Read change 3: Resistance to change

Resistance has many faces: open resistance, passive resistance, resistance in disguise. Resistance will bother the change agent, especially as the type of change (change of values or norms which need to be rooted in the behaviour of people) requires participation, active cooperation or even enthusiasm.

Resistance may show up in all phases of the change process. Resistance can be present at the start, when the necessity to change is investigated, if people do not enough accept or experience the necessity. Resistance will be painfully perceptible in the phase of implementation, when the objectives of change have to be translated to actual actions. And again: the more active participation plays a role, the more it will be difficult to deal with resistance. Changes, in which training and coaching of workers are crucial elements, can be fairly well obstructed by resistance.  In other words: resistance can lead to a lack of support of those people who are at stake.

Expressions of such a lack of support go from passively waiting and negating the changes, via delay and misunderstandings, via impalpable sabotage to finally open opposition.

An obvious way to break resistance is to launch the intended changes more forcefully. But such a counter pressure leads often to intensified resistance. Something different has to be done.

The change agent has to begin to understand, decode and re-code the resistance.

A positive scheme of thinking about people implies that people want to change. If people in an organisation do not join the changes, then their natural willingness is blocked by something. Such a blockage can be a consequence of a lack of a feeling of urgence, a lack of wanting the change or a lack of capacity to change.

• The feeling of urgence.
  Someone will be willing to change if he or she really experiences the urge to change and if the people in the workplace have a positive attitude towards the change. Thus if the boss and the colleagues agree with the change or when they show some enthusiasm because of the change. The sense of urgency can be influenced by information on the actual performance of the organisation and the (future) demands.
• The will to change.
  Someone will be willing to change if (s)he is convinced of the positive results of the change and believes in the positive effects on the work and on the organisation. The will to change can be influenced by motivating.
• The capacity to change.
  Someone will be willing to change if (s)he is running the process of change her/him-self, as much as possible. Thus if someone can agree with the way the process is directed, if money and time are supplied, if the involvement is as big as possible and if the complexity of the change can be overlooked. Good experiences with previous changes can be helpful.
  The capacity to change can be influenced by a high degree of participation.

The change agent will be able, with he help of this decoding key, to investigate the willingness to change and to predict the presence of resistance.

Questions: 

• which consequences for the work do the workers expect of the intended change?
• what kind of emotions are evoked by the intended change?
• are the workers convinced of the positive effects of the change?
• are they involved in the process of change?
• what is the attitude of others (management,  colleagues) towards the change?
• what is the experience of the workers with previous changes?
• have the workers enough time and other means to their disposal, in order to realise the change successfully?
• is the process of change well-directed guided?
• do the workers consider the change complex?
• is the process of change at the right moment?

Wanting to (motivation), having to (urge) and being able to (capacity) are three necessary ingredients for a successful implementation.

A combination of presence and absence of those three ingredients can lead to specific problems:

• motivation OK, but no capacity: frustration. Solution: training.
• motivation OK, but no urge: delay. Solution: anticipatory experiments.
• urge OK, but no motivation: reactive attitude of personnel. Solution: motivation.
• urge OK, but no capacity: paralysis. Solution: capacity building
• capacity OK, but no motivation: nothing happens. Solution: create take-off energy
• capacity OK, but no urge: everything waits till the market forces a change. Solution: look for other urge.

The urge (to have to change) is the crucial element at the start and the decision making of the change process. Action: mobilise.

The motivation (wanting to change) is important in the phase of acceptation. Action: negotiate, coach and convince.

The capacity (being able to change) is crucial in the phase of implementation. Action: support, plan and simplify.

Resuming:

• do ask yourself if the resistance can be understood as deficits in the willingness to change
• check in which phase the process of change is
• think if actions are possible that will cover fully the (decoded) diagnosis of the resistance.