It’s a reality that not every organizational business change will be viewed positively by Targets—those people most impacted by the change. Even an organizational change that leaders perceive as positive may not be seen in the same way by the Targets of the change. In fact, the reaction pattern to a negative change is caused more by the loss of control than by the content of the change. The good news is that we can use what we know about negative organizational changes to arm Sponsors and Agents with tactics—and these tactics can then be used to move Targets through their emotional reaction stages, while minimizing resistance to change.
Negative Change Curve Provides Predictive Patterns
On a personal level, we’re familiar with the continuum of emotions that people experience to a negative life change like divorce, terminal illness, or death. From an organizational perspective, there are some obvious negative organizational changes such as restructurings, downsizings, or being acquired by another company. Whether personal or professional, we can predict that people will experience a continuum of emotions starting with immobilization and continuing through denial, bargaining, depression, exploration, and finally acceptance.
As individuals move through these six stages, they begin to cross from a focus on the past to a focus on the future. They move from a sense of loss to a search for what they can impact.
There are pro-active responses that Sponsors and Agents can make that will get Targets through the “valley of despair” and to Acceptance as quickly as possible. These responses can also help to mitigate the risk that Targets will either stay stuck in a particular stage, or loop backwards to a previous stage instead of moving forward.
Responses Should Align With the Targets’ Stage
While the negative change curve is interesting and informative, are there proactive, tactical actions that Sponsors and Agents can take to increase the Targets’ readiness for change? How can we use what we know about negative changes to do a better job of resistance management? Here are some suggested responses:
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Stage
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Response
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Denial
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Increase the amount and frequency of interaction between Sponsors, Agents, and Targets
Avoid confrontation. Focus on the future state and new Frame of Reference without entrenching denial
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Anger
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Legitimize the anger. Targets do have a right to be angry because they have experienced a loss of control, but they don’t have the right to be aggressive
Don’t take the anger personally
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Bargaining
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Don’t bargain, or you run the risk of changing the definition of the change, and you will generate a new response
Be confrontational and assertive (“There can be no deal.”)
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Depression
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Encourage responsibility
Provide support to Targets—let them know about available resources
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Exploration
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Test new options in the new situation
Acknowledge progress; build confidence
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Acceptance
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Reward and acknowledge progress
Identify learnings that can be used on next implementation
Prepare for the next change
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By using what we know about reactions to negative changes, we can help Sponsors and Agents be better prepared and more effective in dealing with Targets.
