Rethinking Resistance

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From the course by Indian School of Business

Capstone Project: Business Technology Management

18 ratings

Indian School of Business

Capstone Project: Business Technology Management

18 ratings

Course 6 of 6 in the Specialization Business Technology Management

The Capstone Project places you in the shoes of a CIO of a hypothetical FMCG firm, Indus Consumer Products Limited, who is required to select a portfolio of IT investments for the decision year that is aligned with the business strategy and objectives of the firm. Different business units in the company have proposed different applications to implement. Your job as CIO will be to analyze the business case for each of the projects and identify those that best serve the long-term business strategy and objectives of the firm. Your choice of IT investments is constrained by the IT budget for the given financial year. The case consists of the following artifacts: - Letter from the CEO - Company Report - IT Assessment Report - Proposal for the SCM Initiative - Proposal for Rural Connect - Proposal for the new ERP System The case is designed to provide a Capstone experience on many of the concepts and frameworks learned in the specialization. Learners need to: (a) Identify a broad business focus of the company using the competitor data. Provide a couple of lines on the strategic pain points for the firm. (b) Which one of the five applications must the company invest in? Why? Provide strategic and financial reasons in support. (c) Thoroughly analyse past projects to remove redundant or unviable investments. (d) Identify and propose strategies for managing risk associated with large scale IT investments. (e) Create an organizational structure and communication plan that will engage various stakeholders of the organization.

From the lesson

Change Management & Communications Plan

In this module, you will be able to identify all the major components of the change management and communications plan required for the roll out of the IT road-map. In the process, you will also develop a detailed analysis of the impacts of change on various stakeholders (internal and external) of the firm.

Rethinking Resistance13:40

Enabling, Executing and Sustaining Change11:25

Creating a climate for change11:26

Meet the Instructors

M Rammohan Rao
Professor Emeritus
Operations Management
Ramnarayan Subramaniam
Clinical Professor
Organisational Behaviour
Deepa Mani
Associate Professor and Executive Director, Srini Raju Centre for IT and the Networked Economy
Information Systems
Sudhir Voleti
Assistant Professor and ISB Research Fellow
Marketing
Ramabhadran Thirumalai
Assistant Professor
Indian School of Business

In today's volatile, uncertain and complex environment as a leader

you would most certainly be required to bring about changes, small and large.

You'll be both a change recipient (getting directions,

mandates and guidelines from higher levels),

and at the same time,

a change agent (making things happen in your zone of influence).

To be able to bring about changes smoothly and gain recognition as a high performer,

you should be able to deal effectively with resistance.

In his book Beyond The Wall Of Resistance,

author Rick Maurer presents certain interesting insights on this subject.

In this video, we will draw on his ideas to

derive practical lessons on working with resistance.

Let's begin with a short case illustration.

In an engineering company,

the corporate office had initiated a change in the procurement system.

Even as a frontline leader was presenting the rollout plan,

Employee-C sitting in the audience

wondered how tracking of requisitions would happen in the new system,

and how the supplier lists will be updated.

Employee-C doesn't get it.

At another table, Employee-E was angry and upset that with electronic records,

the corporate office wants to make everything

transparent and thus squeeze out all flexibility at the operating levels.

In other words, Employee-E doesn't like it.

At the back end of the room,

Employee-P was quite annoyed that the change leader had shown

his bias by leaving out all old timers in the cross-functional team for implementation.

In short, Employee-P doesn't have trust.

Thus, in a change situation,

someone says, 'I don't get it.',

some others say, 'I don't like it.',

and a few say, 'I don't trust you.'

Rick Maurer writes that these are three types of resistance.

They represent three different words of reason, emotion and trust.

Obviously, they need to be dealt with very differently.

When change faces resistance,

change leaders typically respond by pushing the change even harder.

They use their power or apply the force of reason or ignore resistance.

Such responses don't work.

The resistance may go underground or it may manifest in silent ways.

But change fails without people's backing and support.

Our approach should be not to overpower resistance,

but to engage with it.

By working effectively with resistance,

it is possible to convert resistance into support.

To begin with, "I don't get it"

represents level-1 or cognitive resistance.

It arises from lack of clear understanding.

Generally, we feel comfortable dealing with level-1 resistance.

To address this, you give the right information in the right manner.

You communicate why change is needed in understandable language.

You use multiple ways to make your case.

You set up two-way communication and get people to

engage with information and reflect on what they hear.

You may have a cross-section of people discussing the proposed change,

ask questions and give their inputs.

By creating a more conversational or discussion format,

communicating the rationale and helping people to gain cognitive clarity,

level-1 resistance can be minimized.

Occasionally, well-meaning leaders give more information,

hold more meetings and make more presentations.

But sometimes these don't work because the issue has

become one of emotion and not cognition.

Often emotional resistance arises from fear,

loss of face, status,

control or even their jobs and future well-being.

This is level-2 or emotional resistance.

When emotional resistance kicks in,

people get into a fight mode such as angry outbursts or arguments,

or flight mode - they stop listening,

or freeze mode - for example,

feeling like their very survival is at stake.

Emotions produce physiological reactions.

The blood pressure and pulse rates may go up and people may feel uptight.

Since organizations don't encourage people to respond emotionally,

these don't get expressed directly.

They may be camouflaged as polite, rational concerns.

The change leader requires empathy to

read between the lines and pick up anxieties and fears.

As a leader, you must ensure against

level-2 resistance by building relationship support before you need it,

by involving people and building mutual understanding.

To effectively resolve emotional conflict,

you should attend to three aspects;

others' perspective, your perspective and the context.

In terms of others' perspective,

you should listen empathetically,

question to learn others' feelings

and provide encouragement to get to the root of the concern.

Openness to those opposing the change and keenness to

learn about others' perspective are important qualities for a leader.

At the same time,

in terms of your own perspective,

you should be able to maintain clear focus on your own goals that are non-negotiable.

Even in stressful context,

it is important to stay calm, relaxed and solution-focused.

If you get agitated,

you would lose your edge in effectively dealing with level-2 concerns.

And in terms of context,

you should build strong working relationships,

have informal chats with key stakeholders,

involve and help people discover what's in it for them,

and listen for common concerns and interests.

Finally, level-3 or personally oriented resistance

reflects absence of trust and confidence in the change leader.

It is possible that people are okay with the change,

but they are not okay with the change leader.

That makes this resistance a hard pill to swallow.

Without trust, there is no way that change can be managed successfully.

Lack of trust does not necessarily mean that people dislike the change leader.

It may be that the past dealings that make them suspicious.

It is possible that the change leader is from the head office and

people are skeptical of anything that the head office initiates.

Perception is reality.

If people perceive that the change leader is not trustworthy,

then they will behave as per their perception or belief until they are proven otherwise.

To deal with level-3 resistance,

you should build relationships of trust.

This requires effective listening and dialogue.

A good approach is to begin small in areas of potential mutual win.

Bank on thorough preparation,

remain calm and allow sufficient time to reach agreement.

At the same time,

be prepared for setbacks.

Trust is difficult to build and easy to destroy.

So what are the key lessons?

First: Change involves not only reason and rationality,

but also emotions and relationships.

If people are in level 2 or level 3,

then they won't be able to receive your messages even if you are right.

Leading change is not a purely left brain rational process.

Second: Change is difficult when stakeholders are in the dark.

Help them recognize the challenge or the opportunity.

Third: Address resistance in the right way.

In emotional and trust issues,

you cannot push people with reason.

Instead, listen, involve,

show patience and discover what is mutually acceptable.

Fourth: Perception is reality.

People may read risks wrong,

but in their minds the danger is real.

So stay in touch with the pulse of the organization,

build in feedback loops,

pick up early signals and initiate corrective actions.

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