Management Information |
Five Ways to Turn Resistance into Opportunity
Resistance. It isn't something people cherish or enjoy encountering. We experience resistance everywhere at work: People don't like that idea. People don't want the work flow to change. Someone doesn't agree with the feedback they received and becomes defensive. Someone doesn't see the value in a revised policy and they become resistant. People don't want to buy what we have to sell. I've had leaders and supervisors tell me that resistance is the number one problem they face. But I don't agree with that perspective and let me tell you why . . . Examining Resistance Why do people dread, avoid or even fear resistance? Because they haven't stopped to think about it. Imagine a meeting where everyone agrees. Imagine this meeting - where there is no dissension, no difference of opinion. At first you might consider this to be nirvana. Imagine the bliss: We are in agreement! No heated discussions! No frowns! No stress! And while the stress would be low and no resistance would be found, there would be something else missing. Progress. If no one proposes a new idea, the organization will never move forward. If no one suggests that something isn't as good or effective or useful as it could be, nothing will ever change. And if no one challenges the new ideas that are raised to help make them even better, the wrong problems may be addressed and the results worse than before you began. The bottom line is that innovation and progress require resistance. It is just a fact of life. So in reality, it doesn't make much sense to call resistance a problem. That is like saying that it is a problem that our air is 78% nitrogen and we need to fix it! The air is the air - we don't worry about the relatively small amount of oxygen in it. We know that our bodies are designed to convert that oxygen into life. So too, resistance is just resistance. It exists! And because it exists our ideas can be challenged and examined, our processes get improved, we have machines that fly through the air, light coming from a bulb, and thousands of other things. In part, because of resistance. The Next Steps If you buy my premise that resistance just exists - that while it can be challenging to deal with, it can be as positive (if not more so) as it feels negative - you have some new approaches that can help you. 1. Expect it. Why would you be surprised to find resistance? It doesn't matter how brilliant our idea, or beneficial the change you propose, somebody will "push back" or be resistant to the idea from the start. Recognizing this will allow you to plan for some of that resistance and provide ideas to alleviate the concern. In other words, you can plan for it. 2. Don't take it personally. Again, resistance is a natural occurrence. Don't take people's reaction to your idea as being about you. Get over yourself! The resistance exists naturally as people think about the implications of the new ideas or change. Their resistance isn't a personal attack. 3. Avoid defensiveness. Think about it. You suggest a new idea to a colleague. They reply, talking about all of the problems with this idea and why it won't work. Your response is defensiveness? you raise your voice to make sure they hear you ? you speak a bit more rapidly ? And is your defensiveness greeted with reduced resistance? Not in my experience. Defensiveness, while natural too, and sometimes hard to avoid, doesn't reduce the resistance we experience - typically it adds to the strength of that resistance. Hint: When you realize that the resistance isn't personal, it is much easier to avoid defensiveness. 4. Embrace it. If something is naturally occurring and in the end beneficial, why wouldn't we embrace it and recognize that resistance is just a part of the change or idea adoption process. View resistance as the file to help you smooth the rough edges off your idea - providing the benefit of improving your proposal. 5. Acknowledge it. Once you intellectually know that resistance will occur and you know that becoming defensive about it doesn't really help you, you will search for a new strategy. Here it is: acknowledge the resistance. Let people be heard. Ask them questions about their perspective. Try hard to understand it. You don't have to agree with them, to acknowledge or value your perspective. By acknowledging their perspective, they are much more likely to be open to hear your ideas, and much more likely to turn the conversation into something productive. Resistance can be your friend. As you change your perspective you will become more comfortable with it, and more adept at understanding that resistance can help your teams and your organization grow. Kevin Eikenberry is Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. To receive your free special report on "Unleashing Your Potential" go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/index.asp or call us at (317) 387-1424 or 888.LEARNER.
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Smart Hiring: What Makes the Right Employee? Good hires do not happen by accident or luck. In this economy, employers are finding a large pool of available workers. Selecting A Collection Agency If you run a business, you are sure to have some customers who require a lot of follow-up before they pay you. Often you spend too much time and energy to collect money that is rightfully due to you. Leading Meetings: The Top Three Challenges What do people really find challenging about leading meetings? Here are the top three questions that keep on cropping up followed by guidelines or simple ways to keep meetings under control and on track. Make your meetings work. Bullying and the Not for Profit Organisation Where there is people there is politics! Bullying is now a major workplace issue that has invaded our not for profit organisations. Take the following example. Communicate To The Four Main Personality Types You probably know this already, but there are generally held to be four main personality types, which I call: Extrovert, Amiable, Analytical and Pragmatic . Let's take a moment to consider each of them in the workplace. Create Your Methodology Based on a Standard Framework - Part One OK. So you have decided that your organization has to improve the way in which it works. Procrastination and JDI! In a management role procrastination can seriously hold back progress and demotivate individuals and teams who, full of innovation and drive to move forward, get frustrated and confused when action is held up.There are a number of steps that will help the procrastinating manager. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Test Your Assumptions About Everything Test your assumptions about everything.Assumptions have a way of creeping into all parts of a problem-solving project. Improvements In A Large Public Electric Utility In South America The company decided to develop and implement an improvement program. The main thrust was to propose strategies and alternatives for the implementation of a quality program. How to Make a Difference Every Day Every day, everyone can make the world a better place. It's simple; it's quick and it is free. Doing More With Less This is a bottom-line environment.Decreasing the downtime of revenue producing employees is a major concern. Develop Your People and Make More Money What is the no. 1 asset in your business beside yourself? It's your people. 14 Ways to De-Stress Employee Vacations Employees truly deserve paid vacations. Theystruggle through stressful jobs most of the year,and productivity goes down if they don't get abreak. Innovation Management - Innovation or Profit? Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. HRM: Contributing to Well-being or Ill-being at Work? If you were to take the people out of an organisation you would be left with some stock and machinery that would be of little value, and possibly some property. It is the people that make an organisation function, so having the people functioning to the best of their ability must surely be best for an organisation. The "Better People" Fallacy It's easy enough to convince your own staff that better people will prevail, even against the odds. It's what they want to hear. No Time to Focus on the Big Picture? Try Focus Management E-mail, voicemail, "got a minute?" interruptions, multiple projects and competing priorities. Whether it is in work or in life, we all understand the importance of "seeing the forest for the trees. How to Save Money on Training 1) Use a live instructor. Adults learn best by doing, practicing, and experiencing. Top 10 Things NOT To Tell Angel and VC Investors I am not writing this to create a list of things not to say so people can hide the facts or in any way mislead potential investors. On the contrary I personally believe you must be 100% upfront with any potential investors, and even volunteer some weaknesses to be credible. What To Do When Your IT Project Is Late, Over Budget, and Looks Like It's Never Going To Work Here's a scary statistic. According to four prominent research firms, only around 20% of all IT projects are finished in a timely manner. |
home | site map | contact us |