Organizational Resistance: Understanding how Competing Commitments Drive this Narrative.

Why Employees Resist Change (and How to Help)

Change is a constant force in today’s business world. Organizations need to adapt to stay competitive, but getting employees on board can be a challenge. This article explores why employees resist change and offers strategies to overcome that resistance.

The Three-Headed Hydra of Change

Rapid change can create significant problems for organizations. Imagine a three-headed hydra representing the challenges of change:

• Employee disengagement: Employees become uninterested and uninvested in their work.
• Organizational resistance: People actively oppose or are hesitant towards the change.
• Slow adoption of new processes: People take a long time to start using new systems or ways of working.

This article focuses on the middle head: organizational resistance.

Why We Fight Change

We might think employees resist change because they’re lazy or afraid of hard work. However, research by renowned adult development researchers Kegan and Lahey suggests a different reason: competing commitments.

Competing Commitments Explained

Imagine you want to lose weight for your wedding. You start a workout plan, but you keep skipping workouts and eating unhealthy food. Why? Because you have competing commitments:

• You’re comfortable with your current weight.
• Your family might not expect you to be thin.
• You don’t want to exercise long-term.

These competing commitments make it hard to reach your goal (weight loss).

Immunity to Change

Kegan and Lahey say our resistance to change is like our immune system fighting off a disease. They call this our immunity to change (ITC).

Uncovering the Hidden Reasons for Resistance

Kegan and Lahey developed a three-step process to help leaders understand employee resistance:

1. Ask questions: Help employees identify their competing commitments and assumptions about the change.
2. Examine assumptions: Employees take a closer look at the reasons behind their resistance.
3. Change behavior: Employees adjust their behavior to support the change.

This process takes time and may require additional resources depending on the organization’s size and complexity. However, it can reveal valuable insights into why employees are resisting.

Turning Resistance into Support

People naturally want to change, but competing commitments can hold us back. As a leader, you can help employees overcome resistance by:

• Understanding their concerns: Actively listen to their reasons for resisting the change.
• Addressing competing commitments: Help them identify and remove these hidden roadblocks.

By helping employees overcome resistance, you can turn them into champions for change.

Fresh Approaches for Successful Change

Traditional methods of dealing with resistance, like lectures or incentives, often fail. By understanding competing commitments, you can develop more effective change management strategies. This will lead to smoother adoption of new processes and ultimately, a more successful organization.

Source:

“The Real Reason People Won’t Change,” by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, HRB Onpoint, © 2001 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp.