If resistance is normal why do we ignore it?

People naturally resist change. Even those of us who like change have some initial resistance at the beginning.

And those people who don’t like change will resist it at the beginning and in the middle and …..

If resistance to change is natural and normal, then why do we ignore it?

I think we use the “hope” strategy when it comes to implementing plans. We hope it goes well. This is not the way to manage resistance to change.

You have to plan for that normal resistance and monitor it to ensure it is handled well.

Your history as an organization with planning is one of the main reasons people resist change. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, or it was a huge waste of time & money – means that you have resistance already built it. We recommend you get people from all levels of the organization involved in planning and monitoring the implementation.

Another reason we resist change are the losses associated with change. We resist these losses (often subconsciously) and therefore resist the change.

During the “Prepare to Implement” step of our Strategic Management model, we educate the planning team about natural resistance to change. Since it’s normal to initially resist change we help the planning team understand change and how to manage it.

Then we create a plan to handle the change.

Do you want your plans to be implemented more successfully? Would you like less resistance? Contact me: Valerie.MacLeod@HainesCentre.com