04/07/2025

Do Not Ignore Resistance to Change

Your staff won't like it so prepare now

One of the most puzzling things that I hae come across in speaking and writing about change is the denial that resistance exists. While I never hear this from leaders that I coach, who face resistance every day, there is a cadre of consultants and pundits who insist that resistance to change is some sort of illusion.

This should be ridiculous on its face. Certainly, the resistance we encountered during the Orange Revolution was very real. In Lou Gerstner’s account of his historic turnaround at IBM, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance, he is very clear and candid about the resistance he faced. I cannot recall any major transformation that hasn’t had opposition.

Yet, when you look at popular change management models, such as Kotter’s 8 Steps or Prosci’s ADKAR, they have little to say about overcoming resistance to change and, wittingly or not, promote the idea of transformation as a communication and skills problem, as if you just give people the right information and training they will embrace change. They will not.

Please select this link to read the complete blog post from Digital Tonto.