Why Are Employees Resistant to Change?

The CEO and owner of a 120 employee, non- unionized packaging company wanted to motivate his employees to increase productivity and reduce costs, so he presented a plan to share a percentage of profits with all employees. The plan did not require employees to work longer hours, or even work harder than they already were, to get the basic level of profit sharing. However if they could improve results, increased rewards would come their way.

The CEO and executive team were stunned when the employees rejected the plan altogether. They did not want a share of profits because they did not trust management and believed there was a hidden ulterior motive. They felt threatened by the change, even though it was going to benefit them.

FACILITATING CHANGE
In Marcus Buckingham's recent book The One Thing You Need to Know he draws on his years of research with The Gallup Organization to identify the one thing you need to know to be a great leader. Great leaders "rally people towards a better future." In other words, leaders create change! When you lead someone, you are taking them somewhere different.

To my mind that means you cannot be successful as a leader unless you are skillful at facilitating change. The skill is to facilitate the change taking place, not to implement change. Implementing change is easy. Getting others to embrace the change and make it work is where the skill is needed.

Trust Reduces Resistance to Change
The employees in the packaging company example above were suspicious of the CEO's motives in introducing a profit sharing plan, because of no past experience of him demonstrating generosity toward employees, and just twelve months earlier he had installed security cameras that were trained on employees to "keep an eye on them."

When change is perceived as a threat, the natural response for any human being is to react in a defensive way. It is the survival instinct. If your survival is threatened, you will either fight or flee. Resistance to change is a natural reaction when the change is unexpected, unclear, or is seen as causing negative consequences.

One of the most powerful models we have in our leadership programs we refer to as the Change Cycles. When people feel threatened by change and react defensively, it is an instinctive reaction designed to maintain the current situation and prevent the change from taking place. We call this reaction to change a Maintenance Cycle (see diagram).

When trust is low, resistance to change is heightened. Or as Stephen M. R. Covey said in his recent book At the Speed of Trust: "when trust is low, speed is slow and cost is high." Conversely, "when trust is high, speed is fast (low resistance), and cost is low".

Seeing Change as an Opportunity
Leaders who are skillful at facilitating change know that every communication and interaction they have with each team member is either building trust, or diminishing trust. So they consciously think about what they say and the decisions they make to ensure they are building trust, not diminishing it.

Secondly, they get their team members involved in discussing problems or proposed changes so they understand what is happening and have the opportunity to contribute ideas and concerns, before final plans are presented.

When employees have the opportunity to be involved in the change process, they are much more likely to see the change as an opportunity and behave in a constructive and supportive way. We call this a Growth Cycle. When there is a high level of trust and people are asked for their input and listened to, they feel a sense of ownership and have a vested interest in making the change successful.

For a more complete article on this subject with four steps to getting others out of a Maintenance Cycle click here.