5 Sources of resistance to change

Yesterday I posted an article about how people react when undergoing change. I strongly recommend that you read the previous post first in order to get a clear understanding of how people react to change, before you read this post that focus on why people react to change.

Humans are creatures of habit, and resistance to change might be seen as a form of stupidity. Sometimes change is small and only affects our daily routine, but often change has a major impact on your life and lifestyle. It is mostly our fear for the unknown, combined with negative perceptions and expectations that keep us from exploring new opportunities and possibilities.

Resistance comes from a number of sources:

1. Resistance as a result of fear

The fear of failure is one of the strongest forces that determine human behaviour. The fear of loosing your identity, belonging, control, meaning in life, security, your marriage or your life; of the unknown; and of negative consequences like criticism, rejection and isolation.

2. Resistance as a result of laziness

Some may call it the "comfort zone", others simply call it down right lazy. Lazy people have the tendency to focus on the short term only, and have no vision for the long term. They see the work that needs to be done now, how much work it is, and how much effort it will require to complete the task at hand. Lazy people's perspectives are obscured. They only see the work that needs to be done now, with no clear picture of the future or long term goal.

3. Resistance to change as a result of momentum

Momentum is actually quite the opposite of laziness. Many people invest a lot of time and energy in working towards a future goal. In fact, sometimes too much time and energy is expended in the "old ways".
You can imagine someone driven to move in a certain direction with great anticipation, almost deliberate and aggressively focused. Someone who has gained momentum, picked speed and who is feeling confident and motivated.
Now, all of the sudden this person is required to stop and move in the opposite direction.
This will require a new commitment, realigning with the new vision, sacrificing all the effort, time and energy invested. If you attempt to stop a train that runs full speed at you, and turn it around on its tracks to go the other way, you can't possibly expect to experience no resistance or pain.

4. Resistance to change as a result of past experiences

If you initiate change you should expect that there is someone who either don't trust you, simply don't like you, or someone who has an old score to settle with you. Either way, you will experience resistance. People forgive, but they don't forget. Past experiences, and I'm not referring to the good ones, causes people to resist - actively or passively.

5. Resistance as a result of selfishness

You, me and everyone else on earth have a selfish tendency, often manifested through the "what is in it for me?" syndrome. If we can't see the advantages or benefits we will gain through the change and effort, we either wait the change out or we refuse to participate with enthusiasm. It is therefore the responsibility of the initiator of change to clearly define the incentives and clarify the payoff for every individual involved in the process of change.

In the next post I will focus on strategies that will reduce the resistance of change. I am looking forward to read your comments.

9 trust-gaining strategies (Part1 / 3)

Trust is something that is gained through hard work over a long period of time. It can be broken in a wink of an eye, and broken trust will leave you on a long and lonely road to recovery. It is therefore best to keep trust in tact, and not allow it to be broken.
Most of us is far from perfect, and at some stage in our lives we will be guilty of breaking someones trust. When you find yourself guilty of breaking someones trust you have to acknowledge your mistake, explain it, apologise and pledge to do everything in your power to prevent it from happening ever again.
I have put together 9 strategies to gain trust, and divided it up into 3 parts. These 9 strategies represent the building blocks and requirements for building trust:

1. Have clear goals

Always be clear on where you are going and you will not be overwhelmed by confusion. If the people around you can not clearly identify what your goal and purpose is they are most likely going to doubt you and find it difficult to trust you.
Without a clear vision and set of goals you will leave those around you disillusioned and bewildered.

2. Become an honest, fair and willing listener

This is an interesting concept that helps you to gain trust in other people. If you are open, willing and honest when you listen to someone else, you are more likely to trust the person talking to you.
It is a scientific fact that your attitude towards someone else is reflected back to you through their attitude towards you. People mirror the emotions sent out to them, and it is therefore important that you do your best to trust someone else first.
If you do not trust someone else, there is a strong possibility that you are also not trusted.
Encourage people to discuss their concerns with you, and make sure that your door is always open to people who need to talk to you.
Share your knowledge and keep clear of power-play. People in general, especially the new generation is known for their lack of trust in authoritative figures.
Powerful, intelligent people in authoritative positions can cause those around them to feel insecure and inferior. To gain trust you need to loosen your grip of power and start to listen with an honest, willing and fair hart.

3. Stop being so indecisive

Making decisions without a clear course of action on how you are gong to execute these decisions is very frustrating draining on those around you.
I am a firm believer that it is better to do something than doing nothing. It is therefore better to make bad decisions with a clear course of action than to make no decisions at all. If you want to gain trust you should stop being so indecisive. Make decisions and execute them.