to factor them into the change itself and how it’s being communicated. The change initiative should genuinely address concerns employees have shared.
In addition, as part of the communication plan, you must build transparency and focus on sharing details with individual departments or employees based on what they care about.
3. Create Excitement
The next step in tackling resistance to change at work is to create a positive and welcoming environment where the change will be accepted. To do this, you must share constructive details about why the change is needed. Doing so can help employees develop a better understanding which can lower resistance and create an excitement of what’s to come.
4. Prioritize Your Employees
The hard truth about implementing change is that it only works if your employees are on board. You know that resistance can occur because of fear, uncertainty, or stress. To tackle this, you need to think from your employees’ perspective.
What it means is when you develop new workflows and protocols, ask yourself “What does this change for my employees?” or “Would this lead to more stress for the people who work for me?” These questions are essential.
They will help you understand what the change implementation will look like for your employees and why they might resist it. During this phase, you should also factor in employee feedback as this will allow them to believe they have ownership in the decision and will help you lower resistance.
5. Delegate The Change
The next step for countering resistance to change at work is to delegate the implementation. To do this, you need to identify natural leaders within your organization and delegate the implementation through them. This allows them to be seen as role models and can help you build traction for implementing the change.
6. Use Stats And Projections
Resistance to change at work is an emotional response. However, it can be tackled using facts and figures. To do this, you need to share existing stats and future projections of the change with your employees. This creates transparency and allows them to understand why the change is needed.
In addition, it is possible for some employees to have misconceptions about the change as well. For example, if you implement the use of a new automation program, an employee might think you’re doing it to cut their pay since they would have to do less work once the program is implemented.
Sharing data in such a scenario can help employees understand that the change is being implemented for the overall benefit of the company. This addresses misconceptions your employees have and can help them accept the change, or reduce resistance at the very least.
7. Implement In Phases
Lastly, you should focus on implementing the change in multiple phases. Doing so reduces the extent to which an employee’s daily job routine is altered. This allows them to be more comfortable with the change, since it’s being implemented one step at a time which gives employees more room to adjust, lowering resistance to change.
As you implement change, remember that the process will take time. During that time you should communicate effectively and with transparency as it can help improve your chances of success!
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