National 5 day educational programme | Maximising the Potential of the AHP Workforce in NHSScotland
Methods for responding to
resistance to change
Approach
Commonly used when
Advantages
Disadvantages
Education and
Communication
 Lack of information or
 Once persuaded, people
 Can be very time consuming if
will often help with the
implementation of the
change
lots of people are involved.
 inaccurate information and
analysis
Participation and
Involvement
 Initiators do not have all the
information they need to
design the change, and/or
 where others have
considerable power to resist
 People who participate
will be committed to
implementing change,
and
 any relevant information
 Effectiveness depends on
audience ‘trusting’ those who
are communicating to be
telling the truth
 Can be very time consuming
 Can lead to a poor solution of
those involved don’t have the
expertise/knowledge to design
an effective way forward.
they have will be
integrated into the
change plan
Facilitation and
Support
 When people resisting
Negotiation and
Agreement
 Where someone and some
because of adjustment
problems
group will clearly lose out in
a change, and
 No other approach works
as well with adjustment
problems
 Sometimes it is a
relatively easy way to
avoid major resistance
 Can be time consuming,
expensive, and still fail
 Can be too expensive in many
cases if it alerts others to
negotiate for compliance
 where that group has
considerable power to resist
Manipulation and
Co-optation
 Where other tactics will not
Explicit and
implicit coercion
 Where speed is essential
work or are too expensive
and the change initiators
possess considerable power
 It can be relatively quick
and inexpensive solution
to resistance
 It is speedy and can
overcome any kind of
resistance
 Can lead to significant future
problems if people feel
manipulated
 Can be risky and lead to future
problems if it leads people
mad at the initiators. May
mean change is not
sustainable.
We don’t recommend use of approaches within shaded boxes – have included
them for completeness sake
Taken from: Kotter, J.P. and Schlesinger, L.A. (2008), Choosing Strategies for
Change, Harvard Business Review, July-Aug, 2008
2.2 /14th May 2009/Tools – Methods for Resistance
National 5 day educational programme | Maximising the Potential of the AHP Workforce in NHSScotland
Approach
What does this cover
Some practical examples
Education and
Communication
 One on one discussions
 Meeting with key leaders individually to talk through change and
 Written communication – ie
Teambriefs, newsletters,
memos, reports
 Presentations to groups
Participation and
Involvement
 Involving those who are
impacted by the change in
some or all of making case
for change, developing
future vision and developing
action plan
their concerns. Ask those resisting, why they are resisting.
 Frequently asked questions briefings.
 Delivering presentations on the proposals to groups of staff-or
running open access lunchtime sessions where staff can come
along, hear about change and ask questions
 Involving front line staff and patients in process mapping events
and value streaming
 Involving front line staff and patients in a working group that is
putting change proposals together
 Involving front line staff and patients in option appraisal events
 Piloting changes with a particular team-and involving them in
the evaluation
Facilitation and
Support
 Supporting staff to adjust to
the change
 Providing training in new skills
 Listening and providing emotional support- sometimes all
people need is the chance to ‘download’
 Enabling staff to spend time with another team/service who has
already implemented the changes so they can see the benefits
in practice
 Piloting changes on s small scale and monitoring for the
unintended consequences that staff are worried about
Negotiation and
Agreement
 Providing incentives to
counterbalance the losses
that the individuals will
experience
Manipulation and
Co-optation
 Where other tactics will not
Explicit and
implicit coercion
 Where speed is essential
work or are too expensive
and the change initiators
possess considerable power
 Agenda for change negotiations
 GP contract
 Consultants contract
 Example of co-opting, give person who think will resist (or
leader of a group who will resist) a desirable role in design or
implantation of change. This is different to involvement as don’t
actually want the advice – merely their endorsement
 Explicitly or implicitly threatening with loss of jobs, promotion
possibilities and so on if don’t change
2.2 /14th May 2009/Tools – Methods for Resistance