What Can You Do When Your Leaders Are Resistant To Change?

Source: https://loadproof.com/resistance-in-changes/

You’re smart — you know the world has changed and you know your organization has to change with it if you want to survive, but the decision-makers are hanging on for dear life.

“We’ve never done it that way!”

This is where ideas — and the companies rejecting them — go to die.

If you hear this whenever you present new ideas to your leadership, fear not. There may be a way to loosen up some of that resistance: reinforce what will stay the same.

Baked into “We’ve never done it that way” is an ample amount of fear, and you can curb that fear by presenting new ideas in familiar terms. Here’s how:

1. Before even touching strategy, open the presentation of the idea by reiterating your organization’s mission, values, and goals. Because fear is an emotion, the act of connecting new ideas must come with a dosage of excitement, meaning, and hope that comes with a clear painting of the goals those leaders have a hand in achieving. Think of it as tasting a new food: chances are good the only way to make it palatable is by pairing it with something you already like. Don’t like mushrooms? Take a small bite of one with your spaghetti, meatball, and marinara. Hate cucumbers? Balance it out on a slice of toasted baguette with a dill and chive cream cheese. You’re never going to get them to taste the mushroom or cucumber by itself, so give them a spoonful of something that makes them feel good to make it go down easier.
2. Focus on the strategies and behaviors that are working. Pointing at current growth and past wins are a great disarming technique. Making this your set point/launchpad/starting line for your introduction of the new idea may seem counterproductive (“If we’re doing so well, why do we need to change?”), but effectively balancing this with an even brighter vision of the future creates a much narrower mental gap than if you start from a doom, gloom, and “everything’s broken” positioning.
3. Don’t forget callbacks — when you get to pitching any new idea, be sure to mix enough familiar, business-as-usual banter to the strategy to make it feel safer. Baby steps are far more effective for dealing with complacency, and if those resistant individuals start to see positive outcomes, they’ll be more open to the outside-of-the-box ideas you initially wanted to pitch anyway. Pointing to some of those successes where risks were taken in the past can be another way to appeal to the egos often attached to “That’s not how we’ve always done it.”
4. Never argue, because to them, they’re right. The goal isn’t to convince them otherwise, the goal is to get them to see how they can be even more right. Framing is everything, so if their resistance continues, find a way to take their side while making your point even stronger. To do this effectively, you have to:
5. Speak their language. If your leader is a numbers-first kind of leader, use lots of numbers to support your position. If your leader is an altruistic leader, part of your pitch will have to include an emotional reference to the number of people it’ll help. Being able to anticipate and argue for their resistance will prepare you for any pushback through the lens of empathy. Knowing your audience is vital, not only as a stand-up comic performing onstage, but as a human being having a conversation with any other human being.