Resistance to Change: Proactive Anticipation

Note: this is a five-part series. Read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 5

by Katherine Sanders and Patrick Farrell

INTRODUCTION

When we have a healthy foundation to build on, we can anticipate resistance before we encounter it. We call this skill proactive anticipation. Proactive anticipation makes it possible for us to move forward with more ambitious initiatives, more quickly. We build it in stages:

Healthy Foundation
Systems Thinking & Scenario Planning
Collect Early Indicators
List Major & Minor Redirects

These four stages build upon each other, increasing change capacity along the way. We described Healthy Foundation in a previous installment. We’ll now focus on the other three stages.

USE SYSTEMS THINKING & SCENARIO PLANNING

We also want to ensure that we include diverse voices from many parts of the system. We invite this diverse group to learn together and co-create a systems view. We don’t want to stifle or eliminate resistance, but to allow people’s concerns to surface early to be discussed in the context of the entire system we are working on.

We listen to the systems issues our people bring to our attention and respond to them reliably, building trust. Responding teaches us how to anticipate interaction effects across a work system. By identifying and responding to interdependent issues, groups learn how one area impacts another.

Scenario planning can also help the group learn, prepare, and practice. The group might generate 3-4 dramatically different system scenarios about how the change initiative might unfold, then consider each potential scenario in terms of how good or bad it might be.

If there is one scenario we want to encourage, how do we do it?
If there are those that we want to avoid, how do we avoid them?

Include scenarios the group considers unlikely.

What happens if something central in the plan turns out to be completely off?
What do we need in order to be robust against surprises?

As the group moves through these scenarios, they learn from and with each other, strengthening their understandings of system relationships while practicing effective collaboration.

COLLECT EARLY INDICATORS

As the group nears the implementation phase, it’s important to continuously collect information about how people are thinking about the initiative (e.g., rumor mill). A core piece of the implementation plan is the design of metrics and guideposts to show how implementation is progressing. But even before we move into implementation, we must attend to the project’s perception.

What are people’s concerns about what’s happening? How do they want to engage? We want to know if people feel excitement about the project’s roll out, concerns, or if it is still off of their radar screen. By finding out beforehand, we can address concerns and information gaps before they escalate. It’s hard to over-communicate in this early phase. As we collect early indicators, we can redirect.

LIST MAJOR & MINOR REDIRECTS

The group should also list potential major and minor redirects. They do this by generating priorities and alternatives to prepare for unexpected events. Redirects include:

Possible additions to the communication plan
Mid-course corrections they already know how to do
What to do if resources aren’t sufficient (e.g., opportunities to apply for additional resources, reallocation of existing funds)
Emergence of outside events or actors (e.g., pandemic)

By creating different scenarios and alternative corrections, the group has already thought about how to handle unanticipated events or outcomes. They may not have found solutions, but they’re less thrown when they do happen.

No one can know what’s coming, but these steps grow capacity for change because the group is simultaneously learning about their system and each other. They’re building trust, creativity, and knowledge. They’re practicing the skills they will need when surprises show up, even if they’re not the surprises the group forecasted.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Sanders Consulting and Farrell Consulting specialize in helping teams implement change in higher education.