Employee willingness to support change initiatives has dropped dramatically, from 74% in 2016 to 38% in 2022, according to a 2022 Gartner poll.
Why?
We don’t know all the factors, but we do know the rate of change has skyrocketed. The average employee experienced 10 planned enterprise changes in 2022, up from two in 2016, according to Gartner.
If you have spent more than a few weeks in a corporate environment, you’ve witnessed the result. The ceaseless wave of well-intended change initiatives is causing an unintended side effect: change fatigue and with it, resistance.
The limiting factor: our brains
Personally, I hate the term resistance, because it’s often used to judge or even disparage the people being labeled. But the “resistance” phenomenon is absolutely normal and predictable because of how our messy human brains have evolved to save energy.
Imagine your healthy brain is like a cozy home with built-in systems that work powerfully against change.
Saving Energy: The habit center in your brain is like an efficient heating system that prefers routine to save energy. Change requires more effort, which it avoids.
Staying Safe: The alarm system in your brain sees change as a potential threat, like an intruder. This triggers fear and urges you to fight or flee.
Keeping Things the Same: Your brain acts like a housekeeper who likes the current setup and resists rearranging furniture, preferring to maintain the status quo.
Avoiding Confusion: Change can create a mess in your mental home, causing discomfort called “cognitive dissonance.” To avoid this, your brain might ignore or reject the change.
The empowering factor: our brains!
So what’s a change agent to do with all this wiring? It’s simple. Learn how to work with our brains for better outcomes!
Create safety nets
When the brain perceives threat, it activates the fight-flight-flee-fawn response, which hinders learning and adapting. To work with this in a productive way, keep communication transparent about the purpose and process of change. Provide access to support such as mentoring or coaching. Encourage mistakes as a natural part of learning and growth!
Tap into dopamine with small wins
Dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward, drives many of our behaviors, including eating, drinking, competition, and sexual behaviors. As the “feel good” hormone, it also creates curiosity and information seeking. Makers of online games and cells phone shamelessly keep us glued to our screens by triggering our dopamine response with notifications — one of the many addictions that dopamine excess can create.
Dopamine is also central to the learning process. It helps with motivation, memory, and learning from actions. So triggering more frequent release of dopamine in our employees as they navigate change is not only a good idea, it’s kind.
Breaking down the change into smaller, manageable tasks and celebrating their completion has multiple benefits:
Increased motivation — by providing constant positive feedback
Reduced overwhelm — by reducing stress with small tasks
Strengthening new neural paths — making new ways of working automatic
Wake them up with novelty
Our brains are wired to pay attention to anything new. Introducing novelty into your ritual events, training, all-hands, team meetings, and daily communications. This will help people:
Remember new experiences
Think creatively
Stimulate problem-solving
Stay engaged
Soothe with mindfulness
Lastly, consider creating ways for folks to reduce stress with mindfulness practices. This doesn’t need to be formal — I have very fond memories of Wayde’s morning come-as-you-are meditation sessions in a conference room on the third floor. In fact, it’s probably better if it’s relaxed and peer-led. You probably just need to ask for volunteers to run the sessions (and make it ok for them to take the time away from their desks).
Research indicates that mindfulness practices can reduce stress responses by up to 40%, facilitating better adaptation to change.
So, the next time someone complains about someone else resisting change, do your best to shift the conversation. Brains can get in our way — and they can be our greatest asset!
I love the neuroscience behind change resistance. Our brains keep us safe! I’m also curious about my reactions and I want to create situations where others can be curious about resistance. Gooo brain!