This week in HR, I’m thinking about resistors and how they impact the organization, especially in times of change. Among the most cited challenges in organizations today is Change Management. Change is often better known for resistance, than it is by its inherent opportunity.
Is there any practical way to identify resistors and move forward with action? Or do you have to hope for the best and let them phase out? There are so many great models out there for understanding how resistance impacts your business, from Lewin's to Kotter's and many more great business scholars. Regardless of the mounding scholarship around the topic, resistors continue to thwart visions and goals of the very greatest leaders, at the most exciting companies.
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Craft organizational values and goals – your MVV. |
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Identify the likeliest sources of resistance (HBR, Overcome Resistance to Change with Two Conversations, https://hbr.org/2017/05/overcome-resistance-to-change-with-two-conversations) |
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Communicate something to inspire, a vision that includes everyone. Communicate directly with the resistors; spend your energy and time here, don’t rush. Listen your ass off – even when you don’t wanna. |
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Create rituals – make the right things routine. Think mantras and slogans and morning practices… look at KIPP and other innovate schools that literally sing their way through difficult memory challenges. Ritual is evinced by my ability to quote a large portion of the Bible at any moment due to my inveterate parents and mentors, who insisted on a solid Biblical base. |
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Carefully guard culture and engagement. Culture is fleeting. Happiness is but a wisp of wind in a storm. Don’t take good culture / good energy / happy people for granted; it won’t last unless you make it. Watch for signs of burnout, bullying, hostility, and disconnection and punish swiftly and eradicate completely. All employees will feel safe or leave. |
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Recognize good behavior that aligns with your goals and reward, always. People live and die on recognition and acknowledgement. Remember that. |
I have been a resistor at different times in my career. There have been moments when I just needed an encouraging word, a connection with a senior leader. I was super resentful and would literally wish for the opposite of success for the businesses I worked for when I felt unappreciated. I was emotional.
I recognize now that giving recognition is work, it’s grueling really. For leaders, it can be hard to remember there are others that make you great. That is the job of leaders, though, not basking in the glory of your company's achievements (Company means more than one person). This is easier said than done.
I worked for one legal tech company, a startup that was bent on growth, I helped them increase their bottom line in less than a year over 35%. We're talking millions of dollars, literally. The CEO, who hired me and was later kicked out in a hostile takeover, often responded to my emails, my forecasts of departmental revenue (which were never more than 2% off) saying things like, “Why didn’t you get the number right?” We’re talking $1-15K per half a million or more per month. It was always nerve-wracking in a way that made accuracy harder than it needed to be. He was obviously miserable, and I am grateful to no longer report to people like him. It takes effort and empathy from leaders.
I would be remiss to omit the most disruptive move in business in the last year, the remote workforce. When I was most resistant, I was most disconnected. I would go to our annual sales meetings and I would walk away fired up. It’s hard to manufacture that for remote workers. Connection matters, and no matter how useful your Zoom-like technology is, it can’t replace face to face human interaction. It is important to connect your employees. It’s wonderful to have the best talent all over the world, but the potential there is only realized when all can come together en masse to experience the congregational energy that only happens in person. Zoom doesn’t foment that chemical reaction that the pledge of allegiance does when spoken in person and in chorus.
Here’s the long and short: Resistance can derail even the best laid plans. Don’t ignore the resistor and remember, sometimes you recruit and hire problems and other times they precipitate directly from your leadership. This isn’t an indictment, it is encouragement to leaders to strive to recognize signs, act swiftly and empathetically, and to be the culture you need to produce the results you want.