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If an individual’s resistance to change starts to affect their performance, or have a negative impact on team morale, it is vital to address this as soon as possible. While you may not be able to stop the change, it’s important to understand the reasons behind the team member’s resistance and to help them move towards accepting the situation.
One of the most effective ways of doing this is to have an open and honest discussion with the individual in a dedicated one-to-one meeting. This article provides step-by-step guidance to help you and the team member get the most from this kind of discussion.
Preparing For The Meeting
- Set up the meeting with the employee in question. Explain that the purpose of the meeting is to have a positive discussion about the proposed change and the team member’s feelings about it, both good and bad. It’s important to make it clear that this should be a constructive conversation about the change and how the individual is feeling about it, and should not be treated as a ‘complaint session’.
- Prepare a document for the employee that lists the proposed changes, and includes sections for them to note their concerns. Ask them to complete this document in advance, and bring it with them to the meeting.
During the Meeting
- Begin the meeting by going through the team member’s completed document with them. Although you might not necessarily agree with all their concerns, it is important to listen carefully and take their comments on board. This in itself can go a long way towards alleviating the employee’s feelings of confusion or anxiety.
- If the team member raises issues that genuinely need to be addressed, invite the team member to suggest some potential solutions to the problem in the first instance. You may be able to put the team member’s best ideas into practice immediately. Alternatively, you might need to consult with other change leaders, either to ask their opinion on the proposed solution, or to generate some additional options. If this is the case, let the team member know what your next steps will be and when you should be able to provide them with a further update.
- Be honest with the employee. If it is not possible – or desirable – for you to alter any of the aspects of the change initiative that the employee is concerned about, you should make this clear. However, you can try to help them understand the changes by explaining the rationale behind them, and outlining their potential benefits. If you do not have an answer or solution to any of the employee’s concerns, explain that you will look into the matter and come back to them as soon as possible.
- While you might not be able to prevent change from occurring, you and the employee may be able to work together to identify a solution to help them cope better with the change, or approach it in a more productive way. Encourage the employee to formulate their own ideas first before contributing your own. When you do make suggestions, ask the employee for their honest impressions of whether they think your ideas will really help them make the transition.
- Bear in mind that an employee’s negative feelings about a change may stem from feelings of insecurity or a lack of confidence. If this transpires to be the case, be sure to provide the employee with the honest reassurance they need (e.g. about the security of their job, or your confidence in their abilities), where possible.
- Once all the possibilities have been discussed, you and the team member should identify the best solutions and agree on how these will be implemented. Remember that a solution that benefits the employee might not always benefit others, so avoid implementing any ideas that might have a negative impact on the rest of your team.
- If you and the team member reach an impasse during the conversation, it’s important to recognize this and bring the conversation to a temporary close. Suggest to the team member that you both spend the next 1-2 days reflecting on what has been said, and then meet again to continue the conversation.
Following Up
Agree a time to hold a review meeting with the team member in the following few working days. At this follow-up meeting, ask the employee how they now feel about the change, and address any new issues or concerns that might arise. If the employee had questions in your first meeting that you couldn’t answer straight away, aim to have the answers ready for the follow-up meeting, if not before. As with the first discussion, it is important to remember that the purpose of this exercise is to listen carefully to the team member’s concerns and ideas, and to help them understand and accept the change.
Capturing Lessons Learned
After your meetings with the employee, it’s important to review the information you have gathered to assess whether there are any aspects of the employee’s feedback that might help to improve the way your team, department or the wider organization approaches change. One of the employee’s concerns might particularly resonate with you, for example, and you may be keen to find out how the organization could approach this aspect of change differently in the future. To get a clearer picture of whether the employee’s concerns reflect those of the team as a whole, consider inviting other team members to meet with you to discuss their own feelings about the change. Even employees who have responded positively to it may be able to offer valuable insights into how the change might have been handled more effectively.
If, after this period of assessment, you conclude that genuine improvements could be made to the way in which the organization manages change, you should talk this through with a trusted colleague before considering whether to raise your concerns with a senior manager.
Summary
With any change initiative there is bound to be some resistance from at least some employees. Talking through team members’ concerns with them in a structured, pragmatic way allows you to help them understand and accept the change, and to mitigate the damaging effects that resistance can have on morale and performance. Remember, though, that these conversations are also an excellent opportunity to identify areas for improvement when it comes to managing change, so it’s vital to approach these discussions with an open mind and to give team members’ concerns due consideration.
