Overcome Resistance to Change.  How?
Help your Employees to Help You Create and Implement it Using Mentoring. 
How? Read On

Like many CEOs and OD professionals, you may have wondered at times, HOW CAN WE EFFECTIVELY MANAGE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE?

I know from experience that it isn’t easy or simple being fundamentally emotional in nature.

The irrationality of resistance to change is complex, frustrating and powerful.

The best way to manage it is, I believe, to help your employees to help you.

Easier said than done, I know.  How to do it? 

Macro big picture answer:

Empower your employees to drive change by enabling them to understand the need for it and by creating and implementing it together.

Micro practical processes answer:

Our bespoke, distinctive, and award-winning approach, proven by real-world outcomes with industry leaders like Lubrizol — where the business was saved from closure — and record breaking financial gains achieved at Pfizer, included 7 key processes:

Overcome Resistance to Change 1:
Listen to & understand your employees and culture

Because our approach is bespoke and different, we start with diagnostic sessions to build trust and clarity; a solid foundation for change; and to inclusively develop an imperative non-negotiable purpose for change that all employees can get behind and support.

In September 1962 President John F. Kennedy facing the prospect of a Russian cosmonaut called Yuri Gagarin being first into space said to the American people: 'we choose to go to the Moon'.

Although nobody knew if it could be done, by and large the American people got behind the vision and supported it.

In July 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon.

What is your version of, 'we choose to go to the Moon', for your business?

The listening process creates enthusiasm and boosts Employees' morale and loyalty by dissipating any resistance to change that is based on poor communications, rumours and suspicion.

Overcome Resistance to Change 2:
Use Mentoring to overcome resistance to change

The diagnostic listening sessions above also facilitate assessing the degree of receptivity to change.  For example, introducing and using Mentoring.

Our approach to mentoring creates in effect a mini-culture change in your business. 

The Mentor and Mentee/s will demonstrate through their mentoring behaviours that new and significant changes are possible for everyone's benefit.

They will be self-managing with real power to spend money and make decisions.

They will have as a central focus how to release and realise more of the mentee/s potential and, as a result, leadership potential and business potential.

They will become very positive influencers in your business for beneficial change including significant ROI (returns on investment)  and an enhanced, enjoyable working environment for employees.  

The old saying: from small acorns big oak trees grow, is a fitting metaphor for the benefits of using mentoring to overcome resistance to change.

Overcome Resistance to Change 3:
Empower autonomous Teams

Form self-managing high performance teams, accountable to leaders, with real decision-making and spending power.

This participative approach demonstrates genuine cooperation and willingness for everyone to learn from shared experiences and feedback of results.

Yes, but why teams?  They are not the answer to everything are they?

No, teams aren't the answer to everything but they do contribute 'a golden egg' I believe and have seen it many times from my experience.

It is called 'synergy', which in effect means that the sum of the parts (team members) is greater than the whole (team).  In other words, 2 + 2 = 5.

That is, when the teamworking is done correctly, the team's outcomes exceed what could have been achieved by individuals or a group of individuals.

Overcome Resistance to Change 4:
Create sustainable Intrinsic Motivation

Improve beyond "carrot & stick" tactics (a.k.a. money and fear) to unlock employees’ true potential, ownership, alignment with business goals and commitment.

This creates intrinsic motivation from which employees:

* experience achievements;

* receive recognition of their achievements;

* have more interesting work;

* benefit from significant applied learning;

* take responsibility and

* show personal and professional growth.

Overcome Resistance to Change 5:
Remove barriers, obstacles and inhibitors

Flatten hierarchies and eliminate silos to enhance synergy and collaboration and to enable employees to use their (free) life skills, exceed expectations and achieve greater results through change than they could have done by resisting it.

For example, Lubrizol avoided imminent closure because 70 employees demonstrated change that tripled productivity within one month.

Click here to read 'The Lubrizol Story' for which we were awarded a U.K. National Training Award. 

The judges described our approach as 'revolutionary and inspiring',

Overcome Resistance to Change 6:
Enlarge Leadership resources

Encourage leadership at every level, creating a more dynamic and responsive work environment. Integrate ‘Everyone a Leader’ (formal and informal) into your culture.

In most businesses this is already happening but is often unrecognised, invisible and unencouraged.

For example, an easy illustration is to consider a 24/7 business. 

At 3a.m. in the morning, who is actually running the business?

We know who isn't, don't we?

In most situations, it isn't 'management' or the formal leaders who make up the hierarchy. 

They are, quite rightly, probably tucked up in bed sleeping.

It is your employees who are in effect running the business, usually without being trained how to do it (something else Mentoring can help with).

Now, imagine operator A says to operator B, 'how do I fill in the batch record on the computer, I've never been allowed to do it before?'

At this point operator A has created a leadership situation by asking operator B the question.

That is, our definition of a Leader is 'someone to whom others turn for help, advice and support'.

And that is just what operator A did.  Neither employee A or B may understand it as 'leadership'.

What happens next is either operator B says, 'shove off, I'm fed up of you asking all your questions, I've got my own job to do', in which case operator A's enthusiasm, motivation, receptivity to change etc. may take a knock.  If so, your company is slightly more unsuccessful than it needs to be.

On the other hand, B may say, 'don't worry, it's not as hard as you think.  I'll show you what to do and how to do it', in which case B has delivered a positive response to A's request for some leadership and both of them are likely to feel good about it. Their enthusiasm, motivation and receptivity to change have increased.  Your company is slightly more successful as a result.

Multiply this by the hundreds of times it may happen per shift to see how this informal peer leadership must be one of the most neglected and wasted free company resources.

Our approach does not ignore this aspect of your business, we will positively show you how to develop it with often amazing results as it releases and realises more of every employee's potential.

Overcome Resistance to Change 7:
Trust the above Process and Yourself

Rely on your teams and these proven methods and achieve sustainable high performance success.

‘Let go’ of top-down managing of employees.   Why?

Because if you have to 'manage' someone to get the performance needed you are completely wasting your time and theirs.....and an awful lot of money.

Some resistance to change is 'natural' because change means ending some familiar things and learning some new things.

It takes employees out of their comfort zones and may create feelings of self-doubt and insecurity in some.

Kind words are often not enough to overcome the underlying fear that change can instil. 

Discover how our unique approach based on shared, empathetic learning and doing can transform challenges and ‘impossibles’ into opportunities and realities; and transform resistance into improved morale and productivity and a sense of achievement.

Click here to read ‘The Pfizer Ireland Tablet Plant Story’ and/or to discuss how we can support you and your organization in changing from resistance to change to releasing and realising more of your employees' and business's potential.

You may have questions or comments or feedback to share with me. 

Please use the Contact Form below and I will get back to you very quickly.

Finally, THANK YOU for visiting my web site  We have covered a lot and I appreciate your attention. Hopefully, you have found reading this web site as interesting and worthwhile as I did in writing it.

Kind regards,

Dennis