Skeptics, Resistors and Equilibrium - Consequences of Change by Ian Mattair

Congratulations business leaders, whether you like it or not, your business is likely changing after 2020.?Disruption, however, can be an opportunity to innovate your way to a new and improved business model. Maybe your company was already engaged in a series of small change projects or perhaps you were in the midst of an entire organizational transformation project. If so, rejoice in your luck as you now have a virtually iron-clad case to argue for change. As a change agent, SOP for a successful change management program is to start by building a coalition of likeminded change agents to engage the skeptics and resistors to your change project, as you move together towards a new equilibrium and a future so bright, you will need to wear shades. But, where do you think these likeminded change agents come from? If you said they come from the skeptics and resistors, you’re right. If you said they come from Change Agents -R -Us, you’re incorrect and so cliché. Yes, skeptics and resistors can become change agents once we recognize that skepticism and resistance are steps to overcome rather than permanent states of being.

The first step is to acknowledge that most of us start out as skeptics of change before we have enough valid information to inform us of its effects. Depending on our response to that information, we can either become an agent of the change or a resistor to it. Any change initiative will start with its share of skeptics and resistors because change introduces loss to the equilibrium employees have created, which increases the defensiveness and protectiveness of both contributors and leaders alike. Carlie Fiorina, former CEO of HP, says this is because the natural momentum of any organization is towards the status quo and because people in positions of power and influence want to maintain that power and influence. However, neither one of these perfectly natural reactions to change prohibit a skeptic or resistor from later becoming a change agent. In fact, moving through the emotions associated with resistance allows insight and experience to inform the decision making of our future change agents.

The natural momentum of any organization is towards the status quo. The status quo is the equilibrium created AFTER the chaos of change is over. Humans strive for equilibrium and thus we strive for the status quo. We work our whole lives trying to reach the status quo. We build schedules around the status quo. Each of us has a routine that we follow each morning as we get ready for work. We wake up at the same time, well most of us. We get up and brush our teeth for the same amount of time, put on our clothes and we’re out the door about the same time each morning. That’s the status quo. It’s something we all strive for, that sense of normalcy. If it’s something that we strive for then it’s something that we've earned and if we've earned it, we’re not so quick to give it up. Like the status quo, we also protect our positions of power and influence.

People in positions of power and influence want to maintain that power and influence. It’s not sinister, it’s human nature to try and keep what we’ve earned. Up and down the chain of command, from the brand new vice president who worked her butt off going to night school to finish her Master’s degree while raising kids, to the brand new line supervisor who’s getting his first chance after years of floor work to show what kind of leader he can be. These are not sinister people. These are regular people and companies are filled with them from top to bottom. When people believe that they have achieved something, earned something and sacrificed for something, you better believe they’re going to fight to keep it. It’s human nature and what we do when confronted with the loss of something earned.

Any change initiative will start with its share of skeptics and resistors because change introduces loss to the equilibrium of the status quo. Once we understand that skepticism and resistance are a natural consequence of change and are steps to overcome rather than permanent states of being, we can then learn to acknowledge the loss of our status quo and positions of influence as we move ourselves and others towards becoming likeminded change agents. That my friends, is not cliché at all.?