welcome to module 5: lead organizational change strategic hr business partner bootcamp © 2013 act...

Welcome to Module 5: Lead Organizational Change

Strategic HR

Business PartnerBootcamp

© 2013 ACT Strategic - All Rights Reserved.

Lead Organizational ChangeLeveraging Resistance and Engagement


What You’ll Learn In This Video


Why surfacing resistance speeds up the change process.

How to recognize the many faces of resistance.

How to use SCARF to manage change.

Why no one likes surprises.


Why Surfacing Resistance Speeds Up The Change Process


We tend to want to suppress emotions in the workplace. Quashing resistance prolongs the personal change process. A much better strategy is to surface resistance and make it okay to discuss.

When you suppress resistance, it doesn’t go away, it goes underground. This is especially difficult since you can’t address problems if you don’t understand what they are.

The longer resistance stays underground, the more entrenched it becomes.

How we respond affects whether resistance goes underground. Reflect on a situation where someone resisted your efforts to make change happen. What words would you use to describe her? If you’re like most people, words like, stubborn, mule, troublemaker, tree-hugger, difficult, and hardheaded come to mind.




When we unconsciously label people in these ways, it affects how we treat them. For example, if we think of someone as hardheaded, we may avoid them because we think it won’t matter anyway.

To increase the pace of change and help individuals move through Resistance, don’t try to explain to them why their feelings are wrong. It is never possible to talk someone out of their emotions.

Emotions must be processed. This happens through listening, asking non-judgmental questions and acknowledging their feelings and concerns.




Resistance often has a rational side as well. If the resister believes your solution won’t work, is too complex, or simply is more work than the benefit, they will not embrace the new way of doing things. Understanding their concerns can allow you to design the change to create more benefit.

In Module 2: Know the Business, you learned about the complexities of your business. This knowledge pays off as you’re creating HR solutions for your business. Your solution should solve a need and also be manageable given the work environment.


How To Recognize The Many Faces Of Resistance


Resistance shows up differently in every organization. Your culture determines what is acceptable behavior and whether it is acceptable for resistance to be visible.

These are some of the common forms of resistance in organizations. Confrontation is the most visible. Smile & nod, the least visible.

Confrontation is the most desirable because you know the other person’s position. It is also the most rare. Many leaders do not like to be disagreed with and they make it unsafe to disagree with them.

Complaining to others is a common way people resist.

Less visible is when people agree to take action, but don’t follow through.

A form of resistance that is difficult to interpret is missing meetings. They may miss your meeting because they are double-booked or simply not in agreement.

Smile & nod leads you to believe they are in agreement when they are not.


How To Recognize The Many Faces Of Resistance


While all of these are examples of resistance, they all have other explanations as well. To figure out what’s really going on, talk with person in question to discuss their views of the change.

If you’re not sure what resistance looks like in your organization, think about your behavior when you disagree with your boss or others.


How To Use SCARF To Manage Change


According to Dr. David Rock, Director of the NeuroLeadership Institute, five times a second your brain is scanning the environment to see if a threat or reward exists.

This constant assessment of threats and rewards is a powerful motivator.

When our threat response is triggered, we experience:Increased motor functioning

Decreased field of view

Reduced working memory

Significantly fewer insights

And we err on the side of pessimism

Threat is a more powerful motivator than the reward response; however, threat responses increase our ability to take action and reduce our ability to think.




Reducing the threat level to a manageable level helps people to respond more productively to change. You can do this by decreasing threat in one or more of the SCARF factors.

Status: One’s sense of importance relative to others (e.g. peers, the boss, friends, people who are taller, smarter, prettier, etc.)

Certainty: One’s need for clarity and the ability to make accurate predictions about the future.

Autonomy: Tied to a sense of control over the events in one’s life and the perception that one’s behavior has an effect on the outcome of a situation.

Relatedness: One’s sense of connection to and security with another person (e.g. whether someone is perceived as similar or dissimilar to oneself, a friend or a foe, whether we are ‘in group’ or ‘out group’, others who have similar goals)

Fairness: Just and non-biased exchange between people (e.g. praise or acknowledgement of one’s efforts, equivalent pay for equivalent work)




Each person’s SCARF priority order is different. CEO’s tend to be highest in the need for autonomy. HR professionals often value relatedness and fairness and Project Managers value certainty.

You can use the SCARF model prior to initiating change to predict the impact an action may have in one or more of the SCARF motivators.

For example, knowing a change initiative to reduce the number of offices may create a status threat, the leader may offset this threat by increasing Certainty and Fairness. This could include providing more information regarding exactly how offices will be distributed and an comparative analysis of individuals who will be receiving offices.


Why No One Likes Surprises


It can seem faster and easier to figure everything out and then spring it on the organization.

Most people resist these efforts, regardless of how well-thought-out they may be.

It is more effective to inform and engage, so employees have the opportunity to move out of Denial, express their concerns (Resistance) and begin to Explore what all this means to them.

Engaging employees means making sure they understand what’s happening and why, gaining their commitment and assuring they have the skills needed to be successful.

Engaging people, especially those who are influential, creates buy-in, creates a better result and speeds the process.


Take Action Now!


Download and complete the Leveraging SCARF pdf.

Go to the SHR Bootcamp LinkedIn group page and share your insights.

welcome to module 5: lead organizational change strategic hr business partner bootcamp © 2013 act...

Documents

faces of resistance

quashing resistance

longer resistance

common forms of resistance

act strategic

personal change process

pace of change

solution wont work