Rotman Management – April 2019

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Beth Comstock is the author of Imagine It Forward: Courage,

Creativity and the Power of Change (Penguin Random House,

2018), a director of Nike Inc. and a trustee of the National

Geographic Society. She served as Vice Chair of GE Business

Innovations and CEO of Business Innovations at General

Electric Company until December 31, 2017. Prior to joining GE in 1994, she

held a succession of positions at NBC, CBS and Turner Broadcasting.

In closing
At the beginning of this article, I asked you to imagine something
important to you suddenly disappearing from the world. Well,
here’s something to add to my list of examples: management.
Management as we once knew it is obsolete. It is no lon-
ger a control function, if it ever was. Today, you have to lead
with vision and empower your teams to figure things out. You
have to give employees permission — and encourage them to
give themselves permission — to imagine. And everyone has to
be ready to take action when a new pattern emerges. Just take
a few small steps forward and, before you know it, you will be
creating momentum and enabling your organization — and
yourself — to embrace change.

Seven Reasons Why People Resist Change by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Resistance to change manifests itself in many ways, from

foot-dragging and inertia to petty sabotage to outright rebel-

lion. The best tool for leaders of change is to understand the

universal sources of resistance in each situation and then

strategize around them. Here are seven that I’ve found to be

very common.

Loss of control. Change interferes with autonomy and can

make people feel that they’ve lost control over their territory.

It’s not just political, as in ‘who has the power?’ Our sense of

self-determination is often the first thing to go when faced with

a potential change coming from someone else. Smart leaders

leave room for those affected by change to make choices.

They invite others into the planning, giving them ownership.

Excess uncertainty. If change feels like walking off a cliff

blindfolded, then people will reject it. People will often prefer to

remain mired in misery than to head towards an unknown. As

the saying goes, “Better the devil you know than the devil you

don’t know.” To overcome inertia requires a sense of safety as

well as an inspiring vision. Leaders should create certainty of

process, with clear, simple steps and timetables.

Surprise, surprise! Decisions imposed on people suddenly,

with no time to get used to the idea or prepare for the con-

sequences, are generally resisted. Leaders should avoid the

temptation to craft changes in secret and then announce them

all at once. It’s better to plant seeds — that is, sprinkle hints

of what might be coming and seek input.

Everything seems different. We are all creatures of habit,

so too many differences can be distracting or confusing. Lead-

ers should try to minimize the number of unrelated differences

introduced by a central change. Wherever possible, keep things

familiar. Remain focused on the important things and avoid

change for the sake of change.

Loss of face. By definition, change represents a departure

from the past, so the people associated with the previous

iteration —the one that is being superseded — are likely to

be defensive about it. Leaders can help people maintain their

dignity by celebrating those elements of the past that are

worth honouring, and making it clear that the outside world has

changed. That makes it easier to let go and move on.

Concerns about competence. Change is resisted when it

makes people feel stupid. They might express skepticism about

whether the new software will work or whether the change truly

represents an improvement, but down deep they are worried

that their skills will be obsolete. Leaders should over-invest in

structural reassurance, providing abundant information, educa-

tion, training, mentors and support systems. In my experience,

a period of overlap—i.e. running two systems simultaneously—

can help to ease transitions.

More work. Change is indeed more work. Those closest to

the change in terms of designing and testing it are often over-

loaded, in part because of the inevitable unanticipated glitches

in the midst of it. Leaders should acknowledge the hard work

of change by allowing some people to focus exclusively on it,

or adding extra perqs for participants.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business

at Harvard Business School. She is also Director and Chair of the Harvard

University Advanced Leadership Initiative.