How to bridge the gap between those who champion transformation and those who challenge it.
Anyone attempting to lead change in an organization knows to expect some resistance. Change is not a rational process; no matter how positive the future you are creating, it’s natural for humans to struggle with it.
Such resistance is no less frustrating for being predictable. At times, it can seem that all that stands between you and your goals is a few naysayers and whiners. And to those on a mission, such reactions can seem like putting one’s head in the sand. “The old business is not coming back,” one CEO told me. “We have to innovate or we will die.” Faced with negative remarks, critical questions, or stony silence, change champions naturally begin to interact more with those already on board, consciously or unconsciously distancing themselves from those who “don’t get it.”
Gradually, a wall begins to form between “us” and “them” — champions who support the change, and resisters who openly or quietly oppose it. Unfortunately, approaching change with an “us versus them” mind-set actually increases pushback. When we think of people as resisters, we don’t truly engage with them. We tend to discount their perspective, assuming that if we are right, they must be wrong.
“In reality, each side is paying attention to different things,” says Robert “Jake” Jacobs, an expert in polarity management — a method for dealing with chronic issues in organizations and groups. Change champions tend to pay attention to the upside of their future vision and the downside of today’s status quo. For example, those who are passionate about customers are hyper-focused on building relationships for the long term. To them, resisters seem greedy or blind.
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