Resistance and Change

In consulting and working with organizations regarding change, a major concern surfaces when I hear questions like:

"What do we do about the resistors?"
"How do we lower the resistance?"
"What if people don't buy-in?"

It is our natural inclination to deal with resistance by combating it, "pushing back" or in some other way getting defensive. We know from our experience that rarely works. And while we know those approaches don't work, we resort to them anyway.

In my experience you will only change your response to the resistance when you view the resistance differently. We encounter three basic initial responses when sharing a change with others:

- Acceptance
- Resistance
- Apathy

Assuming you'd pick acceptance as your first choice, let me ask you a question - would you prefer resistance or apathy? While you might be tempted to think apathy - after all in the moment of conversation that might be easier - in the end you know you don't want apathy either.

When people are apathetic they don't care. When people are resistant, they are engaged, just not sold.

The next time you encounter resistance, remember this mathematical equation,

resistance = engagement

then respond to the resistance you encounter hopefully, openly and eagerly. Your new response will not only be more pleasant, it will be more successful.