Change Management Resistance to Change: Top 5 Reasons

Top five reasons employees resist change

1. Employees were not aware of the underlying business need for change.
2. Lay-offs were announced or feared as part of the change.
3. Employees were unsure if they had the needed skills for success in the future state.
4. Individuals were comfortable with the current state; they wanted to maintain the personal rewards and sense of accomplishment and fulfillment provided by the status quo.
5. Employees felt they were being required to do more with less, or do more for the same pay.

The natural and normal reaction to change is resistance. Every individual has a threshold for how much change they can absorb. Even when individuals can align the change with their self-interest and belief system, the uncertainty of success and fear of the unknown can block change.

Resistance to change can spread and become a significant barrier to success. One-fourth of major change initiatives fail because employees are fearful of and resistant to change. Although initial resistance is a natural reaction to change, ongoing resistance left unattended can become a threat to the business and to customers. A critical component of any good change management process will be a program to proactively manage resistance.

Providing the needed information to increase employees' awareness of the business need for change is the first and most important proactive step in successful resistance management.

Proactive and reactive resistance management

Managing resistance during any business change should include both proactive planning and reactive interventions. All too often, teams rely exclusively on reactive measures when resistance has already resulted in productivity loss and wasted time and resources.

Proactive resistance management involves systematically identifying where resistance might come from and what it might look like. The team identifies critical gaps and possible points of resistance, and addresses them before they even emerge. Proactive resistance management requires planning by the team and intervention from sponsors, managers and supervisors.

Reactive resistance management is in response to specific points of resistance. In the reactive situation, the team must listen to employees and identify the source of the resistance. Specific action steps should be developed, communicated and implemented.