Employee Resistance to Strategic Change

Nothing is more costly to an organization and its leadership team than a failed change initiative.

We can always get beyond the money and time spent in getting an initiative launched and moving forward. However, we struggle to overcome the damage to company culture when employee resistance becomes the roadblock and the main reason for the change initiative's failure.  

Most change initiatives result from a company's values, vision, and strategic goals. Employee resistance to them can signal a misalignment between their understanding of the company's values, where it wants to go, and what it wants to achieve. The damage occurs when trust in leadership is lost or eroded, and the sense of common purpose within the organization dissolves.

This misalignment occurs in organizations daily and often involves a failing or failed strategy.

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To better understand why a large percentage of strategies fail every year, exploring some of the underlying causes related to employee resistance is helpful.

Most employee resistance is driven by fear. Fear is an emotional and physiological response to a perceived threat, danger, or potentially harmful situation. It's a normal human reaction that can trigger psychological and physical responses that serve to protect oneself from perceived harm.

Fear is real and can cause or spark resistance in anyone. 

Employees often see strategy execution as a threatening change initiative that fundamentally alters how their organization works and succeeds. They also see it as a threat to their existence and current way of life at work. When your employees don't see the direct benefits of organizational strategy or how it gets implemented or doubt its potential impact, they will resist putting in the effort required to achieve its successful execution.

For leadership teams, identifying and addressing these negative thoughts and any potential impacts BEFORE THEY CAUSE RESISTANCE is essential to ensure a smooth and successful strategic initiative implementation.

Following is a list of benefits that can come from strategic change, along with the impact that employee resistance can potentially have on them:

Avoiding Stagnation: Change is necessary for a company's growth and adaptation to evolving markets and business conditions. At other times change could mean the survival of the business itself. When employees resist change, the organization can stagnate, missing out on new opportunities, better technologies, and strategies that could improve its competitiveness.

Innovation: The correct change can bring about innovation and creativity. Resistance to change can stifle these qualities as employees stick to their established routines and ways of doing things, preventing the company from finding new and improved solutions.

Morale and Engagement: Constant resistance to change can create a hostile atmosphere and negatively impact company morale and employee engagement. Employees may feel frustrated, stressed, or anxious due to the uncertainty and disruption related to any potential change. If not managed effectively, this can lead to decreased morale and lower levels of engagement, impacting productivity and job satisfaction.

Collaboration and Communication: Strategic change often requires cooperation and communication between employees from different departments or business functions. Resisting collaborative efforts can hinder effective teamwork and communication, creating silos and breakdowns in cooperation and limiting the change initiative's potential for success.

Retention and Recruitment: Companies resistant to change find it difficult to retain top talent, especially those looking for opportunities to learn and grow. Prospective employees may hesitate to join a company with a reputation for resisting change, limiting the talent pool for potential new hires.

Adaptability: Adaptability is essential for the survival of any business. Organizations that are unable to adapt to changing circumstances risk becoming obsolete. Employee resistance can prevent the organization from being agile and responsive when it needs it the most.

Lack of Learning and Development: Change often brings opportunities for employees to learn new skills and develop professionally. Resistance to change can deny employees chances for growth, making them feel stuck in their roles and potentially leading to a skills gap within the organization.

Leadership Credibility: When leaders introduce a change effort that meets with strong resistance, it can undermine their credibility and effectiveness. Employees may question their decisions and lose faith in their ability to lead effectively.

Long-Term Success: If resistance to change becomes ingrained in a company's culture, it can lead to a cycle of negativity that's difficult to break. Over time, the organization risks sustainable success by becoming resistant to needed changes and hindering its ability to grow, evolve, and stay competitive.

For leadership teams, identifying and addressing negative thoughts and potential impacts BEFORE THEY CAUSE RESISTANCE is essential to ensure a smooth and successful strategic initiative implementation.

Strive For Balance

A company's culture must support a healthy balance between stability and adaptability. Encouraging open and direct communication with employees throughout the change process and providing them with proper training and support can help to mitigate resistance and preserve the company's culture. A culture that will continue to understand and embrace positive change.

Beyond negating the positive attributes of strategic change, employees will resist adopting new strategies for their company due to a combination of factors. These include fear, as previously discussed, concern about personal competence, attachment to familiar routines, perceived risks to job security, and skepticism about the effectiveness of proposed changes.

A lack of clear communication, inadequate training, and insufficient involvement in decision-making will contribute heavily to resistance. These factors can create a sense of uncertainty and discomfort, leading employees to resist change in favor of remaining in their current comfort zones and minimizing potential disruption to their everyday roles and responsibilities. It is here that leadership insights can be especially helpful.

Issues That Drive Strategy Resistance

When there is a lack of connection and communication between leadership and its employees based on a new strategy, the following issues take root and drive further resistance:

1. Lack of Clarity: when employees don't understand the strategy's goals, objectives, and alignment with the company vision, they will resist its execution simply because of confusion and uncertainty about their roles.
2. Unclear communication: inadequate or inconsistent communication about the strategy leads to misinformation and misunderstandings. A lack of transparent and timely updates will also cause resistance as employees feel disconnected from the process.
3. Lack of Initial Involvement: employees excluded from the strategy development process will distance themselves from it and undervalue the process. Getting them involved from the outset can enhance their ownership and reduce resistance.
4. Perceived Individual Threat: Employees may perceive a new strategy from the organization as threatening their roles, responsibilities, or job security. As a result, they resist, sensing that the new plan will harm the entire team.
5. Previous Failures: When the organization has experienced failed strategies or initiatives, employees will be hesitant to commit to new ones, lacking confidence in leadership or the plan of execution itself.
6. Lack of Resources: If there are inadequate resources, whether it's funding, support personnel, or technology, it will hinder the strategy's execution and lead to resistance. Employees will always resist if they believe they don't have the tools needed to do the job successfully.
7. Cultural Mismatch: When the strategy clashes with existing organizational culture or its values, resistance can grow in place of employees adapting to new norms.
8. Leadership Inconsistency: If leadership isn't aligned or committed to supporting the strategy and its changes, it will create confusion and resistance among employees sending mixed messaging.
9. Competing Priorities: When employees have full workloads and are tasked with additional responsibilities, introducing a new initiative may cause resistance as they struggle to balance their existing workloads with new demands.
10. Lack of Training: Introducing a new strategy may require employees to acquire new skills or knowledge. Employees who lack proper training can potentially resist supporting the execution due to feelings of inadequacy or frustration.

Preventative Employee Resistance

Overcoming these roadblocks of employee resistance requires a combination of interventions, starting with clear communication, involvement of all stakeholders, and a focus on building a supportive and aligned organizational culture. By addressing these causes, organizations can significantly improve their chances of successfully executing their strategy and realizing its' outcomes.

Monte Pedersen is the Principal of The CDA Group LLC, a unique leadership training firm with expertise in Strategy Execution Management. You can find out more about them at: www.clarifydeployachieve.com