Response to Change
We believe in understanding the response to change over blaming people for resisting.
Response to Change vs traditional thinking
Two different assumptions about how change should work.
Lean Change
We don't believe change resistance is a 'thing' - It's just an excuse for externalizing the problem and absolving us of responsibility by blaming others.
Traditional Change Management
Change resistance is something to be overcome. People resist change. It's important to have a mitigation strategy designed with a Newtonian force approach to change.
We’re taught that we need a resistance mitigation plan to arm wrestle people in the organization into submission. That puts us on the offensive, thinking that we’re in for a battle from all sides: The stakeholders pushing the change, and the people pushing back.
The problem is when we decide on the change and how it’s going to get done, it’s us that create what we call resistance because people may see that their choice is being taken away.
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Child Developments
Related child elements that expand this building block.
When faced with "resistance" we listen with curiosity versus trying to convince "resisters" they're wrong
When we don't see change happening we seek to understand why from the people affected by the change
We wait for change to take it's natural course versus pushing more change when people aren't ready
When people don't agree, we facilitate powerful conversations to help people make sense of their context so they can agree on a course of action
During stressful change, we take the time to slow down and sometimes blow off steam so we can re-focus
Connections to the broader Lean Change ecosystem.
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