Understanding and managing resistance to change

Everyone has a different capacity to adapt to change. This means you may witness a range of reactions to a proposed change within the same team.

Even with the best project plans in the world, if you don't manage reactions to change effectively, your change initiative won't be successful. So how can you keep everyone on board?

Individual comfort zones

First, it can be helpful to understand why people react differently to change – and how these reactions can affect the success of change plans.

Everyone has a comfort zone: a way of operating and understanding their world within which they feel safe. And everyone's comfort zone is unique. Something that might stretch one person’s comfort zone may be hardly noticed by others.

Some stretching of people's comfort zones is healthy. Some gentle challenge may build confidence as people realise they’re capable of more than they realised.

However, sudden or significant change, or too much change, can cause stress and anxiety. For example, changes such as moving to a different office, changing working patterns or having a new manager can feel disorienting. The result is that people will tend to retreat to where they feel safe and can become resistant to change.

Resistance is a natural response to change. Recognising and manging it effectively is crucial when you want to implement change.

So how do we manage the obvious and less obvious resistance to change? Here are some actions you can take.

Involve your team

Firstly, allow space and time for your team to raise their concerns. Then work together to find shared solutions.

We include more guidance on involving and consulting stakeholders in these steps:

• Developing a change management plan
• Communicating change and consulting stakeholders.

Acknowledge resistance

If people raise concerns, don’t ignore them. Ignoring resistance will mean it quietly festers and could grow to be a much bigger problem. Instead, acknowledge and engage with it.

Listen and don't make assumptions

Once you’ve acknowledged resistance, ask questions and dig deeper to understand what lies behind it. Listen to what people tell you and try to see the situation from their perspective.

Try to understand what might be causing your stakeholders’ concerns. Does your plan have some real weaknesses? Are they worried about their own capacity or skills? Is it possible they feel they don't have the ability or knowledge necessary? Or are they going to lose status or control?

Just because someone has spoken out, don't assume they’re the only one resisting change. There may be many more quietly agreeing with them. Try to draw out these concerns by creating plenty of opportunities for feedback and discussion.

Introduce change gradually

You’re more likely to alleviate concerns if you give people time to adjust. Where possible, introduce change gradually, gently stretching boundaries, allowing people's confidence in their ability to change to grow.