12 reasons why people resist change
Expecting resistance to change and planning for it from the start of your change management progamme will allow you to effectively manage objections. Understanding the most common reasons people object to change gives you the opportunity to plan your change strategy to address these factors.
It’s not possible to be aware of all sources of resistance to change. Expecting that there will be resistance to change and being prepared to manage it is a proactive step. Recognizing behaviors that indicate possible resistance will raise awareness of the need to address the concerns.
Classic psychological reactions to change:
At the end of the day all sources of resistance to change need to be acknowledged and people’s emotions validated.
It’s far better to anticipate objections than to spend your time putting out fires, and knowing how to overcome resistance to change is a vital part of any change management plan.
12 typical reasons for resistance to change:
- Misunderstanding about the need for change/when the reason for the change is unclear — If staff do not understand the need for change you can expect resistance. Especially from those who strongly believe the current way of doing things works well…and has done for twenty years!
- Fear of the unknown — One of the most common reasons for resistance is fear of the unknown. People will only take active steps toward the unknown if they genuinely believe – and perhaps more importantly, feel – that the risks of standing still are greater than those of moving forward in a new direction
- Lack of competence — This is a fear people will seldom admit. But sometimes, change in organizations necessitates changes in skills, and some people will feel that they won’t be able to make the transition very well
- Connected to the old way — If you ask people in an organization to do things in a new way, as rational as that new way may seem to you, you will be setting yourself up against all that hard wiring, all those emotional connections to those who taught your audience the old way – and that’s not trivial
- Low trust — When people don’t believe that they, or the company, can competently manage the change there is likely to be resistance
- Temporary fad — When people belief that the change initiative is a temporary fad
- Not being consulted — If people are allowed to be part of the change there is less resistance. People like to know what’s going on, especially if their jobs may be affected. Informed employees tend to have higher levels of job satisfaction than uninformed employees
- Poor communication — It’s self evident isn’t it? When it comes to change management there’s no such thing as too much communication
- Changes to routines — When we talk about comfort zones we’re really referring to routines. We love them. They make us secure. So there’s bound to be resistance whenever change requires us to do things differently
- Exhaustion/Saturation — Don’t mistake compliance for acceptance. People who are overwhelmed by continuous change resign themselves to it and go along with the flow. You have them in body, but you do not have their hearts. Motivation is low
- Change in the status quo — Resistance can also stem from perceptions of the change that people hold. For example, people who feel they’ll be worse off at the end of the change are unlikely to give it their full support. Similarly, if people believe the change favours another group/department/person there may be (unspoken) anger and resentment
- Benefits and rewards — When the benefits and rewards for making the change are not seen as adequate for the trouble involved
Expecting resistance to change and planning for it from the start of your change management progamme will allow you to effectively manage objections. Not dealing proactively is one pitfall – but there are many other common mistakes:
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12 reasons why people resist change — http://www.torbenrick.eu/t/r/hwj
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Excellent blog post.
Change in my experience is one of those areas that seems simple in theory but tough in practice. The key in my experience is to change hearts and minds.
Duncan Brodie
Goals and Achievements Ltd
Nice thoughts, All relevant….
well said at the end that “To win people’s commitment for change, you must engage them on both a rational level and an emotional level”. Something I too believe in.
Surabhi Rastogi
Draft n Craft
I have posted this list previously on the web, but it bears repeating. It reinforces what you are saying with your list of 12 items.
In my experience, here are the top 5 enablers or assets that assist change, followed by the top 5 obstacles to change.
Top Enablers/Assets:
1)Your organization and you are experiencing a crisis, perhaps one that threatens your existence and, like a tsunami coming ashore, relentlessly drives you before it.
2)Everyone is focused on that crisis. Have you ever been on a plane and heard a loud “boom!”? Everyone goes quiet; people look around or at each other, and wonder “What was that?” They are alert and prepared to meet the danger.
3)Leadership that shows the way forward, and channels peoples’ fears and panic, hopes, dreams of survival and better days, and energies.
4)A willingness to “link arms” and work together to emerge from the crisis together.
5)A strong survival instinct, where the tagline is “failure is not an option.”
Top Obstacles to Change:
1)A comfort level or even fixation with the way things are, remarkably, no matter how miserable or painful. People would rather complain than change.
2)A fear of the unknown, or better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.
3)Weak or non – existent leadership.
4)Infighting.
5)The belief that failure is a perfectly acceptable option, and maybe even the preferred solution.
Excellent list and explanation! Awareness of these reasons why people resist change can go a long way towards overcoming that resistance. Seeking input, communicating plans, and listening to concerns go a long way towards resolving many of these obstacles to successful change implementation.
Thanks for sharing!
Chris
Last sentence is key for me. Too many people assume that because the business case and rationale stacks up people will change. Emotional engagement trumps rationale every time
I would suggest these traits of management style that set the environment for failure. Communication, Trust, competence, “old ways” etc. re enforce a stagnant culture. As we all know, if management isn’t demonstrating the behavior that is desired, why would anyone else??
The last sentence replaces the rest of the article.
When the workforce are engaged with change they will support it.
When they are not they will resist it.
If we know how to engage the workforce we will do so and experience the amazing experience of working with the workforce instead of against them.
If we don’t know what to do to allow the workforce to engage we will continue to look in lists like this for the things that we can do to them to prevent them from resisting what someone else wants to do to them.
Engagement is not something we “do” to others to achieve an end.
Engagement is the way that people feel about what they do and we can’t change that.
What we can do is to create the environment that will allow people to engage, then they will choose to engage, we can’t make them.
Peter A Hunter
http://www.breakingthemould.co.uk
The last sentence replaces the whole of the article.
When the workforce are engaged with change they will support it.
When they are not they will resist it.
If we know how to engage the workforce we will do so and experience the amazing feeling of working with the workforce instead of against them.
If we don’t know what to do to allow the workforce to engage we will continue to look for lists like this for the things that we can do to prevent them from resisting what someone else wants to do to them, change.
Engagement is not something that we do to others to achieve an end.
Engagement is the way that people feel about what they do, and we can’t change that.
What we can do is to create the environment that will allow them to engage, then they will choose to engage for themselves, we can’t make them engage.
Peter A Hunter
There is one more source of resistance, though maybe something on this list is meant to cover it. The loss or threat of loss of something important. Sometimes the uncertainty of what will be lost generates the fear and resistance. Sometimes what is being lost, is very clear, e.g., power and control, privileges or benefits, status, identity, and of course many other possible things. When change takes something away that is important, some kind of resistance may arise.
Excellent article! Change is hard for many people and requires repeated reassurance, very clear communication for both management and staff as well as a great deal of patience in order to achieve long-lasting results.
Such common sense, yet so often forgotten. Thanks for the reminder
The graph is more powerful than the 12 reasons from trainer’s perspective.
The last sentence replaces the whole of the article.
When the workforce are engaged with change they will support it.
When they are not they will resist it.
If we know how to engage the workforce we will do so and experience the amazing feeling of working with the workforce instead of against them.
If we don’t know what to do to allow the workforce to engage we will continue to look for lists like this for the things that we can do to prevent them from resisting what someone else wants to do to them, change.
Engagement is not something that we do to others to achieve an end.
Engagement is the way that people feel about what they do, and we can’t change that.
What we can do is to create the environment that will allow them to engage, then they will choose to engage for themselves, we can’t make them engage.
Peter A Hunter
The gross presumption of the writer and management attendees of the article is not surprising considering the degree of dysfunctionality of the worldview presented. If the cause for change comes from management itself, that management itself operates from fallacious principles, then resistance is necessary. If a workforce is subject to abrasive, belligerent, and threatening management then common morality and ethics mandates resistance. The hypocracy of modern American business is that while persons in management conduct their own lives under common conventions of social contract and morality, they demand to be excused from the same conventions in the business place — they insist on treating subordinates in any manner they please for the good of profits, stockholders, or the mere ego of the CEO. Moreover, the perspective of the writer assumes that might is right, that authority bears no responsibility in its actions…as long as the flow of authority is maintained. I submit that this cancerous false pride within American management is ‘the’ poison pill that has brought our nation to its knees economically. Without ethics and morality in business, the pursuit of profit becomes a workplace nightmare. With millions upon millions of Americans unemployed by no fault of their own, the premise of this article is beyond preposterous.