Change with Confidence: Answers to the 50 Biggest Questions that Keep Change Leaders Up at Night

Chapter 36

How Do I Overcome Resistance?

Any significant transformation creates “people issues.” New leaders will be asked to step up, jobs will be changed, new skills and capabilities must be developed, and employees will be uncertain and resistant.

—John Jones

Resistance to large organizational change is natural. People tend to fear what they don't know or understand, and colleagues will focus on imagined negative consequences when they sense that life as they know it will change. Adopting something new raises the possibility of instability, losing something of value, more work, and personal failure, and if these perceptions are not managed, people will resist change.

Identifying the reasons for resistance—everything from passive compliance, ...