How you deal with resistance as a change manager will determine more than anything else whether your change project succeeds. It is true that you will never make all stakeholders happy with such a project. But if too much china is broken in the course of the transformation process, it can no longer be straightened out - with negative consequences for interpersonal relationships in your organization, for the working atmosphere and - sooner or later - also for the balance sheets.
I am therefore of the opinion: how to overcome resistance should be the focus of change management. Here you can find out more about:
- Overcoming resistance in change processes: Five practical tips
- Not all resistance is the same: When which strategies work
- Everyone reacts differently, but many similarly: Four prototypes you'll have to deal with
- Five principles for your change strategy: you can't get past these principles
Overcoming resistance in change processes: Five practical tips
In order to further develop an organization, you need a plan and a lot of experience. At the end of the day, there are five key aspects:
1. Make overcoming resistance the core of your strategy.
Like all ambitious projects, every transformation process almost inevitably causes resistance among those affected. Yes, it would actually be more worrying if this were not the case. This would tend to indicate that something is fundamentally wrong.
But this can be tempting to brush aside resistance by arguing as follows:
- Some employees simply need a little longer to get used to the new circumstances. Over time, they will gradually get used to it.
- There is no point in resisting a transformation process that is unavoidable. Sooner or later, even the critics will realize this.
- Where there's planing, there's chipping. We must not lose sight of the transformation goals. There is always collateral damage.
I am convinced that thinking like this is a mistake. Precisely because change processes provoke resistance, you should pay particular attention to them and make countermeasures the focus of your strategy.
2. Increase the willingness to change.
If you adapt your own structures and processes to the change - for all to see - you make it clear that you yourself are also convinced of the goals of the transformation process. This inspires confidence in your leadership and increases your employees' willingness to change.
Managers should not just accept their role as change agents. They have to live it!
3. Involve employees in the change process.
Change processes are stressful. In order to remain fully focused on the process, change managers can be tempted to severely limit their availability. In my opinion, you should do exactly the opposite: approach your employees and seek a conversation with them.
This will achieve at least three things:
- Your employees will have the opportunity to articulate their objections, concerns or fears.
- You emphasize how important your employees are to you.
- No one wants to simply be overrun by a development. When you engage with your employees, you involve them in the process and make them stakeholders.
4. Communicate what it's all about.
Your employees will most likely ask the same two questions again and again during the transformation process.
The first relates to the why. This involves questions such as:
- Why are we actually implementing this process?
- What are the reasons for this?
- What is this all about?
The second question concerns how the process will work:
- How will the change process work?
- What measures will we take in detail?
- Will these measures also affect me?
- Will my role or job description change as a result of the transformation?
You will be confronted with these questions very early on. As concrete, detailed and comprehensible answers as possible should therefore be part of your change communication right from the start.
5. Proceed according to plan
Every change process goes through several phases. Exactly how many and which ones is not important. Some models work with five (Krüger), others with seven (Streich), others with eight different phases (Kotter).
However, such a classification is an effective tool for controlling the process. Once you have determined which phase the process is currently in based on your preferred model, you can gain the following insights:
- How far you have already come.
- How mature your organization currently is for change.
- What information you can communicate at this stage of the transformation process.
On this basis, you can determine the measures that are right at this point in the process.
Conclusion: Smart change management is effective
My tips for successful change management are:
- Overcoming resistance is part of your core business. Make this a strategic goal.
- You have to be willing to do this. Increase your employees' willingness to change.
- Those who join in don't stand in the way. Make sure you involve your employees in the transformation process.
- Communicate at eye level. Each time your employees ask why and how the transformation process is taking place, respond in detail.
- All in good time. Always take measures that are appropriate to the phase the process is currently in.
Not all resistance is the same: When which strategies work
For strategic goal planning, it is important to know the reasons behind the rejection of a change process. A distinction can also be made between different forms of resistance. The following six are the most common:
1. Natural resistance
Characteristic expression: "I don't understand why we should change this at all."
Background: There is a lack of information, for example about the why and how of the change project. This uncertainty provokes resistance.
Countermeasure: Make information available that is fact-based, detailed and comprehensible.
2. Dogmatic resistance
Characteristic expression: "What's the point of all these changes? I'm doing my job well!"
Background: The skeptic sees a difference between their goals and those of the transformation process.
Countermeasure: Gradually work out that there is in fact no difference. You should start from the skeptic's self-image and state the values and goals very precisely.
3. Functional resistance
Characteristic expression: "Why should I work with the new tool (with the new team, with ...)? I haven't done that before either!"
Background: Fear that qualifications and experience are not enough to cope with the new situation.
Countermeasure: Offer individualized and practice-oriented training courses where participants can experiment with the new tools.
4. Resistance that demands justice
Characteristic expression: "Why should I be the only one wearing safety shoes? The production manager doesn't wear them either!"
Background: Novations don't affect everyone - or are implemented inconsistently.
Countermeasure: Emphasize the positive consequences of following the rule and implement the rule consistently.
5. Resistance that preserves the status quo
Characteristic expression: "Why does my job description suddenly have to change? Everything has been going well so far!"
Background: Fear of a loss of status.
Countermeasure: Clarify why individual employees enjoy certain privileges and use corresponding positive or negative incentives.
6. Opportunistic resistance
Characteristic expression: "Of course I'm in favor of change! But it makes my work more complex and demanding. And I should be rewarded accordingly."
Background: The attempt to silver the agreement to the process.
Countermeasure: Clarify whether and, if so, what leeway there is for negotiations and respond to the deal accordingly - or not.
Everyone reacts differently, but many react similarly: four prototypes you will have to deal with
Depending on how strongly they oppose the transformation process, the members of an organization can be assigned to one of up to four prototypes: the promoter, the sceptic, the obstructionist and the obdurate.
1. The promoter
The promoter is your friend. They have no or very few reservations about your project and will therefore support you as much as they can.
The key with promoters is to involve them as closely as possible in the process: Make the promoter a so-called change agent, i.e. a multiplier who has a far-reaching impact on the workforce by regularly updating them on the latest developments - and feel free to provide them with background information unofficially from time to time. As a change agent, the promoter is indispensable. Your goal should therefore be to attract and activate as many promoters as possible to your side in the early stages of the change process.
2. The skeptic
The majority of skeptics have purely objective reservations. In my experience, this is typically an expert or specialist who has been part of the organization for a very long time.
There are therefore at least two reasons to take the skeptic's objections seriously. Firstly, to demonstrate that you value his person and expertise. As a specialist, the skeptic wants to be heard. Secondly, his factual and well-founded objections should be well-founded.
In any case, you should present factual arguments to refute the skeptic's reservations. Because as soon as he realizes that you are taking him seriously and actually considering his objections, the chances of convincing him of your project are very good.
And if this happens, you will have gained a particularly committed ally. After all, if the process were to fail after all, the skeptic would also have a lot to lose. In any case, it is one of the first major milestones on the way to overcoming resistance to your change project.
3. The brakeman
Behind the reservations expressed by the brakeman are certain fears - which, of course, he would never admit to having publicly.
You will therefore not convince these employees through works meetings or group discussions: you can only get to these employees in personal one-on-one discussions. So make such a discussion format part of your change and project communication - for example in the form of a regular consultation hour in which employees can ask their questions about the change project. If you succeed in reducing the brakeman's private fears, there is a good chance that he will give up his resistance and cooperate in the change process.
4. The obdurate
First, the bad news: no matter how effective your change communication is, you will never reach some employees, as personal and factual reservations block any communication.
There is a risk that the general rejection of the unteachable will grow into destructive behavior that gradually infects more and more employees. Accordingly, the aim here is not to overcome resistance. The aim is to curb its further spread.
The good news is that, according to relevant studies, this prototype represents a minority. Because of the Pareto effect, you do have to invest a lot of effort to prevent the negative sentiment from spreading. But the unteachable usually only represents around a fifth of the workforce.
Five principles for your change strategy: You can't get around these principles
A change strategy should be based on the following five principles:
1. Define a realistic transformation goal.
Draft a realistic picture of your organization together with all those responsible of how it should be at the end of the transformation process. The focus should be on three things:
- the unique selling points of your product or service,
- your core competencies and
- the core values of your corporate culture.
Highlighting your own strengths gives your team the courage to see change as an opportunity. However, this can only succeed if top management actively represents and communicates the new target image to the organization.
2. Introduce guidelines for managers.
It is not the bureaucratic regulations of all the details that hold an organization together, but basic values and principles that all managers share.
One of my clients, a mechanical engineering company, for example, stipulated that employee appraisals should take place at least once a month. But how often the team and department heads used this tool beyond that was up to them.
3. Focus on structural change.
Simplify structures - slowly but surely. Work across departments to break down incrustations and get paralysed processes back on track.
Flatter hierarchies prove their entrepreneurial value time and time again: employees greatly appreciate being able to act independently in rapidly changing environments.
4. Let the organization learn.
No member of an organization - from the gatekeeper to the chairman of the supervisory board - is perfect. But there is no need to regret this: Mistakes are the engine of the learning and development process that a changing organization urgently needs. A positive error culture makes it possible for employees to take risks and look for new solutions.
Encourage this!
5. Establish an active transfer of information.
Employees need uninterrupted access to all relevant information, especially in the middle of an ongoing change process. Therefore, ensure an active transfer of information. This can be achieved, for example, by a hotline that proactively provides the most important information, while further information is available in a CRM if required.
In any case, information transfer is one of the most effective tools of change management alongside change communication.
