Don’t resist change embrace it. Change management processes have done wonders for many organization involved in various industries. Many organizations have benefitted from the process during the time. However, almost 70 percent of change management initiatives fail and does not produce desired results. Many of these initiatives fail due to the leadership’s inability to anticipate the resistance and incorporate appropriate steps to counter or tackle it.
Resistance is a very normal part of any change management initiative and it is our perspective and approach towards resistance that plays the deciding factor in driving our change management initiative successful or unsuccessful.
Getting to know the resistance
To efficiently manage resistance, it is important for one to understand and know the resistance. There are many instances where resistance have played the key role in bringing out the change and hence, resistance should not be considered negative or unhealthy every time. Usually, resistance occurs due to the inertia exerted by human nature to stay in their comfort zone.
One might see resistance as something that hinders the change initiative but in reality, it is nothing more than an unbalanced form of implemented tools and techniques that procures challenges in the process. The leadership of any organization initiating a change management process needs to eliminate these abnormalities and equate the entire process with a healthy and balanced counterpart which pushes them in a positive direction rather than just pulling them down.
One can easily recognize resistance in the organization or in the workforce by observing their behavioral patterns and responses to various implemented changes. In almost all the cases of resistance, the main reason why people resist change is because of fear. Now, fear can be of anything, from fear of losing the job to fear of change impacting the person’s role in the organization. Moreover, as mentioned above, change also pulls out the people from their respective comfort zones and asks them to work in a completely new environment with unknown variables.
Here’s how to manage resistance
Efficiently managing resistance is the key in thrusting any change management initiative through the doors of success. The best way to manage resistance is to anticipate it and plan accordingly. This includes making strategies to make your workforce confident and comfortable about the change. Having a clear insight of what is going to come will always help one in sidelining resistance from the entire process. Training and programs that facilitate the manpower and equips them with the required skills to survive the change is another key method to manage resistance. Moreover, most of the people fear change and become insecure about their roles and responsibilities. Hence, delivering a unique and structured program that make the team member confident about their position and make the optimum use of their skills and potential always acts as a catalyst in the entire change management process.
Team Faber Infinite Consulting have helped numerous clients from different industries across geographies in successfully implementing change management programs and embracing the resistance to have the most optimized and beneficial results. Our structured and designated frameworks have been able to smoothen the change processes and have created an exceptional bond between the management and the employees. For information about change initiatives and resistance to change, contact us at consulting@faberinfinite.com
Written & Compiled by Faber Kishlay & Faber Mayuri.
