How to Prevent the Fallout from People Resisting Change

Part 1 of 4:

Have you noticed the amount of change seems to be compounding? The only way to sustain the change we’re attempting to make, and to save time and money in the long run, is to intentionally lead people through that change.

​We need to carve out time, attention and resources to prevent the fallout from people resisting change.

10 tips to prevent fallout from people resisting change:

1. Take a good look at all the major change that is happening in your organization. How many new projects or products, IT system changes, reorganizations, new employees, etc.

2. Do you have a clear vision for each major change initiative? Are you helping people understand it and get engaged around it?

3. Proactively provide as much information as possible.

4. Respect that people progress from the current state to the future state differently.

5. Understand DiSC styles and how they impact your change initiatives.

6. Knowing and caring about each person will help you be aware if they have a lot of personal change happening that might be compounding their amount of transition. Divorces, marriages, moves, babies, breakups, family member issues, hurricanes and other natural disasters… these all add to the change threshold.

7. Be realistic about the time it will take to make change happen.

8. Be mindful of your desired culture and don’t sacrifice it for short term gains.

9. Measure people’s engagement levels. The method you use will depend on your company size.

10. Provide training and development in change management, leadership, emotional intelligence, and effective meetings.

It’s true, the only thing that’s constant is change. Yet we seem to spend the least amount of time on intentionally managing and leading change. Many managers are not truly respecting the change process, whether they’re unaware, impatient or unrealistic.

I’d love to hear your management challenges with getting people to embrace change. Which step is most difficult (1-Awareness; 2-Desire; 3-Knowledge; 4-Action; 5-Perseverance) from The Five Steps of Change?  (If you aren’t using this model yet, you can access it in Chapter 6 of Leading With GRIT, available in Kindle and hard copy).