“People Resist Change” – Not So!

The well worn adage that, ‘people resist change’ is not quite true it would seem. In fact, what people fear is the real or perceived loss that might occur as a result of the change: loss of status, reward, position, identity, function, loyalty, belonging, relevance… to name but a few common areas of loss. The reality is that people love and embrace change when the change is seen as a good thing.

This poses a specific challenge to leaders in any change process. The key insight and skill that leaders require in such a change context is one of diagnostics: the ability or capacity to identify the real or imaginary losses that those being led feel. Nature teaches us that a successful adaption process is one where the best from the past is preserved: the best traditions, history and identity become the very building blocks for the future – for the adaption needed in order for an individual, community or organisation to thrive in the emerging future. This means that leaders in any such process need to keep an eye not just on the future, but the past as well. Knowing what to preserve and guard is no easy task as all too often the specifics of such become entangled in personal agendas, biases and prejudices.

A change process is essentially the writing of a ‘new story’ – or perhaps more accurately, ‘a new chapter to the old story’. It is hard work because it challenges not merely intellectually but potentially at the very core identity of the organisation, relationships and competencies. This becomes the terrain of those who lead, those who understand that leadership is an action, not a position; that it is about influence not authority. It is the territory that Ron Heifetz refers to as ‘adaptive leadership’. To understand more of what it means for leaders to provide effective leadership in a constantly changing world then I would point you to Heifetz’s latest book (a collaborative effort with Alexander Grashow & Marty Linsky) titled, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership (Harvard Business Press).

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