Is someone drilling holes in your boat? How to deal with active resistance.
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán on Pexels
In my last article, I talked about the initial instinct of resistance and how to overcome it, but what happens if you have full-blown, active, intentional resistance in response to your change or initiative? How do you deal with it?
One of the worst cases I witnessed early on in my consulting career was a client trying to grow her business.
In addition to expanding her operation to meet sales demands, she also wanted to create a culture shift. Her two VP’s were on board but one of her key executives, let’s call him “Dave,” was entirely against it.
Even though he nodded and agreed in the initial planning meetings, he was firmly against the changes.
As time went on, Dave became increasingly paranoid and reclusive, didn’t attend critical meetings, and if he did, he didn’t have much to say. Finally, he was so committed to his resistance that he enlisted an admin assistant to spy on the manager leading the initiative, who happened to sit behind her in the open office floor plan.
He had the assistant report back to him whenever information was overheard from a phone call or discussion or picked up when she looked at his desk monitor. Everyone in the office witnessed the back and forth between Dave and the spying employee.
Using this information he formed eloquent, fiery arguments and tried desperately to convince the VP’s and owner not to proceed.
Finally, Dave turned to the other managers and employees who would listen to his rants when his position did not move the VP’s.
It had a devastating polarizing effect on the team and dramatically slowed down the progress of the change.
This is an extreme example of active resistance and a great example of why it’s essential to have a substantial change strategy and execution plan.
Dave was in fear for his job and saw the change as a significant threat from day one. However, he wrongly thought that if he could get enough information, he could discredit the initiative.
Things would then stay the same, and his job would remain secure.
It sounds far-fetched, but that’s precisely how emotion, in this case, fear, can skew common sense and hinder someone’s ability to process what’s happening.
Emotion, not logic, is what drives us to act.
Active resistance is fueled by negative emotions and can create destructive behavior such as Dave’s.
When you initiate a change, it’s essential to make sure that you are helping to give the information people need to understand how it will impact them to make the necessary emotional adjustments.
When they don’t have that information, they can go pretty far down the wrong track, as this scenario reveals.
Even with the proper information and well-timed transition tactics, you can still encounter an extreme resistor like Dave.
Here are three things you can do if you have an active resistor on your team:
Engage with the individual as soon as you see the active resistance behavior
Don’t wait. Because active resistance is emotionally charged and creates discomfort, there is a tendency for leaders and managers to avoid dealing with it.
Avoidance is a mistake.
Active resistance is visible to the other team members and those responsible for implementing the change. When leaders chose to ignore active resistors because they don’t know how to intercept the emotion or issues causing it, they erode trust within the team.
In addition, they are sending a message that you don’t have to get on board with the change if you don’t want to, and there is no consequence for opting out.
It also makes it extremely difficult for the individuals responsible for driving the change. It undermines their ability to create trust and maintain positive change momentum.
You must sit down with the individual who’s resisting and listen — find out what’s driving their emotion.
If there are vital issues that you can work with, commit to working them to a resolution and stopping the behavior. Make sure you leave the conversation with agreed to follow-up and actions.
Actively monitor and respond.
It’s essential to hold the person to the agreed actions and respond immediately if the deliberate resistance behavior continues.
Do not let transgressions slide. If the individual is unwilling or unable to adhere to what was agreed, it must be taken to the resolution step.
Passive-aggressive resistance isn’t workable.
Suppose the person is unwilling to talk about it or is agreeable in public and against it in private. In that case, you will have to assess their level of influence and determine if you can remove them from the initiative.
Individuals, especially in high influence positions, who exhibit active resistance with an unwillingness to resolve it can devastate change momentum and undermine progress.
Depending on the type of change you are initiating, you must act quickly to minimize damage within the team and timeline and preserve the integrity of the messaging and efforts made to date.
It’s a tricky and uncomfortable position to be in when you are faced with an active resistor on your team.
Deciding to remove someone from a project or scenario is never easy.
It’s important to make sure that you have done your diligence and that it is the most effective decision for everyone involved. Then, agree to disagree and move along when able.
In the case of Dave in our example above, the damage was irreparable, and he lost his position. There was simply no way for him to regain the trust of his peers and employees.
The initiative was delayed by three months as a result. The change leaders had to re-educate employees to rebuild trust in the project outcome and re-start momentum.
In the unfortunate circumstance where you can’t move the person out of the influence of the project, you will have to take a serious look at what impact this might have on your implementation tactics.
Understand that moving ahead with a prominent active resistor places your change at risk of derailment and failure to achieve its intended outcome(s).
Ignoring active resistance doesn’t make it stop or make it less disruptive.
It costs you time, money, and credibility. The thing you end up ultimately sacrificing, in the end, is the achievement of your change objective, which is why you embarked on it in the first place.
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