Rich Cruz and Ben Kleinman just had their latest article, “Short-Circuit Change Resistance to Power Up Adoption,” published by ATD. It tackles something we run into constantly: people resist change, and leaders almost always misread what that resistance is actually telling them.
The default move is to treat resistance as something to push through. We’d argue that’s exactly the wrong instinct.
Resistance is information. It surfaces fear, confusion, broken trust, muddled communication, skill gaps, or sometimes a flaw in the change plan itself. Leaders who slow down to actually listen often find that resistance is one of the most useful feedback loops they have — if they’re willing to pay attention to it.
In the article, we get into several approaches that work better in practice: leading with empathy and curiosity instead of authority, tightening up communication so people aren’t left guessing, bringing employees into the process rather than just announcing decisions to them, and leaning on trusted peers and change champions to carry the message.
The idea we keep coming back to is that pushback isn’t defiance. Most of the time, people are trying to protect something real — their sense of competence, their standing on the team, their routines, their job security. Leaders who dismiss those concerns tend to make things worse. Leaders who actually engage with them often find a path forward.
Want to Learn More? Bring This Conversation to Your Organization
If you see this dynamic playing out in your organization, we can help. We offer a hands-on workshop built specifically around this topic, designed for a variety of organizational stakeholders: leaders, line managers, HR teams, project managers, and change practitioners who want a different way to think about resistance. Through a mixture of presentations, discussions, and participatory exercises, we help participants figure out what resistance could be communicating and how to respond with better communication, smarter learning design, stronger stakeholder engagement, and real trust-building.
We’ve had great feedback from prior participants. Contact us today to see how we can tailor this workshop to your specific situation and audience. Need to focus on leadership? HR staff or project teams in the trenches? A team of change managers? No problem. Please find more about our speaking and workshops here: Harmonious Workplaces Speaking.
The full ATD article is here: Short-Circuit Change Resistance to Power Up Adoption.
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