When Leaders Resist

In December I attended a workshop on Creating a Lean Culture. The focus of the discussion was on what Toyota has done to establish a culture of continuous improvement in its operations. While Toyota has developed a unique culture (despite the recent recalls), it is difficult to translate the Toyota Way into other organizational contexts. This is particularly true for the companies that are implementing Lean or Six Sigma concepts in existing, reasonably successful companies or operating units. Yet the question among the workshop attendees was often not “What should we be doing?” but rather, “What do you do when a leader resists?”

It often appears and it’s certainly conventional wisdom that whether the change in lean, six sigma, a new IT system, or a benefits change, some leaders and managers will resist the change. When it’s the successful, seasoned mid-level leaders, it can be extraordinarily difficult to bring them around. This article speaks to a few strategies that can prove useful in breaking down the resistance and inviting these leaders to join the change. While the example is a lean implementation, I encourage you to rewrite this story with the change that is underway in your organization.

Meet Larry. Larry is a plant manager. He’s been at this facility for 15 years, the last 7 as plant manager. He’s successfully managed or led the plant through capital projects, labor negotiations, environmental incidents, seasons of sold-out production and full line shutdowns. The plant safety scores are continuously improving and he regularly meets his cost reduction targets. Larry is well-respected at his plant, within in his community, by his peers and by the business head. Having outlived most of the corporate programs, he’s expecting to do it again with this change.

Larry’s a smart guy. He’s joined the tours to “best practice” facilities. He’s read the articles. He’s listened to the successes, challenges and failures of his colleagues who’ve moved forward with the changes. He doesn’t argue that it won’t work. He doesn’t block the consultants from running their workshops. He even gives one of his people, perhaps not one of his stars, the role of project lead, and dutifully reports at the quarterly reviews the work that is going on at the plant. Yet everyone knows that that little is actually happening.

Larry may be someone you know, or you may need to influence people like Larry. I invite you to read the rest of this article to identify some strategies for working with Larry. If none of its working for you, or you’ve lost patience, give me a call and we can talk about how I can I support you in developing new strategies, or I can work directly with Larry in moving through the change.

As mentioned before, Larry is smart guy and he’s seen and heard all of the evidence. Nonetheless, as organizations frequently made up of engineers and accountants, we fall back on trying to move him with either 1) evidence or 2) management “persuasion”. Consider how ineffective solid evidence is in changing many behaviors, such as, flossing, exercise, smoking, speeding, etc. While evidence of the value of a change is critically important, the most compelling evidence to a person if what they experience. Larry’s evidence is that he’s been successful, is successful, and believes that he knows how to continue to be successful. Furthermore, Larry knows that his past success has involved avoiding these “passing fads”.

Before considering useful strategies, we want to begin with recasting the resistance. In 1999, Dent and Goldberg in “Challenging A Resistance to Change” argue that accepting the conventional wisdom that people naturally resist change leads to counter-productive behaviors. Instead of looking at ways to overcome resistance (read more in my last newsletter) , we’ll explore ways to influence behavior.

1. It’s too big, too much or unclear. Look to the success stories to identify for the “vital behaviors” – the smallest set of behaviors that will have the greatest impact. These are not thoughts, values, or qualities, but the very few “must do’s” that done consistently and persistently will lead to change. For more on Vital Behaviors see Influencer by Patterson, Grenny, et al.
2. People resist loss, not change. In the SCARF model suggested by David Rock (Your Brain at Work), apparent resistant may come from feared changes in Status, Control, Autonomy, Relatedness, or Fairness. Explore and acknowledge what people may lose. Once the fears are identified, opportunities arise to address the fear, alter the change to minimize the impact, or allow the person to set aside the fear and proceed.
3. Unclear alignment with personal goals. Support people in uncovering their goals and how the change fits in with them. Perhaps Larry is motivated by seeing teams get energized – show how your change will make that happen. Maybe Larry wants to keep things quiet until retirement, so taking a risk and working hard isn’t motivating; can he see this as leaving a legacy? Spend time on the values, goal and purpose looking for the places of alignment.
4. “You’re not listening.” Ford and Ford in Harvard Business Review April 2009 remind us to look at resistance as feedback. Focus on the purpose of the change and invite discussion, engagement, involvement and even refusal as you refine the change effort.
5. Plan for a marathon, not a sprint. New behaviors are often not easy and take time to become comfortable. People will experience challenges from others and from existing systems, and so need ongoing support. Unexpected roadblocks will arise. Build support teams, provide regular communications, celebrate what’s working, and add fun into the change.

It often seems like most people are not wired for change; yet the reality is that we are marvelously equipped to accept, adapt to and adopt change. It is a reality of all elements of our lives – in our homes, in our family life, in our education, in our careers, in our economics, in our jobs. We may not always respond rationally to a change, but then doesn’t that in itself, give us clues on what strategies may begin to influence behavior.

For help working with leaders who are (apparently) resisting change, send me an email at Sherry@ReadSolutionsGroup.com or leave a comment on the posting.

Challenges in Adapting

Recent posts have been exploring the seven behaviors most commonly seen in derailing a career. [Links connect to original publication in Read Solutions Group newsletter.]

• Believing that skill and results are the sole keys to success
• Being arrogant and not open to feedback, introspection and personal growth
• Consistently acknowledging yourself for the successes and blaming others for the failures
• Failing to staff and develop a strong team
• Lack of composure
• Unwilling to adapt to change and compromise
• Inability to develop a strong professional network, internal and external to the organization.

From the final two career stallers – willingness to change and expecting results to be the key to success – with change present in my life, we’ll focus on the outcomes of resisting change and compromise, what might ensue during a change and how you can support yourself and others in change and compromise.

Let’s start with some definitions appropriate for this career staller, offered by www.dictionary.com:

To adapt is to adjust oneself to different conditions, environment, etc.

• Change, the noun, means the supplanting of one thing by another.
• To compromise is to settle difference by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands. An alternative definition for compromise used, as a noun, is an endangering, especially of reputation; exposure to danger, suspicion, etc.
• Willingness is freedom from reluctance; readiness of the mind to do or forbear.

This staller appears in the person who seems to resist new programs, philosophies or even people. They may be seen as disagreeing inappropriately, vocally, or perhaps subversively with senior management. Conversely, Buckingham and Clifton in their book, Now, Discover Your Strengths define the person with a strength in adaptability as one who lives in the moment, seeing the future not as a fixed destination but one that is discovered a choice at a time. The adaptable person responds willingly to current demands, even if pulled from original plans.

With credit markets and currencies gyrating wildly, with companies turning overnight from sound financial institutions to those warranting a government bailout, an ever-increasing pace of change is a certainty. If so, then does adaptability become even more important – perhaps a key competency to develop? Adaptable behaviors will involve a readiness to explore change, openness to new ideas and the opinions of others, and skill at challenging ideas and people in constructive ways.

At the base is what Runde and Flanagan in Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader: How You and Your Organization Can Manage Conflict Effectively define as the passive-constructive behavior of “adapting”. They define adapting behavior as “staying flexible and trying to make the best out of situation”. This can range from taking a positive attitude, to making adjustments that will minimize unnecessary problems in the future. At the most skillful level, active-constructive conflict behaviors include “perspective taking” and “creating solutions”; that is, the ability to clearly understand the other person’s point of view and then to work with them to arrive at a resolution.

At the heart of change is conflict – conflict in perceptions of the “right way”, conflict in understanding, conflict in expected outcomes, conflicts in beliefs and knowledge, conflicts with prior experience. Increasing skills in conflict management becomes key in improving adaptability. When we are clearer on whether a change is worth it, and learn how to make the change, then we can move forward. Skillful conflict management enables an individual to dig into the why, to be clear on the impact, to explore what is known and what is not, and then to create a solution that skirts endangerment and allows for broader success.

Runde and Flanagan offer the following suggestions for these constructive conflict behaviors:

• Listen to understand rather than debate
• Practice active listening to ensure that you are clearly hearing the message
• Never stop at one potential solution
• Explore the viability of multiple options to gain greater understanding of the constraints
• Gain agreement on the path forward and possible future decision points

Not only is change inevitable, the pace of change continues to accelerate. So, where does that leave the serenity prayer that suggests that you should “ask for the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference?” Perhaps the wisdom lies in knowing that the only thing in our lives over which we have control is ourselves. When we couple with that the wisdom that changing ourselves can be extraordinarily difficult, perhaps we’ll also find the courage and skill to willingly adapt to change.

Turbulence and Agility

An estimated 60% of industries are deemed to be turbulent compared to 20% three decades ago. Turbulence is defined in industries where there are dramatic changes in the profit pool or the "rules of the game" are changing rapidly. (The Secret to Growth? First, Define Your Core by Chris Zook, Bain & Co)

More than 80% of American executives believe the pace of change is increasing around the globe. (AMA’s 2006 Agility and Resilience Survey Reveals the Effects of Change on Business)

What then are the lessons for companies, managers and individuals to succeed in such environments?

• Know your strengths as a company, manager and individual
• Understand how these strengths add value to your organization, clients, and customers
• Understand what differentiators these strengths provide to you
• Evaluate and take action on ways to leverage your strength in the interest of your organization, clients and customers
• Determine the ways or circumstances in which the strength becomes a weakness
• Put systems, structures or people in place to mitigate the weakness
• Invest in learning
• Stay on top of changes in your industry
• Travel and consider how different solutions to everyday problems might be applied in your industry
• Look for innovations in other industries and consider what can be leveraged from your strengths
• Stay agile
  
• Keeping the pipeline full of business ideas,
• Maintaining a personal network
• Be prepared to execute on Plan B
  

When the world is changing at an ever accelerating pace, when companies like Google can generate revenue per employee at rates twice as high as companies like Microsoft, Intel and Cisco (Our Challenge Is Change, Not Globalization by Rich Karlgaard), when the rules of the game organizationally and personally are being rewritten annually, only the agile will keep on top of the game.

- What step could you take to improve your agility? -

Adapting to Change

An earlier blog was about “Decide to Change”, yet often change is thrust upon you. It could be a reassignment, promotion, family/life event, company sale, accident, or health crisis. Unless the event is so dramatic that you are stopped in your tracks, your brain will try to force-fit habitual thoughts, actions, perceptions and decision-making approaches to the new situation.

In moving out of your comfort zone, decision-making ability tends to suffer. Do I do this or do that? I’m being asked to do something that I don’t want to do. I’m able to operate more independently, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable with it.

A quick trick to help you adapt is to create some new rules. Your strengths haven’t changed. Your values haven’t changed. If you can create a set of rules around what to do, and what not to do, you will move more quickly back to a steady state, and stay true to your strengths and values.

For example, early in the development of my business, opportunities were being presented that didn’t feel right, yet I was reluctant to turn anything away. Instead, I wasted energy thinking about and talking about the opportunities, but not committing to making them a reality. A set of criteria for evaluating opportunities helped me make clear decisions about the ones that didn’t feel right, and released me to pursue those that did. Think about the criteria in the form of an open-ended statement. Examples might be:

• I will make decisions without consulting my manager when ...
• I will set non-negotiable boundaries with my teenagers when ....
• I will go to networking events when ...
• I will pursue new job options when ...
• I will leave this job when ....

Having the criteria in place relieves the burden of guilt, uncertainty and discomfort. Having the criteria in place does not lock you in; rather it may lead you to a place where you need to re-evaluate your criteria, add a new one, or make a decision. In any event, by giving yourself rules on when to act or not, you have given yourself additional mental energy for creating the new habits of thought and action needed in the change.

Share with us where you have found criteria helpful in your life.