How to Do Change With People, Not To People

One of the prescriptions to avoid causing resistance is to make change something that we do with people, not to people. When we do change to people, it feels forced, and people are more likely to dig in their heels to slow it down or stop it. People are less likely to respond negatively to something they help create instead.

What do these two approaches look like during implementation?

Change Done To	Change Done With
Identifying the solution in a small team of people who aren’t the end users	Working with people to identify what problems to fix and what to change
Having a leader or leadership team develop a vision and then try to get everyone on board	Developing a common vision based on everyone’s ideas and hopes for the future
Making assumptions based on your own perspective and experience	Having conversations to understand impact and potential sources of resistance
Assigning people to implement the project	Inviting people to participate
Cascading one-way communication through managers	Creating opportunities for conversations
Relying on authority to force people to change	Relying on influence and engagement to help people change
Setting expectations	Co-creating expectations and gaining commitment
Holding people accountable	Helping people be accountable
Mandating classroom training	Providing multiple avenues for learning
Focusing on installation	Focusing on adoption and results
Bringing in change management to implement what you’ve already decided to do	Bringing change management into the process from the beginning to help design an engaging approach

The more opportunities we provide for people to engage in change, the less they will become victims of it. What contrasting approaches to change would you add to the list?