Understanding the root cause of resistance to change:

A useful model to consider a person’s journey through change has been developed by Prosci and is known by the acronym ADKAR.  These are 5 steps that are sequential and cumulative.  For a change to be implemented and sustained an individual must progress through each of the milestones:

ADKAR

Awareness of the business reasons for change. Awareness is a goal/outcome of early communications related to organisational change. ‘ Smart Engagement & Communication’

Desire to engage and participate in the change.  Desire is a goal/outcome of effective sponsorship and resistance management. ‘ Visible Change Leadership’

Knowledge about how to change.  Knowledge is a goal/outcome of training and development.‘ Strong Individual Performance’

Ability to realise or implement the change at the required performance level.  Ability is a goal/outcome of additional support, practice and time. ‘ Supportive Organisation & Culture’

Reinforcement to ensure change sticks. Reinforcement is a goal/outcome of change measurement, corrective action and recognition of successful change. ‘ Meaningful Change Measurement’

Some key steps for managing resistance individually:

• Listen and understand objections
  • It is critical to listen to concerns – in many cases people simply want to be heard and to voice their objections
  • Understanding these objections can often provide a clear path to resolution
  • Listening can also help managers identify misunderstandings about the change
• Focus on the ‘what’ and let go of the ‘how’
  • For some changes it is effective for managers to let go of the ‘how’ and simply communicate ’what’ needs to change (focus on outcomes)
  • This process transfers ownership of the solution to the employees
  • Employee involvement and ownership builds desire to support the change
• Remove barriers
  • Fully understand the individual situation with the employee.  What may appear to be resistance may be disguised barriers that the employee cannot see past
  • Identify barriers clearly
  • Determine ways in which the University may be able to address these barriers
• Provide simple clear choices and consequences
  • Building desire (see ADKAR model) is ultimately about choice
  • Managers can facilitate this process by being clear about the choices employees have during change and about the consequences
  • By providing simple and clear choices along with the consequences of those choices, you can put the ownership and control back into the hands of employees

Some key steps for managing resistance:

• Create hope
  • Many people will respond to the opportunity for a better future
  • Managers can create desire to change by sharing their passion for change and by creating excitement and enthusiasm
  • People will follow a leader who can create hope and who they respect and trust
• Show the benefits in a real and tangible way
  • For some employees, seeing is believing.  Demonstrate the benefits of the change in a real and tangible way:
  • Share case studies
  • Invite guests to provide testimonials
  • Visibly demonstrate the success of pilot programmes or trials
• Make a personal appeal
  • A personal appeal works best with honest, open relationships where there is a high degree of trust and respect.
  • A personal appeal may sound like:
    • ‘I believe in this change’
    • ‘It is important to me’
    • ’I would like your support’
    • ‘You would be helping me by making this change work’
• Convert the strongest dissenters
  • If you can convert the strong and vocal dissenter they can become the strongest advocates
  • They are often equally vocal in their support as they were in dissent