People resist change.  They don’t like it and often just say ‘why?’.

When you change the way your business operates or if you need to make significant changes to keep pace or get ahead of your market, you can’t just ignore pushback. Left alone, if will drag down performance and morale.  You need to address it – and fast. The first step is to understand why someone is resisting and help them get to a place where they can accept the change.

One of the most effective ways to do this is through an open and honest discussion with each individual.  Here’s how to handle it:

Sound preparation

1. Set up the meeting.  Make it clear that it’s about talking through the proposed change and how they feel about it.  It’s not  and a complaint session.
2. Prepare a short document with the proposed changes and space for them to add their thoughts. Ask them to complete this document in advance and bring it with them to the meeting.

 The meeting itself

• Begin the meeting by going through the completed document. Although you might not necessarily agree with all their concerns, it is important to listen carefully and take their comments on board. Being heard helps cut through any confusion or anxiety.
• If the team member raises issues that genuinely do need to be addressed, ask them to suggest some potential solutions to the problem in the first instance. Some ideas may work straight away; others may need checking with other people involved in the change process.  Tell them what your next steps will be and when you’ll update them.
• Be honest with the individual. If it is not possible – or desirable – for you to alter any of the aspects of the change initiative, then say so. Explain the rationale for this and outlining the potential benefits. If you don’t have an answer yet, tell them that you’ll come back with one.
• Work together on ways they can handle the change or approach it in a more productive way. Encourage their ideas first before contributing your own and ask for honest views on your suggestions.
• Bear in mind that an employee’s negative feelings about a change may stem from feelings of insecurity or a lack of confidence. Give clear reassurance (e.g. about the security of their job or your confidence in their abilities) where possible.
• Identify the best solutions and agree on how these will be implemented. Remember that a solution that benefits the employee might not always benefit others, so avoid implementing any ideas that might have a negative impact on the rest of your team.
• If you and the person reach an impasse it is important to recognise this and bring the conversation to a temporary close. Agree to reconvene after a couple of days reflection to continue talking.

Following up

Agree a time to hold a review meeting with the team member within a few working days. At this follow-up meeting, ask them how they now feel about the change and address any new issues or concerns that might arise. If the employee had questions in your first meeting that you couldn’t answer straight away, aim to have the answers ready for this follow-up meeting, if not before. As with the first discussion, it is important to remember that the purpose of this exercise is to listen carefully to the team member’s concerns and ideas and to help them understand and accept the change.

Use the information gathered to learn from it

After your meetings with the employee, it’s important to review the information you have gathered to assess whether there are any aspects of the employee’s feedback that might help to improve the way your team, department or the wider organisation approaches change. One of the employee’s concerns might particularly resonate with you, for example and you may be keen to find out how the organisation could approach this aspect of change differently in the future. To get a clearer picture of whether the employee’s concerns reflect those of the team as a whole consider inviting other team members to meet with you to discuss their own feelings about the change. Even employees who have responded positively to it may be able to offer valuable insights into how the change might have been handled more effectively.

If, after this period of assessment, you conclude that genuine improvements could be made to the way in which the organisation manages change, you should talk this through with a trusted colleague before considering whether to raise your concerns with a senior manager.

Last word

With any change initiative there is bound to be some resistance from at least some people. Talking through team members’ concerns with them in a structured, pragmatic way allows you to help them understand and accept the change and to mitigate the damaging effects that resistance can have on morale and performance. Remember, though, that these conversations are also an excellent opportunity to identify areas for improvement when it comes to managing change, so it’s vital to approach these discussions with an open mind and to give team members’ concerns due consideration.

David Turner
MD Tinderbox and Director of The Growth Experts