Change is to be expected anywhere, and any time there is change, there is sure to be at least one employee who is resistant to that change. When that employee is a manager, though, implementing change with extreme opposition can be trickier, but there are a few tips that can help you along the way.
Understand Why Managers Resist Change
Part of overcoming resistance to change involves understanding why your manager opposes the change in the first place. There are many reasons this could be, ranging from a disagreement regarding some aspect of the change or a stressful work environment that will be made more stressful. Other causes include the fear of job loss, a lack of trust, or a fear of the unknown. Before you can overcome the opposition, you have to know what created it in the first place. An excellent place to start is looking at how your organization handled the change in the past.
Tips for Overcoming Resistance and Implementing Change
If that resistance comes from a manager, there are several things you can do to help make them enablers.
- Engage the resistant manager. A manager plays a vital role within your organization, and his or her frame of mind will influence others. As such, don’t thoroughly brush off a disgruntled manager. Take the time to engage with them and get to the bottom of their dissatisfaction. You can only truly resolve this situation when you know why someone is in opposition to the change.
- Prepare a list of benefits that apply to the company and to the manager, specifically. It’s easy to focus on all the ways your organization can benefit from the proposed change, but if you’re leaving your employees out in the process, they can start to become resentful. Prepare a list of benefits for everyone within the organization and communicate those benefits clearly from the start. This is a powerful way to get everyone on board and reduce the risk of significant opposition.
- Don’t implement a huge change all at once. Break the change down into several smaller steps you can implement over a few weeks or months (depending on the scope of the change). Prepare your IT managers early on in the process so that by the time the next stage of implementation rolls around, it has as little impact as possible on their day-to-day work environment.
- Create an open-door policy to address questions, concerns, and even complaints. Finally, part of good change management involves making sure you’re on the same page as your employees. Create a team that exists specifically to work with employees at various levels (including your IT managers) to hear their concerns, answer their questions, and address their complaints. More often than not, managers – and other employees, for that matter – just want their voices to be heard. Providing that for them will ease the pain of the transition and make it a smoother implementation overall.
Managers often have stressful jobs, and when a change comes along that threatens to pile even more stress on their plates, they can resist even the best and most beneficial of changes. Avoiding any serious issues that could result from their opposition requires open, honest communication to understand why that opposition exists and the willingness to address any concerns and answer any questions along the way.
