How can you manage change resistance when there is a lack of trust between leaders and employees?

When I look at this post, a quote comes to mind... "When we manipulate people they will give us exactly what we pay for "When we inspire people they will give us more than we ask for" Simon Sinek Trust is born out of consistency, transparency and dependency - If this is not how employees view leadership new foundations will need to be laid.

Hmmm let's see. How about we look at this from a different lens. Our company is always hired when a municipality is in trouble and we specialize in populations under 15000. Usually the council is new, and they were elected to fire the CAO, or the CAO has misfiring departments and has fired those leaders. Either way we come into a non functioning mistrustful, wore out, abused, or insufferable team. They didn't like the past leader and they sure don't want us. We typically have 18 months to 2 years to get it right. I'll spare you the theories and the white papers. Change cannot happen within the first 3 months. One has to get a feel and work with the organization or department. Take off your suit and work with the teams. More later!

The change is chosen for a purpose , so we must get the purpose stated and expected outcomes and benefits . Benefits could be financial or forms . Put them all in the change strategy document . Create cross functional teams (CFT) cutting across the organisation . Choose influencer from each dept in the CFT . They will champion the change in their dept and are expected to voice any resistance , reasons for resistance . Involve them in the conceptualization of the strategy . They will own the entire process till it gets deployed . Prepare KPI dashboards to indicate awareness (% trained ) adoption ( % entities using the changed process or system) and outcomes ( money made or saved due to the change) .

As a rule, those who have been rallied to a cause will remain committed when the following happens: • Opinions are respected and listened to. Inputs or ideas are considered, and not discarded without a fair hearing or evaluation. • People are treated honestly. There are no hidden agendas or self-serving plans that place a particular individual or workgroup at a disadvantage. • Individual uniqueness is acknowledged and recognized. A coworker’s situation or ability to adapt to proposed changes is considered and accommodated. • Promises—implied or explicit—are kept. Saying one thing and doing another at the organization's convenience will only produce resistance to the improvement effort.

This is the magic. 🪄 Recruit a team of ‘change agents’ internally to act as advisors and representatives. This liaison approach helps mitigate the feelings of ‘us vs them’. Just, make it real. Give meaningful decision rights or it’ll backfire.

Invite the people who are going to be impacted - and not the same group that gets invited to work on every task force. Make sure to include some naysayers. Ask open-ended questions - and listen. Share a high-level vision - and ask what they think. And listen. Incorporate what you've heard in your messaging. Communicate frequently. Ask for feedback along the way.

As a professional cartoonist and graphic facilitator, I may be biased, but method not mentioned here is visual storytelling. A cartoon, infographic, or animated explainer can lay out the thinking behind the change in an engaging, human way, and show employees where they fit into the picture. In the case of cartoons, a bit of humor can help overcome resistance to change, show employees their anxieties are acknowledged and understood, and bond people together in a common cause. Cartoons also get shared more, so employees help spread the word. In any case, anything that helps lighten the mood when change feels stressful is a welcome addition to a suite of communications. Of course, this assumes that management is communicating at all!

Frequent and transparent communication is non-negotiable. It mitigates rumors and fear. As an expert, I advise leaders to communicate the good, the bad, and the uncertain, making themselves available to answer questions and concerns.

In my experience, one of the imperatives missing from the chance journey is the reward system. Celebrating small wins is what can build trust and reduce change fatigue. I can not agree more!

This has to be carefully managed. Especially the point about verbal praise and rewarding positive behaviors that support the change. There is tendency to inadvertently create a ‘Divide et impera’ situation if some behaviors are acknowledged and not all. It’s more important to get to the root of the resistance. Reward teams, reward departments, yes! No team member should get left behind. Praise one, praise all.

Providing support is one of the most important steps that often gets ignored. especially at the post implementation stage. As soon as the change is implemented, there is the tendency for management to move on to the next big thing, leaving many to struggle with change adoption. One thing I found useful is having change champions and advocates who will serve as change enthusiasts, encouraging others to embrace the change as well as hold their hands through all stages of the change implementation journey, pre/during/post.

4 Cognitive and emotional skills are necessary to effectively adapt to change: 1. Communication: Employees should be able to clearly articulate change initiatives, address concerns, and identify solutions to potential challenges. 2. Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: Understanding and respecting individual perspectives, acknowledging emotions, and providing support during transitions are key to managing change-related anxieties. 3. Adaptability and Flexibility: Employees should be open to new processes, technologies, and work environments, embracing challenges and acquiring new skills as needed. 4. Resilience and Coping Mechanisms: Developing coping strategies to manage stress, maintain optimism, and seek support is essential.

First, it’s important to know a moderate amount of resistance is positive. A complete absence of it means you’re likely not threatening the status quo enough. People typically resist change for one of three reasons: First, they don’t get why they need to change, which means you haven’t brought them along (remember, lead with the "why" behind the change and how it benefits them). Second, they don’t get it, which means you haven’t shown them what’s changing, and how they’ll need to adapt to it. And third, they don’t like you, which means you haven’t built the relationship with them or brought them in to co-create with you. This commonly shows up as unanticipated emotional resistance.

Find Mutual Purpose. When trying to understand why there's resistance to change, it’s necessary to find mutual purpose. This means being genuine when looking for a common goal and honestly working to achieve the shared goal instead of leading toward a personally desired outcome. Mutual purpose means that others perceive that you’re working toward a common outcome in a situation, that you care about the employees reason/s why they do not want the change. Be curious, seek out feedback, then key into it to come to a middle ground. I have had to use real life examples to drive home points I had to make for why changes were needed, and while employees were not excited, seeing that there was a mutual purpose and benefit to them went a long way.