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Overcoming Our Resistance to Change: The Power of the Mind at Work
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Overcoming Our Resistance to Change: The Power of the Mind at Work
Most corporate change initiatives are met with tremendous resistance and, not surprisingly, do not succeed. Accordingly, managers and leaders need to learn why this is so and what to do about it. Change is felt on a personal level. Unless organizations address the biological and emotional responses to change, they will continue to fall short in their attempts to lead successful change initiatives. Alternatively, when leaders proactively focus on how change affects the human system and how employees are impacted, they are more likely to learn how to listen to the resistance and speak the language that supports change.
Biological processes of creating habits
Habits are hard-wired into the basal ganglia part of the brain. In this area the brain makes connections to experiences and insights and functions effectively and efficiently without using a lot of energy. These connections, or habits, do not require much thinking or energy. When performing a task done consistently, such as driving to the office, one can be so focused on other things that there is no recollection of actually driving the car and making all the appropriate turns and stops. This is why habits are so hard to break—the brain has adopted this simple task of performing the habit without expending much energy, making it an efficient process. The brain reliably resists attempts to change these energy saving habits. It`s "human nature" to take the path of least resistance, and the science explains why.
Change = Pain
Recent neuroscience research provides proof that "change" creates a threat to the habits hard-wired in the brain. When a threat is perceived, such as a change to a routine, attention and effort are required, which produces uncomfortable feelings and physiological discomfort. People resist this and retreat to an area of comfort where they can then try to understand the threat.
Employees generally do not have all the information to understand why the threat (change) is happening. Because they lack this information, they tend to think in a way that obstructs the change and contributes to multiple levels of resistance. They quickly direct their energy toward protecting the status quo. Leaders have a role in this pattern. They neglect to communicate consistently and frequently the reasons for the change and how it will affect employees. Without this knowledge, employees create stories (which aren`t always accurate) to justify the change and they spread misinformation across informal networks within the organization, which results in negative energy. And like the Titanic, which couldn`t be stopped in time once the iceberg was spotted, the momentum of negative energy surrounding the change initiative cannot be halted quickly. When employees feel threatened, they are more likely to leave the organization or transfer to other departments not affected by the change. With key talent depleted, the change initiative ultimately fails.
Focused Communication
To achieve success with change initiatives, modify the way employees think and feel about change. One way to accomplish this is by enabling employees to self-discover the benefits of the change initiative through focused communication. When uncovering the answers to problems themselves, instead of being told how to do it, new insights in the brain are triggered and neurotransmitters (like adrenaline) are released. This creates a focus for the brain, which now pulls the activity away from the habit-forming area of the brain into the working memory—the pre-frontal cortex. This area of the brain requires more energy to function. When this happens, new connections, synapses, and insights develop; these are more commonly known as the "aha`s" or "light bulb moments."
Source:
http://www.managesmarter.com/msg/content_display/publications/e3i08b5226bcb8cd0c
Biological processes of creating habits
Habits are hard-wired into the basal ganglia part of the brain. In this area the brain makes connections to experiences and insights and functions effectively and efficiently without using a lot of energy. These connections, or habits, do not require much thinking or energy. When performing a task done consistently, such as driving to the office, one can be so focused on other things that there is no recollection of actually driving the car and making all the appropriate turns and stops. This is why habits are so hard to break—the brain has adopted this simple task of performing the habit without expending much energy, making it an efficient process. The brain reliably resists attempts to change these energy saving habits. It`s "human nature" to take the path of least resistance, and the science explains why.
Change = Pain
Recent neuroscience research provides proof that "change" creates a threat to the habits hard-wired in the brain. When a threat is perceived, such as a change to a routine, attention and effort are required, which produces uncomfortable feelings and physiological discomfort. People resist this and retreat to an area of comfort where they can then try to understand the threat.
Employees generally do not have all the information to understand why the threat (change) is happening. Because they lack this information, they tend to think in a way that obstructs the change and contributes to multiple levels of resistance. They quickly direct their energy toward protecting the status quo. Leaders have a role in this pattern. They neglect to communicate consistently and frequently the reasons for the change and how it will affect employees. Without this knowledge, employees create stories (which aren`t always accurate) to justify the change and they spread misinformation across informal networks within the organization, which results in negative energy. And like the Titanic, which couldn`t be stopped in time once the iceberg was spotted, the momentum of negative energy surrounding the change initiative cannot be halted quickly. When employees feel threatened, they are more likely to leave the organization or transfer to other departments not affected by the change. With key talent depleted, the change initiative ultimately fails.
Focused Communication
To achieve success with change initiatives, modify the way employees think and feel about change. One way to accomplish this is by enabling employees to self-discover the benefits of the change initiative through focused communication. When uncovering the answers to problems themselves, instead of being told how to do it, new insights in the brain are triggered and neurotransmitters (like adrenaline) are released. This creates a focus for the brain, which now pulls the activity away from the habit-forming area of the brain into the working memory—the pre-frontal cortex. This area of the brain requires more energy to function. When this happens, new connections, synapses, and insights develop; these are more commonly known as the "aha`s" or "light bulb moments."
Source:
http://www.managesmarter.com/msg/content_display/publications/e3i08b5226bcb8cd0c
