In every
organization I managed change so far, the business case for change was rapidly
made. The decision makers than base their decision on the benefits towards the
cost without further ado. From that moment a monster of resistance is set free.
Sources of resistance can become infections and the whole process become obstructed.
Everybody
who finds himself stuck in a process of change that went sour, wonders what
they could have done different at the start. Let’s look at the start of a
change process with a focus on potential resistance.
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First
of all there is a big difference between identifying the cost of change and
mapping resistance. Resistance will cost time and will delay the ROI of the
change. It is therefore fair to say that resistance is the variable costs of
change. Because of its complexity, it is not frequently brought in the equation
of the change business case.
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Mapping
the resistance is not possible, mapping its potential is. This is done by
valuing the status quo of teams and departments and the position (or distance) they
have in the core processes the change will interfere with. For each team or
department you score the potential damage that full resistance will cause.
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Resistance
will grow or fade away, often under the influence of involvement. Clever
communication around change creates a pseudo-involvement that keeps many
on-board. Effective communication tools are often used before and during change
are brainstorms and workshops. Involvement differs from influence.
Workshops used for influence are geared for informed decision making, and
brainstorms used for influence are geared for first drafts of action plans. Workshops
and brainstorms can be very effective involvers. In many cases where
organizations organized sufficient workshops and brainstorms for people to get
involved, the level of resistance was considerable lower.
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Recently
we started to apply social media as communication tool to make the process of
involvement more continues. Blogging, micro-blogging (Yammer etc.), interactive
newsletters, video-casts, dedicated Facebook sites etc. have all been applied
with great success. Still the real life meetings like workshops are necessary,
but the frequency can be reduced dramatically. The results are that due to a
near permanent involvement and opportunity to react and reflect, resistance
could be dealt with in most instances.
Still resistance
to change will be an important part of any managers change project, but at
least the tools are proven and should be applied.
