We’ve received a number of comments on a recent post, “Why Is Change So Difficult?“ Many of you commented that top management holds the key to overcoming resistance to change, yet company leaders sometimes don’t lead very effectively. Well, top management, here are some suggestions for overcoming resistance to change:

1. If you say “we need to change” and you don’t follow that up with a rationale, education, support, and guidance, you lose credibility with your employees. You have to lead, and not just with words. You have to show what change will look like, how it will come about, and give your people an honest, accurate cost-benefit analysis (i.e., it will take x, y, and z and may cause some short-term pain but we’ll be a stronger company in the long run).

2. Acknowledge employees’ stake in the outcome. If you think company owners are the only ones who have a stake in whether the company is successful and profitable, you’re looking at the situation too narrowly.

Your employees all have a crucial stake. If the company maintains the status quo and falls behind its competitors as a result, many employees may be out of a job. It’s in their best interest to see their company grow and change with the times.

Whether you know it or not, the majority of employees feel the company’s products are their products. Acknowledging this sense of pride in ownership will only reinforce their sense of worth and investment.

3. You value your employees’ insights. They’re involved from day to day in all the low- and mid-level processes. They see many things you don’t. Furthermore, you don’t have time to look for all the little details. Trust them to know what’s going on and invite their observations and criticisms.

4. At the same time, understand that your employees have different backgrounds and, therefore, different perspectives on your situation. They all have an interest in seeing the company change and improve, but how they read the company’s situation — and how they’d go about effecting change if they were in top management’s seat — will vary. Value the different viewpoints and use them to your advantage.

5. Understand the needs and requirements of the company at the different levels. Have you had a good talk with customer service, purchasing, or production lately? How do they see the company? What do they think the company needs to move forward? What do they need at their level to make change work?

6. You didn’t hire the best just to sit on their experience and talents, did you? You believe their personal and professional growth is in their best interests and yours, right? Well, why not make use of all that they have to offer? Show some trust in their knowledge and instincts…and in yours. It doesn’t make sense not to.

7. Everyone working together toward a common goal gives employees a sense of belonging and togetherness. “We’re in this together” isn’t just a slogan: it’s how exceptional organizations are run. It’s how companies like yours stay ahead of their competitors.

How does your company encourage change? How do you involve your employees in change? How do you get them to buy into the idea? I look forward to your comments.

What is it about us that makes change so hard to accept and even harder to manage? Where does resistance to change come from and what can we do about it?

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”
Winston Churchill, 1874-1965

Well, there is no ready solution (especially not in the space of this blog post). The word “change”, in whatever context, has always made people react with varying degrees of fear, frustration, and/or anger (or “FUD”). Yet, change goes on all around us, all the time. Much of change (the expanding waistline,  for instance) happens so slowly and subtly that we don’t notice it until well after it’s taken place.

Some change is thrust upon us. We hear around the office that “change is in the wind” and we feel threatened and anxious.  Let’s say your company has elected to implement a quality management system. Even if the current situation is not good — your customers are letting you know your product quality has slipped by walking away — many of us would still rather have the status quo.  Better the devil we know than the one we don’t…right? (“We just have to make our stuff better…that’s all.”)

The organization has to deal with resistance on a personal and an institutional level. Each is difficult to overcome and, like it or not, both must be dealt with.

Personal Resistance

If I say to you, “We’re going to change the way we do things around here”, what’s your reaction?  You have an emotional reaction, don’t you?  Probably a mixture of shock, anxiety, apprehension, and a few other gut feelings.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

You may feel unprepared. You may fear being left behind. Certainly, if you’re like most you don’t like the idea of leaving safe, familiar territory. (Besides, you haven’t done anything wrong.)

Experience may tell you to anticipate interpersonal conflicts in the course of change. It might also tell you to watch out for interoffice conflicts (power grabs, backstabbing…that kind of thing).

Institutional Resistance

Larger companies have a harder time with change, due to inertia (i.e., “It’s the way things have always been done around here”). With the current state of the world economy, there’s the question of where and how to expend your limited time and other resources, not to mention that as resources are harder to come by, the company’s focus narrows considerably. (“We need to increase sales now!“)

Then there’s that 800-pound gorilla in the room — office politics. Whenever — wherever — there is change, some stand to lose power and others, to gain and consolidate. People forget about what’s best for everyone and concentrate on self. “Office politics” is probably the single biggest obstacle to change. Let me amend that — office politics has a hand in change, but not the change we really need.

“Change is the only constant.“
Heraclitus, 535-475 BCE

Understand that resistance to change exists.  It may take unusually strong leadership — someone with uncommon vision and fortitude — to overcome individual and organizational resistance to change.

Make no mistake, though — change is a part of us. Are you taking an active role in change, or do you passively submit to it? Which of those will bring the kind of change you want and need?

Is change — or change management — a problem for your organization? If you were in charge, what would you do differently about the problem?

Last week, we identified “communication” as the most important means to achieving success, the one tool your managerial toolbox cannot do without.  Without effective and timely communication, project development and implementation will suffer and as a result, the organization will have a difficult time reaching its project objectives.

Of course, there are other barriers to project success.  Good communication will take care of a lot of problems but not all — human nature being what it is.  Whether you’ve been a project leader or part of a project team, you’ve undoubtedly run into one or more of the following problems:

1. Lack of Clarity. Some or all employees don’t know or don’t understand the project goals, objectives, roles and responsibilities, etc.  What are their individual goals and how do they relate to the goals of other team members, and to the project?  Stakeholders don’t see what they have to gain if your project plans aren’t clear, and everyone must have something to gain or they don’t cooperate.
2. Inadequately Researched or Defined Requirements. This is a major cause, if not the root cause, of lack of project clarity.  Be sure you and the user/customer agree on what is required.
3. Inadequate Resources. You considered and planned for project development and rollout costs, but what happens after rollout? What does it take to adequately inform, or educate, the customer?  Did you adequately address marketing, customer support, and maintenance needs?
4. Lack of Ongoing Customer Support. For some companies, contact with the customer ends with the sale. Did your plans account for the customer’s satisfaction and loyalty? Too many companies fall short in this regard.
5. Biases (Yours and Theirs). You’ve heard the phrase “overpromised and underdelivered”.  How many times does this happen in your business?  Why?  How likely are potential customers to believe you if they’ve already been burned.  What were their previous experiences?  Be sure to address these.  Also be sure to address your company’s attitudes toward existing customers (see “Ongoing Support”).
6. Technology Gap. Where is the customer on the technology continuum? If your solution is technology-based, consider the amount of training that will be required within your implementation process.  Also, be sure you know what their most pressing needs are and solve them.  Don’t give them more than they need and don’t shoot wide of the mark.
7. Resistance to Change. An individual’s degree of resistance to change is a major factor: While it may seem counterintuitive to you, many people prefer the devil they know to the one they don’t.  Be aware of that and have a plan for dealing with it.  Make sure the customer knows the benefits of your project early on and how they will far outweigh any temporary pain they might feel.
8. Lack of Time. See “inadequate resources”.
9. Not Invented Here. You still see a lot of this from customers: “How can you expect to come in here and solve our problems when you don’t have any experience in our business?”  That may be a purely defensive posture.  One of the messages often underlying that question is, “Once the project is complete, jobs will be lost, etc.”  You have to be able to answer that in your project plan.  Also see “biases” and “resistance to change”.
10. Political Barriers. You lack support from critical areas/functions.  Maybe people are unwilling to step forward for various reasons.  What’s the company culture like?  Are they historically proactive or reactive?  What are their real motives for seeking you out?  Is the project supported all the way from the bottom to the top of the chain of command?

We need to remind ourselves now and again that careful, thorough planning prevents most problems.  The problems you don’t prevent in the project planning phase – and you’re never going to prevent them all, but – they’re a lot easier to identify and correct when you have a sound project plan.