Resistance to Change Is a Fact of Life.
Resistance to Change Is a Fact of Life.
If the shocks of a new technology or rapidly evolving markets are driving the change, all of the above can and most likely will be a factor in resisting change. Shifting roles, confusion, uncertainty, lack of control, a personal sense of loss, the re-negotiation of power and the ambiguity and chaos brought on by the unknown are the constant companions of change. To most, change is neither sought after nor welcomed. It upsets what little balance you may have in your life.
In light of this, you fall back to the safety and protection of the status quo. Resistance takes on two forms, active and passive. Active resistance is easy to spot. It’s very vocal. Blaming, arguing, rationalizing and outright intimidation are common signs of active resistance. Passive or silent resistance to change are much harder to spot but can be just as detrimental to the change process. Passive resistance takes the form of ignoring or not participating in the change process. Procrastinating or taking forever to implement a change is another stall tactic. The worst tactic used is pretending to go along with the change but actually doing nothing to support it. But active or passive resistance to change is not done out of spite or malice, it’s simply your reaction to the unknown. You want to know what’s going to happen to me. Once that question is answered to your satisfaction, one of the greatest barriers to change is removed.
Two Types of Resistance To Change
ACTIVE PASSIVE
Arguing Ignoring
Ridiculing Non Participation
Blaming Procrastinating
Distorting Not Implementing
Tracking Mishandling
Sabotaging Withholding
Threatening Pretending
Intimidating Avoiding
Blocking
Rationalizing
To stay on the leading edge of change, requires the skills of mastering change. Thought determines action; correct thought determines correct action. It is important that our views about change and its implications are contemporary and sound. Let's look, then, at the realities of change.
It's been over 25 years since Alvin Toffler published Future Shock, a book based on the dread that most people felt about the future. When asked what big things he didn't anticipate, Toffler said that one central error of Future Shock is that it wasn't radical enough.
We tend to think that change, especially significant change, as something that happens to other people. We don't really think it will affect us until it actually does. In other words, we don't believe as the world changes it will change us.
It has been astutely noted that the difference between a recession and a depression is this: in a recession, your next door neighbor loses his job, in a depression, you lose your job. Impersonal change is an abstract concept. We can't be adequately prepared for the future until we realize that the changes impacting others will almost certainly affect us as well.
Managers often make the mistake of assuming that once a change is started, that employees will see that it is going to take place, and get on their side. This is rarely the case.
Because change causes fear, a sense of loss of the familiar, etc., it takes some time for employees to 1. Understand the meaning of the change and 2. Commit to the change in a meaningful way. It is important to understand that people tend to go through stages in their attempts to cope with change. Understanding that there are normal progressions to change, helps you the manager avoid under-managing change or over-reacting to resistance.
When making strategic changes, organizations need sensitivity to the psychological effects of change on people. They also need the people to see change not as a threat but rather as an opportunity for personal growth and a new beginning. Our world is constantly changing and yet change is perhaps the most problematic and misunderstood and resisted phenomenon in our personal and business lives. It is important to take charge of change rather than having it take charge of us!
T o better deal with change, think of the typical three stages of change we all experience in the change process:
Endings: This is characterized by a period of grieving or loss of how it was or the old way of doing things.
The Neutral Zone: This is where confusion and ambiguity is common. We are still trying to hold on to what was and figure out what will be. For most of us the Neutral Zone is the most anxious, perplexing and difficult of the three stages.
Beginnings: This is where we start to focus on the upside of change and begin to see the possibilities and a better future. It is here that we often experience exhilaration, a realization that we are highly adaptive individuals and that we can actually make changes.
The feelings are like those we have as we attempt a high dive. We don’t want to jump, but finally do, (Endings) only to find ourselves in mid air and not know what it will be like when we land. (Neutral Zone) When we finish the dive we begin to feel a sense of accomplishment. (Beginnings)
We should alter our image of change as a smooth flowing river and think of change more as a whitewater experience. Both can be navigated but whitewater takes more skill, intelligence, experience and determination.
Change is neither good nor bad, it just is. What is good or bad is how we react to and manage change.
Copyright Information:
You MAY reprint the information contained in this article as long as no portion of the contents are modified and it used “exclusively” within your organization. You must also give credit to information by including the tag line...Roger M. Ingbretsen, Author, Speaker, Leadership Coach, Organizational and Career Developer.
Resistance to Change Is a Fact of Life - To learn more about this author, visit Roger Ingbretsen's Website.
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Individuals continually resist change. The causes for resistance are many. We often think tomorrow is going to look like today. In our work life, lack of management support or employee buy-in are two prime reasons sighted as the root cause of resisting organizational change. Lack of understanding the situation, implementation plans which miss their mark, bureaucracy and people not seeing a critical reason to change are others.
If the shocks of a new technology or rapidly evolving markets are driving the change, all of the above can and most likely will be a factor in resisting change. Shifting roles, confusion, uncertainty, lack of control, a personal sense of loss, the re-negotiation of power and the ambiguity and chaos brought on by the unknown are the constant companions of change. To most, change is neither sought after nor welcomed. It upsets what little balance you may have in your life.
In light of this, you fall back to the safety and protection of the status quo. Resistance takes on two forms, active and passive. Active resistance is easy to spot. It’s very vocal. Blaming, arguing, rationalizing and outright intimidation are common signs of active resistance. Passive or silent resistance to change are much harder to spot but can be just as detrimental to the change process. Passive resistance takes the form of ignoring or not participating in the change process. Procrastinating or taking forever to implement a change is another stall tactic. The worst tactic used is pretending to go along with the change but actually doing nothing to support it. But active or passive resistance to change is not done out of spite or malice, it’s simply your reaction to the unknown. You want to know what’s going to happen to me. Once that question is answered to your satisfaction, one of the greatest barriers to change is removed.
Two Types of Resistance To Change
ACTIVE PASSIVE
Arguing Ignoring
Ridiculing Non Participation
Blaming Procrastinating
Distorting Not Implementing
Tracking Mishandling
Sabotaging Withholding
Threatening Pretending
Intimidating Avoiding
Blocking
Rationalizing
To stay on the leading edge of change, requires the skills of mastering change. Thought determines action; correct thought determines correct action. It is important that our views about change and its implications are contemporary and sound. Let's look, then, at the realities of change.
It's been over 25 years since Alvin Toffler published Future Shock, a book based on the dread that most people felt about the future. When asked what big things he didn't anticipate, Toffler said that one central error of Future Shock is that it wasn't radical enough.
We tend to think that change, especially significant change, as something that happens to other people. We don't really think it will affect us until it actually does. In other words, we don't believe as the world changes it will change us.
It has been astutely noted that the difference between a recession and a depression is this: in a recession, your next door neighbor loses his job, in a depression, you lose your job. Impersonal change is an abstract concept. We can't be adequately prepared for the future until we realize that the changes impacting others will almost certainly affect us as well.
Managers often make the mistake of assuming that once a change is started, that employees will see that it is going to take place, and get on their side. This is rarely the case.
Because change causes fear, a sense of loss of the familiar, etc., it takes some time for employees to 1. Understand the meaning of the change and 2. Commit to the change in a meaningful way. It is important to understand that people tend to go through stages in their attempts to cope with change. Understanding that there are normal progressions to change, helps you the manager avoid under-managing change or over-reacting to resistance.
When making strategic changes, organizations need sensitivity to the psychological effects of change on people. They also need the people to see change not as a threat but rather as an opportunity for personal growth and a new beginning. Our world is constantly changing and yet change is perhaps the most problematic and misunderstood and resisted phenomenon in our personal and business lives. It is important to take charge of change rather than having it take charge of us!
T o better deal with change, think of the typical three stages of change we all experience in the change process:
Endings: This is characterized by a period of grieving or loss of how it was or the old way of doing things.
The Neutral Zone: This is where confusion and ambiguity is common. We are still trying to hold on to what was and figure out what will be. For most of us the Neutral Zone is the most anxious, perplexing and difficult of the three stages.
Beginnings: This is where we start to focus on the upside of change and begin to see the possibilities and a better future. It is here that we often experience exhilaration, a realization that we are highly adaptive individuals and that we can actually make changes.
The feelings are like those we have as we attempt a high dive. We don’t want to jump, but finally do, (Endings) only to find ourselves in mid air and not know what it will be like when we land. (Neutral Zone) When we finish the dive we begin to feel a sense of accomplishment. (Beginnings)
We should alter our image of change as a smooth flowing river and think of change more as a whitewater experience. Both can be navigated but whitewater takes more skill, intelligence, experience and determination.
Change is neither good nor bad, it just is. What is good or bad is how we react to and manage change.
Copyright Information:
You MAY reprint the information contained in this article as long as no portion of the contents are modified and it used “exclusively” within your organization. You must also give credit to information by including the tag line...Roger M. Ingbretsen, Author, Speaker, Leadership Coach, Organizational and Career Developer.
Resistance to Change Is a Fact of Life - To learn more about this author, visit Roger Ingbretsen's Website.
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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