Managing Resistance
Why would a person resist building a more satisfying workplace? Two usual reasons:
- They don’t know what it is, so it’s the usual fear of the unknown.
- They committed to previous management initiatives and were burned when the programs vanished.
Once people understand the culture change goals, experience their own greater involvement, and see that senior managers are seriously committed, they enthusiastically support the program. They also become very tolerant of management’s occasional slip-ups along the way. Here’s a bit more about “resistance”.
Resistance in Your Management Team
As a business unit leader, when you first discuss developing your company culture with your leadership team, you might get some pushback. This typically comes from the head of operations who may say something such as, “I don’t have time for this. I’ve got problems to solve and products to get out the door.” Here’s what to do.
Don’t respond directly. Keep in mind that this strong and confident manager is speaking for the ambivalence of everybody in the group — perhaps even for your own doubts. Probably none of you have ever done anything like this before. So understandably, to some degree, you are all uncertain, perhaps even a little fearful.
Pick up your coffee or water, take a sip, look around the room and quietly say something like, “Any other thoughts?” Then wait for however long it takes for the conversation to resume.
By being open, inviting, and non-defensive, you are showing some of the behaviors you’d like throughout the organization. You are also showing the confidence that’s necessary to help the group step forward in the first few months.
Managing culture change is not like managing operations. Successful culture change comes from two things: the confident commitment of leaders as they walk down the new unfamiliar path, and the knowledge and confidence that almost everybody in the organization will enthusiastically support the changes — if they see management is seriously committed. People want a more satisfying workplace and will eagerly support managers who try to build it.
Resistance in the Workforce
Though most people want a more caring, humane workplace, many people will initially appear to resist the culture development effort. This is usually because they have suffered by committing to previous change initiatives that quickly disappeared. They don’t want to be burned again by “the program of the month” so will wait to see if top management is serious before committing. If top management continues showing more engagement, openness and involvement, they will soon join in. However, a few won’t because they can’t.
In my experience, about one in 20 people simply can’t be open. When the leadership team starts showing greater openness, you can’t distinguish between an employee’s resistance that comes from caution or from something deeper. But as the culture change train starts to leave the station, almost everyone will get on board. A few will be left behind. Over time, most of these people will voluntarily leave the organization as they realize they don’t fit into the new ways. There is usually no need to confront them.
Resistance from Above
Occasionally a business unit manager will encounter resistance from above. This typically happens because as the work culture opens, employees become more flexible, more self-determining, and more independent. As managers learn to pass more control and responsibility in decisions to employees, this may look to an outsider as if managers are not acting responsibly. Of course, this isn’t true, it’s that responsibility is now more widely distributed. The rapid rise in the business unit’s performance may confuse executives above the business unit.
Example
We had worked for two years with a regional production unit of the national food manufacturer. The unit’s productivity and efficiency had almost doubled, without any large capital outlays. Some people at the corporate office were suspicious, along with some of the other, perhaps jealous, regional plant managers. Corporate HQ sent five engineers and accountants to the regional plant. They stayed four days, measuring and inspecting everything.
When they left, the plant manager commented, “They know everything everybody is doing, but they have no idea why. This plant is the number one producer in the company because nobody here will let it be anything else.”
You cannot measure trust, relationships, and commitment — but you can easily see their effect on performance.
(FYI The inspection silenced any doubters.)