Change is hard.
Hi friend,
This past spring I’ve had the privilege and joy of teaching an undergrad class primarily made-up of graduating seniors. These last few weeks in May have been bittersweet, as the seniors have begun to grapple with huge life changes and all the feelings that come with closing one chapter and entering a new, exciting, and scary one. (I’m already tearing up humming Pomp and Circumstance).
Change is hard. Full stop.
As I’ve written about before, we also have a hard time when our organizations change. We mourn the way things used to be, when we were smaller and we knew everyone’s name. We bristle at a change to a company policy and get worked up at the thought of our manager leaving and a new one stepping into her shoes. Incredible changes, like explosive growth or an IPO, might leave us in a swamp of mixed emotions. We’re often told to feel excited and “psyched” about all of this growth, and intellectually we know why, but emotionally we may feel bummed and resentful about these changes.
As managers and leaders, we often get frustrated when our teams still struggle with change despite all the work and effort we spend communicating, overcommunicating and thoughtfully explaining why a change is going to be positive and how it’s going to affect them.
Recently, I came across a framework that was powerful in helping me understand why - despite all the effort we may put in regarding communicating change - folks still struggle. The framework explores different reasons why we resist change, and most importantly, can help us help others navigate change.
In essence, we each have a slightly different “dispositional resistance to change” - the reason why change bothers us and we resist it. What bothers me about change, might be different from what bothers you about change.
Here are the four different categories of dispositional resistance to change:
Dispositional Resistance to Change
Routine seeking: I’ll take a routine over a day full of unexpected events any time
Cognitive rigidity: Once I’ve come to a conclusion, I’m not likely to change my mind
Emotional reaction: When I am informed of a change of plans, I tense up
Short-term focus: Changing plans seems like a real hassle to me
For some of us, we might not be bothered by any of these categories. For others of us, one category might be high (for me it’s routine seeking - a change in routine is what I get worked up with regarding change), while the others might be low. Or, we might be high on all of them.
As a leader, it’s useful to understand where your team is “high” to understand why they are resisting a change (and then tailor your message or approach based on the why). Maybe your team members get upset by change because they are concerned about the extra work and big hassle it will create (Short-term focus). Or, maybe a team member struggles with change because they have a hard time making a cognitive shift and seeing the world in a different light (“I thought we were a B2B company. How can you tell me we are now B2C?”).
There’s a handy-dandy short assessment you can take that tells you where you fall on each of the dispositional resistance to change categories, and gives you an overall “score” (high scores mean you have a harder time with change). Here’s the link to the assessment (quick caveat, a CTO friend did say it’s not great to trust a website ending in .php - though I haven’t had a problem with it 🤷🏻♀️).
Here’s to change!
Rachel
Additional Gems (IMHO)
Read: The Practical Wisdom Framework: Karen Bohlin writes about practical wisdom, a way for leaders to “know what to do when they don’t know what to do.” She writes for leaders in the education space, but her framework is immensely helpful for leaders and managers across all contexts.
Listen: How to Love Criticism: Recent research shows that remote workers are getting less feedback from their managers than folks in the office (and therefore, getting held back in their careers!) Here’s an oldie, but a goodie podcast with Adam Grant on how to love feedback to hopefully get more feedback flowing.
Check out: How To Be A Great Manager: Remember those DVD courses in the back of your parents’ magazines on things like Ancient Egypt or Renaissance Art? Well, those Great Courses are still around…and I developed one on managing! They no longer have DVDs, but are still really cool to listen to! Check it out.