People’s favourite word in change is RESISTANCE. We seem to not be able to talk about it enough. The problem is that many times, the thought of resistance stops us from doing something because we are either afraid of it or just don’t want to deal with it and this causes big problems for us as leaders in our businesses. Whenever there is change, there will be resistance, that is a given. Why – because it is human and natural to resist any change, whether that be positive or negative. If I or someone else said to you “You have the winning lottery ticket!” your first reaction would be to dis-believe, which is a form of resistance.
So resistance is not something we need to worry about or fear. It is going to happen no matter what and it is ok…genuinely! The magic key to resistance is to understand what type of resistance you are going to receive, how will it be manifested and then manage it. Simples! There are seven ways a person may resist and in connection with those seven ways there are also seven tactics to manage that form of resistance. In a previous article, “What are the main issues that stop people embracing change?” I outline these.
So the next big question is, now what? And that is where persistence comes in. Being persistent does not mean you ‘nag/annoy/pester’ someone until they comply. If you do that, that will typically only work once before you have run out of good will and credit with an individual and when you are leading a change, you many times will need people to do more than one thing once. So you need to be persistent whilst maintaining the good will and relationship you have worked so hard to build.
The definition of persistence is “to continue steadfast.” The question I many times ask is “How else can we slice this pie?” And that is how I would advocate the definition of persistence in change to be used – it is about finding different ways to help people along on the journey. We know there are many different leadership and management styles dependent of the situation, which includes people and their personalities. We know that the best way to influence a person is to understand how they tick and their preferences and use those tactics to persuade them. All of this was clearly outlined in the works of Carl Jung and hence the birth of various personality assessments, i.e. MBTI, 16PFI, etc.
In a change context, the same methodology applies. The better we understand the people/person, what and how they think about the world and life much less about the organisation and the change, the better we will be able to influence, persuade, help and guide them.
Now you may be asking at this point, why is this important. And the answer is simple – change is not a one man band activity. It takes a great amount of people to enact an organisational change and the first two steps in doing just that is to first make them aware of it and to generate an internal desire to make the decision to change. However if people doesn’t read or pay attention to your message, they won’t be aware of it. No matter how many emails or briefings you do.
For example, how many emails do you have in your inbox that are marked “unread?” How many times have you been in a meeting and you find your mind drifting off to think about something else only to realise you have no idea what has been said for the past 10 minutes? Exactly!
So the first step to enabling people change is to make people aware of your message, so they pay attention to it – they open it, or read it, or listen to it. That requires using a multitude of tools to get your message across in a multitude of different ways because different people will process and intake messages differently.
The second step is to generate a desire with them to make a decision to change. In order for that to happen, understanding how they are viewing life and the world is critical because that affects their perception, thoughts and feelings on the change.
As a result, instead of worrying about resistance because it is going to happen whether you like it or not, you need to actually focus on what could drive the resistance so you can manage it; and that requires persistence.
That is why I have come up with a new quote, “Persistence eats resistance for lunch.”
Jennifer Bryan is a published author, speaker and Director of Change and Leadership, who has worked with nearly 40 different organisations across multiple industries. She is also a Non Executive Board Member of the ACMP (Association of Change Management Professionals) UK Chapter. She believes in helping people – in whatever capacity she can – by making sure people are thought of first, last and throughout change projects and programmes. She has created a unique leading change framework, the ABChange Model, and uses her commercial insight to help lead people in change. Jennifer is author of Leading People in Change – A practical guide.
February 10, 2025
When it comes to business change, persistence eats resistance for lunch
by Jennifer Bryan • Business, Comment, JB
So resistance is not something we need to worry about or fear. It is going to happen no matter what and it is ok…genuinely! The magic key to resistance is to understand what type of resistance you are going to receive, how will it be manifested and then manage it. Simples! There are seven ways a person may resist and in connection with those seven ways there are also seven tactics to manage that form of resistance. In a previous article, “What are the main issues that stop people embracing change?” I outline these.
So the next big question is, now what? And that is where persistence comes in. Being persistent does not mean you ‘nag/annoy/pester’ someone until they comply. If you do that, that will typically only work once before you have run out of good will and credit with an individual and when you are leading a change, you many times will need people to do more than one thing once. So you need to be persistent whilst maintaining the good will and relationship you have worked so hard to build.
The definition of persistence is “to continue steadfast.” The question I many times ask is “How else can we slice this pie?” And that is how I would advocate the definition of persistence in change to be used – it is about finding different ways to help people along on the journey. We know there are many different leadership and management styles dependent of the situation, which includes people and their personalities. We know that the best way to influence a person is to understand how they tick and their preferences and use those tactics to persuade them. All of this was clearly outlined in the works of Carl Jung and hence the birth of various personality assessments, i.e. MBTI, 16PFI, etc.
In a change context, the same methodology applies. The better we understand the people/person, what and how they think about the world and life much less about the organisation and the change, the better we will be able to influence, persuade, help and guide them.
Now you may be asking at this point, why is this important. And the answer is simple – change is not a one man band activity. It takes a great amount of people to enact an organisational change and the first two steps in doing just that is to first make them aware of it and to generate an internal desire to make the decision to change. However if people doesn’t read or pay attention to your message, they won’t be aware of it. No matter how many emails or briefings you do.
For example, how many emails do you have in your inbox that are marked “unread?” How many times have you been in a meeting and you find your mind drifting off to think about something else only to realise you have no idea what has been said for the past 10 minutes? Exactly!
So the first step to enabling people change is to make people aware of your message, so they pay attention to it – they open it, or read it, or listen to it. That requires using a multitude of tools to get your message across in a multitude of different ways because different people will process and intake messages differently.
The second step is to generate a desire with them to make a decision to change. In order for that to happen, understanding how they are viewing life and the world is critical because that affects their perception, thoughts and feelings on the change.
As a result, instead of worrying about resistance because it is going to happen whether you like it or not, you need to actually focus on what could drive the resistance so you can manage it; and that requires persistence.
That is why I have come up with a new quote, “Persistence eats resistance for lunch.”
Jennifer Bryan is a published author, speaker and Director of Change and Leadership, who has worked with nearly 40 different organisations across multiple industries. She is also a Non Executive Board Member of the ACMP (Association of Change Management Professionals) UK Chapter. She believes in helping people – in whatever capacity she can – by making sure people are thought of first, last and throughout change projects and programmes. She has created a unique leading change framework, the ABChange Model, and uses her commercial insight to help lead people in change. Jennifer is author of Leading People in Change – A practical guide.