How To Deal With Resistance in Change Management

Change isn’t always pleasant, no matter how well we ease into it. This is also true in corporate settings where changes in management can be seen as a difficult but necessary means to improve old systems that no longer work or that are ineffective. And to get to your goal, you may have to face tremendous resistance.

To deal with resistance in change management, you have to know why employees resist the change, listen to their objections and criticisms, and involve them in the process of implementing change. You also have to know where the resistance will come from and address issues early.

In this article, I am going to discuss five different ways you can effectively deal with resistance in change management in your workplace.

1. Understand Where the Resistance Is Coming From

To effectively deal with the resistance, be it widespread or limited to one department, it’s crucial that managers and other key staff understand where the resistance is coming from. Seeing the resistance as mere annoyance won’t solve the problem. In fact, the more hostile you are towards this negative feeling about the change, the worse the issue can become.

Understanding the root cause of the issue will help you develop deeper empathy towards employees, which can change the game altogether. People respond well to sincerity, and they will know if you’re reaching out to them out of a result-driven desire to stop gaps or out of a genuine concern for the issues that are at hand and their well-being.

To give you a headstart, here are some of the most common reasons why employees resist change management:

It’s Natural for Change To Create Anxiety

We wish change were something that people readily accepted, right? Sadly, that’s not the case. And no matter how positive the intention is behind the change management, people won’t always look at it as a good thing. And one of the biggest reasons for that is it triggers anxiety about the future.

Something as major as a change in management can make people feel insecure about their place in the company, and questions about how it will affect their workload, environment, and even performance ratings will naturally crop up. It can make people anxious because they’re not sure about how things will play out.

The Change May Be Hard To Adapt To

Imagine you’ve been in a company for ten years, and then, suddenly, a major change happens that affects key factors that influence how you are expected to do your job. Overwhelming, right?

Habits that have been long-ingrained are hard to change, and those with particularly long tenures may find it hard to adapt to the shifts going on around them. In other words, they may not be resisting because they simply don’t like what’s going on, but because they’re finding it hard to adapt to those changes.

And that’s not a fault on their part. Well, not all the time. But it’s helpful to come to a place where you are able to see a real and valid concern.

People Don’t Understand the Need for Change

Other times, people resist because they just don’t get why it needs to happen. Maybe they feel like the old way of doing things was effective enough, or maybe they just don’t see how the old methods are negatively affecting outputs, like sales or the company’s financial status.

When this is the cause of the resistance, you will likely hear people say something like, “What’s so wrong about how we used to do things?” It’s natural for people to prefer the old way of doing things. It’s familiar. It’s comfortable. Which is why some will refuse to see the good that the change can do.

Nevertheless, it’s necessary to address these questions, because unless they appreciate what’s happening or see it as crucial for growth, it will be impossible to convince them to get on board.

Employees Feel Left Out

You will most likely see this happening among senior staff. They may resist the change because they feel that they’re not being valued or given a say despite their many years of service. This often occurs when change management happens without consulting with the staff or giving them an opportunity to participate (at least in part) in the decision-making.

While it’s not always possible to give employees a say in how things will be run, it’s important to give them ample opportunity to voice out concerns, recommendations, and even criticisms towards plans that will affect them.

People Are Not Ready for the Change

The timing of the change also matters. If you are experiencing a major transition, such as a change in leadership, it may not be the best time to implement another significant change in the organization.

So, if you’re experiencing a great deal of resistance, try to get a feel of where the organization is at. Are the people ready for it? Better yet, make sure that you have a good grasp of the organization’s status and its readiness for change management before effecting it.

Sometimes, new programs are not received well (and, therefore, are unable to fulfil their purpose) because they were not implemented at the right time.

Employees Expect Heavier Workloads

In a work environment where employees feel as if they are stretched too thin or are constantly under too much pressure, change management may not be all that welcome. This is because the new developments may be perceived as additional burdens to carry on top of their already spilling over workloads.

This can happen when changes in business operations are implemented without first explaining what they will actually do, how they will affect employees, and what their benefits are.

In major operational changes, it’s important to hold meetings where employee questions can be addressed and the specifics of the change can be explained to them thoroughly.

2. Listen to Employee Objections

People complain for a reason. And it’s essential in dealing properly with resistance in change management that objections (as well as questions and other concerns) are addressed with openness and respect. If these objections are not addressed head-on, they will eventually circulate, creating much greater resistance than what you had to deal with at the beginning.

How To Make Employees Feel Heard

As in any situation, we want to be heard. We want to feel that our opinions matter. The same is true in any organization. When managing resistance, you will not only be dealing with managers (who will be the most vocal about their feedback) but also the people under them.

So you can deal with specific managers strategically, keeping in mind that you are not only speaking to them, but to their teams as well. Here are some ways you can make employees feel that they are valuable members of the organization:

Involve Staff in Decision-Making

See a need to implement new programs? Do organizational systems need revamping? Don’t just do those things alone. Make sure that employees are aware that there are things that are in the works, and that you want to know their thoughts about them, unless in situations where decisions must be kept confidential.

This is a great way to inspire collaboration, teamwork, and cooperation. In the end, when you need to implement those changes, you will have people who are willing to work with you because they understand what they are for and believe that you’re on the right track.

Receive Criticism With Grace

Part of dealing with resistance is receiving feedback. Some may be positive, while others can be tough to swallow. Make sure to receive criticism with an open mind and see whether there are things that can actually be useful.

Treating criticism as an attack against the organization or the leadership can only make matters worse. It’s much better to acknowledge and accept feedback objectively, which communicates that you are willing to listen.

3. Go Easy on the Change Management Implementation

Major organizational changes are not to be effected haphazardly. To be effective, they have to be done with lots of preparation, consultation, and even dialogue with the parties concerned. It’s never a good idea to simply announce a big change across all departments and expect that things will go smoothly from then on.

It has to be a thorough process that begins long before the actual change takes place. Here are some ways you can implement change management effectively.

Provide Appropriate Training

It’s natural to encounter resistance during a transition phase, but it’s definitely worse in an organization where people are not sufficiently trained to be capable participants in the transition. When people are equipped and prepared, they are less likely to resist and, even if they resist at first, more likely to eventually cooperate.

Trainings are also a helpful way to not only equip your team but to empower them to take on bigger responsibilities when needed or take on new tasks that they had previously never done.

And when conducting training, make sure that they are done across all departments and throughout the entire organization. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and will minimize conflicts later on.

Provide Necessary Support

During the early stages of a transition, people may have a hard time adjusting to the changes around them. New systems will not run like clockwork (just yet), and people will encounter difficulties. This is all part of implementing change management.

To make sure that no one is lost in the process, providing training is not enough. There also has to be sufficient support in place for everyone, which means that every employee must have access to important resources anytime they need to or that managers are ready to help them out with questions that they can’t find solutions for in other resources.

Give Ample Adjustment Time

Lastly, as long as you have made the necessary preparations and are ensuring that the transition goes smoothly, resistance should not last long. Once people are well-equipped, the process of adapting to a new way of doing things will eventually become less and less painful for everyone.

It typically takes about three months before organizations get used to major transitions, which means that you should give your team at least this amount of time to adjust, get familiar, and learn the ropes again.

4. Be Ready for Employees To Resist

Another way to effectively deal with resistance is to be ready for it. Expect it, because it will happen. Here are some ways you can do that.

Know Where Resistance Will Likely Come From

Resistance will not always will organization-wide. In order to reinforce the transition well and manage resistance, you have to be able to pinpoint which departments (and even which managers) will make the most noise.

To help you determine these key areas, you can answer these questions:

Who will be most heavily affected by the change?
Who will have to make the biggest adjustments?
Who is most likely to have the most difficult time adapting?

You can add to these questions depending on the nature of the change and what your organization’s culture is like. But these will help you determine where your problem areas will most likely be.

Prepare To Face Objections

Facing criticisms and objections is not easy, but any major organizational change is guaranteed it. When you know where the resistance will come from, you will also be able to figure out what their objections will be.

One of the best ways to respond to objections is to have a clear and in-depth understanding of what the change will require, why it’s necessary, and why it has to happen now. Most objections that you face will most likely be answered by this, which means it’s crucial that you are sure not only of the move but how it will benefit the whole organization. Including those that resist the change.

Properly Address Valid Concerns

Sometimes, memos are enough to address employee concerns. Other times, meetings have to be called, or further consultations have to be conducted. Acknowledging employee concerns properly based on their sensitivity and importance helps communicate that the organization is open to the issues raised by its employees.

5. Track Outputs and Review Performance

Finally, you can deal with resistance by setting in place certain metrics to track outputs, performance, and the overall status of the organization. This will help you ensure that the goals that you want to achieve through change management are met and sustained.

Final Thoughts

Change is never easy, and those who implement it are bound to face backlash, criticism, and, frankly, just a difficult time. Those that don’t are the exception. However, through the steps that we mentioned above, resistance can be managed effectively so that your organization can reap lasting results.

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