Leadership role in change management

People, and the organisations they create and inhabit, seldom welcome change. For the most part, they are resistant and reluctant, believing that there is great comfort in the familiar and greater security in the present way they work. As a result, they tend to resist new ideas and new ways to think about old ideas. They suffer, as some say, from hardening of the categories.

Unfortunately, our present, and certainly our future, is all about change. In fact, there is a wonderful adage that describes the issue succinctly: The only constant is change. Ultimately, both individual and organisational success may well depend not on how well we resist change, but how well we embrace it. After all, at its most basic, leadership is all about managing change. But what are people so resistant to change?

What is it about change that people in general most fear? Mostly, from my workplace experience, it is due to loss of power and prestige, reallocation or loss of resources, loss of autonomy, intrusion into personal and professional domains, changing definitions of success, altered reward systems, fear of technology and above all fear of having to relearn.

Now that we have a basic understanding of the reasons behind change resistance, let’s look at a handful of strategies for overcoming internal resistance to change. To do that, we need to first understand the physics of change.

There is a saying among Newtonians that a body at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. In other words, if the pressure to change is not greater than the resistance to change, little will happen. Understanding and sometimes applying these outside forces is critical to understanding and bringing about change, especially transformational change. 

Now that we understand both the fear and physics of change, let’s take a look at some strategies designed to help you overcome resistance to change.

First and foremost, always clarify the change event. In other words, what’s the issue? If you cannot clarify the specific threat or opportunity in real, concrete terms, you can’t advance. What’s more, the change event must be identifiable not only to senior managers but to all employees involved.

Next, you must create a sense of urgency. An organisation might suffer due to poor performance. But a sense of urgency can only be created if the impact on wages and other factors directly affecting the employees is indicated. To create a sense of urgency, key audiences must understand in real and concrete terms how the change event will affect them. 

Develop a course of action and communicate it widely. Once you have identified a threat or opportunity, you must develop a course of action that is clear and simple and communicate it widely, clearly indicating each one’s role. If it is not clear and simple this might lead to more complications.

While the vision for a change may originate with one person, the actual change process must be accomplished through a partnership with believers who, in response to a threat or opportunity, developed a unified response. This guiding coalition must be large enough to have an impact on the organisation, but small enough to act in a truly coordinated fashion. Furthermore, this coalition must include major and minor players and be as cross-functional as possible, drawing from all segments of the organisation. 

While significant change is typically a long-term undertaking, people need to know immediately that their efforts are having some impact. Thus, ensure that near term wins are celebrated while reminding them of the long-term objective and what the gains will be once achieved.

Anchor change in the organisation. Change begins with people, but it is institutionalised through artfully developed policies and procedures, realistic budgets, measures of success, and ongoing training. You simply cannot ask people to change without giving them the tools to change. This support must be real, obvious, and given freely. At the same time, people who opt not to change must be dealt with or their recalcitrance will spread. One of the quickest ways to control any undermining of change is to ignore people, if possible, who will not embrace and even sabotage the change initiative.