I recently came across this quote in a Change Management forum.
To successfully implement change, you must first allow people to grieve for their loss.
What a complete load of twaddle.
I didn’t need time to grieve Windows 7 before I upgraded to Windows 11. I’m a bit sad about the abs I used to have before I had kids, and saying goodbye to my dear, sweet chocolate lab always makes me well up. But moving my invoices off of Excel to MYOB….not so much.
I don't believe people are resistant to change. In most cases, they just take it in their stride. Facebook and LinkedIn often change formats without warning. After a little whine, we just get on with it.
Much is written about the alarming speed things are changing, but change is BAU. Something in our life changes all the time. We accept it. It's not like it's 1956; you're the first house in the street getting a TV. Today, people change cars, phones, jobs, specs, and hair regularly.
(*Gladwrap did move the location of the cutting edge of their clingfilm to a stupid location, rendering thousands of people unable to wrap up their sandwiches, but I don't think they had a change manager on that project as there were no comms on the box.)
In this post, I’ll discuss why I think change resistance is mostly fictitious and why you should focus on change delivery instead.
For anyone reading this with steam coming out of their ears from handing out tissues in a nasty restructure, I know what I'm writing about here does not apply to what you are dealing with 💓.
The only time I had real change resistance was in 1988. I’m not kidding! I had to re-train local government secretaries to use word processors instead of electronic typewriters. These poor ladies were scared to death! They were worried if they couldn’t master the new technology, they would lose their jobs.
With careful and patient training, I was able to not only educate them but also empower them. Correctly forecasting that within a few years, there would be a computer on every desk, and these ladies would soon be the powerful computer experts in their offices. I still remember the WordPerfect 5.1 shortcuts - do you? What does Shift F7 do, ALT + F3?*
I believe 2023 we will have very little resistance to change.
“No please don’t give me a new faster lighter laptop I love my old, slow Dell brick with 23 seconds battery life."
“No, I don’t want to move from the dingy office in Market Street to floor 21 at Barangaroo... with the height adjusting desk and sparkling water on tap.”
Most employees are on board even with regulatory change because it ultimately protects the customer.
Most changes simplify processes and save time. Your challenge will be getting people to attend briefings and training so that they can fully understand and adopt the change.
Lack of engagement is not Change resistance.
Your perceived change resistance is a combination of you not delivering your change in the right formats for employees to consume and the right sponsors not getting behind your communication plan and reinforcing the change message.
Focus on great change delivery and stop worrying about perceived change resistance.
What if your change adds more steps, and tasks will take longer? There will be change resistance if we deliver a change that will result in more work for people.
I disagree.
We rarely deliver a pointless change. If something will take longer and have more steps, there is a good reason for it.
Time management, prioritisation and open communication with our leaders about what we can achieve in our roles are part of everyone’s job. During your change delivery, call out what people should do if they have issues managing their time. Are there other time-saving tips you can give them? Perhaps include a section about time management and prioritisation in training collateral.
We need to stop concentrating on change resistance and focus on excellent change delivery.
Don’t let a small cohort of miserable buggers shape your change delivery.
There will always be negative people in your change audience. They’re negative about everything and anything.
If you walked up to them in the street and gifted them a solid gold bar, they’d moan about how hard it was to carry it home.
You cannot please these people. Just think, some poor bugger might have to be married to them! Wherever possible, ignore these naysayers and concentrate on your early adopters who will champion your change and be ambassadors for your change.
Remember, some people are happiest when they are moaning.
The try-before-you-buy approach.
I suggest AAKDR instead of ADKAR.
I can’t desire something I don’t know much about.
In 2000, we were in the market for a luxury sports car. My husband wanted an Aston Martin, British racing green. For a few weeks, we visited car showrooms where snooty sales reps looked down their noses at us for bringing toddlers into a luxury car showroom. We’d never considered a Porsche, but one week thought we’d look anyway.
In less than 20 minutes, our little family drove out of the showroom in a silver Porsche.
“Take it for the weekend”, they said,
“Get away into the countryside, see how it works. Go grocery shopping and see if it works for your lifestyle. Check if the kids feel safe and secure in the back.”
Predictably, we asked if we could keep the car. Also, predictably, that one was unavailable, and we had to wait for a few weeks until another slightly more expensive one materialised.
After KNOWLEDGE and ACTIVITY, we truly DESIRED a car we were not even AWARE we wanted.
After purchasing the car, Porsche sent us on a track day to learn how to drive it. Deeper learning.
You often don’t DESIRE something until you’ve experienced it.
Think about What light learning and practice you can give your audience to get their buy-in. Then, what additional deeper learning can you provide to assist their development?
In summary
Delivering highly visible, engaging communication and learning about change gets most people on board. Participation and engagement of your audience will always be a challenge, but that's why I'm here to give you cool tips and ideas :)
As always, please feel free to share, comment, and, of course, completely disagree :)
*SHIFT F7 is print and ALT + F3 is reveal codes
Thank you 🙏 Sharon! I was in stitches 😂! AAKDR - true that. We still have a “Godzilla”, Nissan GTR which used to have a baby seat in the back. Coming back to carparks, we used to find faces shielded with hands stuck on the windows peaking with comments “see people with babies still drive these”. 🤣
Well done 👏!