Managing Resistance — Michelle Obama Way
Books don’t change people; paragraphs do, sometimes even sentences.
I loved reading “Becoming” by Michelle Obama. So much that, once I was done with the book, I went to devour every interview, every speech she has given.
During her 2011 campaign for Barack Obama’s 2nd Presidential tenure, she said “Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t.”
She went on to say that we should be dreaming, not doubting ourselves to build the world the way we think it should be. That with hope and effort, we shall.
Resistance has its roots in fear and to overcome it, you are going to need to tap into hope.
How do we use Michelle Obama’s golden words in a team setting to bring about change?
To move forward you need — A clear understanding of the current situation, a definite vision of where you want to be, and the milestones you want to achieve during this transformation. This will cement the foundation of hope on which you can encourage your team to embrace change.
Once the gap analysis is complete, you need to start identifying the resistance. Resistance may not always be vocal and aggressive; it camouflages itself in a myriad of ways.
In fact, instances of aggressive resistance or downright opposition are few and far between, at least in a corporate setup. In a hierarchical setup, outright denial of change is not a norm.
A bottom-up approach may meet with lack of enthusiasm or refusal to accept from the leadership if it doesn’t align with their overall strategy. But that is another topic for discussion, on another day.
Here are a few typical situations that could arise in any work setup, and the lessons I have learnt over time in handling them:
Why do we need to change? The current process works just fine
At the risk of sounding like a broken record -“Explain the why ” — or in Simon Sinek’s words “Start with why”. Elucidate the gap analysis and planning you have done in previous steps. It is imperative to be transparent and vocal about why you believe change is needed, the milestones to be achieved — the journey and the destination. This lucid communication implies that you have done your homework. Most critical — Emphasize the need for collaboration and teamwork. This will enable your team to let go of their fear of change and instill hope. Tap into your inner Michelle Obama!
Inertia and the need for follow-ups
My pet peeve — not just follow-ups, but the need for incessant follow ups. Nudging will be required to get everyone started in following the new rhythm. Habits are not easy to change. A new process means new tasks to be done periodically — which in turn means you need to imbibe the habit of sending out reminders. Give the team warm-up time to get used to the new ways of working. Reminder emails, blocking out calendars, emphasizing the to-do activities during meetings and stand-ups are the warm-ups you do to get the team moving to the groove.
I didn’t get time, I was busy with work
This is the tricky part, especially if your team deals with incident restoration. You need to take a pragmatic approach around this. But I recommend staying as close to the process as possible. This can and should be catered for in your initial analysis. That way an urgent critical request doesn’t turn into an unforeseen circumstance. In estimating for deliverables, you should also factor in the time & effort required for any process work or documentation. However, like I mentioned in my previous article, you should be agile in your approach to change so that unaccounted-for situations can be weaved back into the plan. For anything other than an urgent intervention, you need to set the expectations with your team and enable them to follow it.
Change rides on confidence
One of the more personal lessons I learnt was to be confident through change. Sounds clichéd, I know, but it was an insightful lesson. Working with highly technically-inclined team members in the past, I used to feel under confident & hence unsure about exerting the need for following processes — I was operating from a place of fear. In retrospect, the process was as important as it was for projects to be delivered on time with quality. It was a hard lesson I learnt, and I have always carried it with me. Unless you have faith in why you do what you do, you will find it difficult to be confident. It is important to reach out to your colleagues, mentors or seniors in the workplace and work to overcome your fears and replace them with confidence. Your confidence channels hope within your team, which rides the change home.
Change needs time, effort and hope.
On a parting note, I will leave you with these beautiful & thought-provoking words by Barack Obama — “Change is never easy, but always possible”
