One reason people demonstrate resistance and resentment to change is when they feel they have no control of their situation.  Often this feeling of lack of control stems from not having an outlet for their frustration or their ideas.  As a change agent, you can mitigate some resistance simply by listening.

I have often heard it said that we have one mouth and two ears for a reason; we should use them in that proportion. But listening goes beyond just letting someone flap their lips with you in the vicinity.  In the book Co-Active Coaching, the authors describe three levels of listening:

1. Internal listening.  The focus is on the spoken words and their meaning to you (as the listener).
2. Focused listening.  Your attention is on the other person.  You notice not only what they say, but how they say it and what they don’t say.  You focus on the meaning to them.  Level 2 listening is where understanding, collaboration, empathy, and clarification happen.
3. Global listening.  You bring more of your intuition to the listening, feeling the energy and changes to the environment during the conversation.

At Level 1, most people will not feel as though you are truly listening to them.  To show that you understand requests and concerns, your best listening as a change agent will happen at Level 2.  Even if you are unable to fulfill requests and fix concerns, if you are fully listening to people going through change, they will feel that their opinions and experiences count.

To whom do you need to listen?

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If you are to have any influence at all as an individual, other people need to give you the power to influence them.  And no one willingly gives power to someone they don’t trust.  To build a foundation of trust, start by protecting your integrity.  In a great book called The Transparency Edge, Barbara and Elizabeth Pagano offer nine ways to build credibility and integrity:

1. Be completely honest.
2. Gather intelligence. (Get feedback.)
3. Compose yourself.
4. Let your guard down.
5. Keep your promises.
6. Deliver bad news compassionately.
7. Say you’re sorry.
8. Watch your mouth. (e.g. Don’t talk behind other people’s backs.)
9. Applaud freely and regularly.

As a change agent, you also need to build trust in the change itself, which means building trust in the leaders who are driving it.  People going through change need to be confident that leaders are capable of delivering it.  The leaders themselves also need to be trustworthy.  Help them protect their integrity by providing feedback when necessary, so they have the opportunity to correct any behaviors that reduce trust.

How might you build trust?

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In their book, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein talk about how people are likely to continue a course of action simply because it is the one they are already doing.  This status quo bias is not a surprise to anyone trying to influence organizational change!  However, when designing change initiatives, we can tap into this phenomenon by setting the default to the behavior we want to see.

For example, is the change something that people need to opt into or opt out of?  If the default is that people do not participate and need to sign up (opt in), then research shows that fewer people will participate than when the default is that people are signed up and need to take action to not participate (opt out).  People will generally stick with the automatic status they are given.

How might this look in organizational change?

• Scheduling people to attend education or training sessions about the change
• Including every department in the report measuring participation
• Automatically enrolling new employees in the program
• Setting system defaults on the company intranet or other software

When designing your change initiative, consider what the unstated default might be.  Then, assess whether that default is the new status quo you would like to create.  Set the default to the automatic decision you would like people to make.

To what might you set the default?

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Organizational change typically requires that people learn new skills, knowledge or behaviors.  If you want it to stick, customize learning.

First, customize learning to the change itself.  Focus the training or education on helping people perform the task at hand.  Make sure learning covers the hard part of the change and not just the mechanics.

Second, customize learning to the people going through the change.  Ensure that each person is learning what they need to know to make the change themselves.  Avoid wasting people’s time and attention learning things they don’t need to know.

How might you customize learning?

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People going through change often get stuck in their current state because their current point of view keeps them from seeing other possibilities for moving forward.  The stories they tell themselves about their experience of the change can reinforce their resistance.  When someone is stuck in their point of view, reframe it.

Reframing means helping people see things from new perspectives.  The following steps outline the general process of reframing:

1. Acknowledge that they are stuck.
2. Understand their current point of view.
3. Offer alternative viewpoints.
4. Explore what might be true, useful and important about the alternative viewpoints.
5. Help them to choose the best perspective for moving forward.

For example, someone might feel like the change is happening to them, like they are being changed.  Their current perspective is that they have no control over what is happening to them.  You might reframe their perspective by exploring what they do have control over, or by suggesting ways they might get more involved and have a say in what is happening to them.

How might you reframe current points of view?

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I once worked with an organization that had launched a successful communication campaign for its strategy with posters that simply said, “Got strategy?”  The posters, which had white printed on a black background and was printed with the same font as the “Got milk” ad campaign, also included a date — that of the next round of communication, when people would find out what the strategy was, and why it was important to know.  The change agents at that organization relied on the premise that if you want people to pay attention, instill curiosity.

It’s the curious who follow clues and seek out answers, whether they wonder what a poster is talking about or they want to find out if there is a solution to a problem.  If curiosity killed the cat, it was because the cat was actively trying to satisfy that curiosity, and not resting lazily in the sun as a cat would otherwise do.

Entice people to wonder about the change initiative by adding an element of mystery.  Give them a question to ponder so they are waiting for an answer.  (Just make sure the question will be answered!)

How might you instill curiosity?

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Want to motivate people to reach for a goal?  Tap into the human drive to win and instigate competition.  Whether there is an award or not, individuals and teams will most likely strive to earn bragging rights over the rest of their competitors.

Beware; when you instigate competition, you can turn teammates into enemies.  You may further entrench silos in the organization if those silos are competing against each other.  If you want to encourage collaboration between individuals or groups, don’t instigate a competition between them.  Instead,  put them on the same team against another foe (like the real competition in the marketplace!).

How might you instigate competition?

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Desperate times call for desperate measures.  And what is more desperate than begging?

Although getting on your knees and crying will most likely not win you favor with coworkers and managers, a little begging might work to show someone that you really need them to do something.

Begging can be subtle, like going the more playful route of “Please… Pretty please… Pretty please with sugar on top…”  Or, it can be more urgent and imploring, like, “I beg of you, please stop saying that!”

It is important for your dignity that you escalate your request with increasing urgency without sounding desperate; that assumes, of course, that maintaining your dignity is more important than getting the point across.  For the sake of your reputation and relationships, use this method of influence sparingly.

When it comes to your change initiative, what would you be willing to beg for?

(Originally listed in Everyday Influence Tactics Not Found in Leadership Books.)

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Your closest circle of influence are your friends at work.  They are the people who trust you the most, who like you, and who believe in what you are doing – at least they see that you believe in it.  Perhaps with the exception of people who report directly to you, you have the greatest influence with your friends at work.

Being a change agent is a difficult job to do alone.  Rely on your friends to help you! Looking back at my own friends at work, they played three main roles in the changes I spearheaded:

• Cheerleader – Need encouragement?  Friends are good for that.
• Sounding board – Need some quick feedback?  Ask a friend what they think.
• Guinea pig – Need someone to be the first to try the new procedure, software, meeting format, etc.?  Experiment on your friends!

I’m not suggesting that you take advantage of your friends without reciprocity.  As in any relationship, relying on your friends to help you implement change is a two-way street.  Always be there when your friends need your expertise and help in return.

When might you rely on friends?

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