Managing resistance is ineffective when it simply focuses on the symptoms. The symptoms of resistance are observable and often overt, such as complaining, not attending key meetings, not providing requested information or resources, or simply not adopting a change to process or behavior. While they are more evident, focusing on these symptoms will not yield results. To be effective at managing resistance, you must look deeper into what is ultimately causing the resistance. Effective resistance management requires identification of the root causes of resistance—understanding why someone is resistant, not simply how that resistance is manifesting itself.
Change management best practices research provides a nice starting point for understanding the root causes of resistance. Results from the 2013 benchmarking study showed some important themes in the top reasons for resistance (reaffirming the results from previous studies). When asked to identify the primary reasons employees resisted change, study participants identified the following root causes:
- Lack of awareness of why the change was being made
- Impact on current job role
- Organization’s past performance with change
- Lack of visible support and commitment from managers
- Fear of job loss
With the knowledge of these primary root causes, change management teams can adequately prepare a compelling case for the need for change that is communicated by senior leaders in the organization. This simple activity targets the top cause for resistance (lack of awareness) and can ultimately prevent much of the resistance a project experiences. You can use additional benchmarking findings and your own experience with change in your organization to craft a list of likely root causes with activities to address and mitigate each one.
The Prosci ADKAR® Model and an ADKAR assessment also enables you to home in on the root cause of resistance by identifying an employee’s barrier point and addressing that root cause. ADKAR is a powerful diagnostic tool that can be quickly and easily applied by change management teams, managers and frontline supervisors in formal assessments or in casual conversations.
A final note on resistance to change: resistance is ultimately an individual phenomenon. While research and analysis can identify broadly the root causes for resistance, it is important to ultimately address resistance by individuals at the individual level. The best way to identify the root cause of resistance is through a personal conversation between a resistant employee and their supervisor, which leads us to the final tip for managing resistance.