Introduction
All businesses introduce and must respond to change, and wherever there is change, there is some form of resistance, commonly driven by fear or a lack of understanding of what change will mean for affected groups and stakeholders.
Business transformation programmes are all about change, so how can we prepare effectively to meet change head on?
There are a few fundamentals to consider:
Any transformation which seeks to change what people do and how they do it will inevitably face some form of resistance – therefore, we must start by recognising the need for change management to help us work our way through the transformation and its impacts
For change to be most impactful, it must be approached collectively across all affected and supporting business functions and stakeholders. Achieving broad buy-in to the vision, goals and objectives of the transformation will generate a shared sense of momentum and understanding about the impacts of change
Creating consistent messages and communication with clear, visible executive commitments to transformation outcomes is essential to set the tone for the direction of travel. Few things kill transformation progress faster than inconsistent or conflicting messages from different stakeholders
Allowing change resistance to become overt will increasingly undermine your transformation goals – it must be managed, and the earlier you start the more control you will have over successful business outcomes
Ultimately, the need for those business outcomes is why you start a transformation programme in the first place. Assuming that the benefits of transformation are compelling and active management of change takes place, keeping everyone’s eyes on the prize offered by the realisation of your goals will focus all key stakeholders on helping sweep resistance to change out of the way.
Why Do People Resist Change?
The easiest way to sum up why people resist change is to introduce and understand why people might fear it. The diagram opposite summarises Claverton’s approach to identifying the causes of change resistance as a basis for how transformational change is managed. The most common reasons resistors cite when faced by transformational change are:
Fear of the unknown - changing structures, affected roles and responsibilities and people’s personal feelings of self-worth being under threat all contribute to the ultimate question everyone has: what does it mean for me?
Politics - change can threaten divisional structures, entrenched practices, power bases and can lead to there being winners and losers……….which losers may fight hard to prevent
It is actually happening! Now?? When change moves from the concept stage to become reality, it hits home, and some people may start to push back harder than they had done previously
Transformations often mean increased expectations about both overall business, functional and personal performance levels. People often worry about improvements in performance management and the more onerous demands they expect it will place upon them
How to combat change resistance?
When faced with all these pesky change resistors, it is useful to have some techniques to bring to bear. The figure below lays out Claverton’s simple five-stage model for evaluating and addressing change resistance.
There are many nuances to executing an effective change management strategy, however experience shows that there are five consistent elements:
Identify Key Resistance Reasons: understanding why people resist change is pivotal. The same reasons emerge consistently from programme to programme, so having experienced change managers in your transformation team can fast-track the preparation of your change management plan
Identify Key Resistors: people resist change, whether individually or in groups. Identifying which stakeholders could cause the most disruption if they are not on board is a key component of a good stakeholder management plan
Develop Strategies to Combat Resistance: combined understanding of the groups and individuals within your organisation, along with the drivers of change resistance allows you to produce strategies for combatting resistance. The most successful transformation programmes start change management from day 1 of ideation, as the vision is being shaped. Embracing change management thematically helps to predict areas of resistance and puts management actions in place before opposition can gain momentum, helping to avoid subsequent conflict
Engage Stakeholders: transformation programmes can be complex and challenging, but they can be phenomenally painful and stressful as well. To avoid the latter, stakeholder engagement needs to be inclusive, comprehensive and consistent
Sell, Don’t Tell: when faced with threatening change, people often respond adversely to being told to get with the programme, rather they may try to actively resist any change and seek excuses why it won’t work or they can’t help. Consequently, successful transformations sell the benefits of change and explain the business imperatives that drive the need for it. The result is a sense of acceptance that the change is necessary, even if individual people don’t like it or are afraid of the personal impact on them.
Even with all these elements applied, change leaders must remain vigilant to manage those people who remain uncomfortable – because there certainly will be some. To find out more about how to manage disruptive influences, read our forthcoming blog “The High Wire Act” in which we discuss in more detail why people fear change and how to develop individual strategies to help them.
Conclusion
Identifying change drivers at inception lead to more effective change management. The essence of successful change is to:
Anticipate that change resistance is highly likely
Understand the dynamics of change resistance
Engage people early and often to shape your transformation vision, goals and objectives
Follow a clear, proven model for identifying and managing change needs
Build a clear change management plan, factoring the needs of key groups and individual stakeholders
Communicate, communicate, communicate (sell, don’t tell)
To talk to us about how to equip your transformation programme to deliver effective change contact us at info@clavertonconsulting.co.uk or 0117 325 7890.
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