Resistance to change management: Why it happens and how to overcome it

Change is undoubtedly a constant in modern organisations, driven by rapidly evolving technological, political, economic, and social landscapes that continuously affect organisational operations and business. We have all had to react to change in different ways at numerous points in our careers.

In my conversations with colleagues about this topic, we all seem to agree on something about the notion of change. It’s no longer unusual. It’s not even something we necessarily fear. Rather, people fear uncertainty.

In fact, people often expect change to happen in organisational life. They don’t want their company to remain standing still while the rest of the industry strides beyond them. But it’s the way change is managed that will determine how employees react. The approach to change is what ultimately plays the most decisive role in whether organisational change and transformations succeed, fail, or even do self-inflicted critical damage.

So herein lies a familiar issue: employee resistance to change is common, and leaders get frustrated when people don’t want to get on board with the vision for change that they’re creating. The real persistent problems occur when leaders treat that surface-level resistance as the core problem to deal with or the core obstruction. Rather, how they should be viewing it is as a signal to understand their people better which can uncover much deeper-rooted causal effects.

This begs the question: why do employees resist change in the first place?

How to introduce change to minimise employee resistance

Many forms of resistance to change in the workplace are unintentionally created by the organisation and its leaders themselves. Prosci’s research suggests the most common cause of employee resistance is a lack of clear understanding around why change is happening.

This could feel puzzling, even vexing, for leaders to hear. They may say “But we did explain why the change was happening, so clearly people must not have been listening properly or paying attention.”

Here’s an opportunity to dig deeper. Even in situations where change has been communicated with reasoning, leaders must ask themselves the following questions:

• Was our communication ‘one and done’ or did we reinforce our messaging over multiple channels and occasions to reach everyone equally?
• Did we equip our other levels of leadership and management to communicate our change messaging consistently, or did we just leave them to it?
• Have we been visible as a leadership team to everyone in the business, out in front of the organisation communicating progress? Or have we been hiding away in task/execution mode?
• Were we consultative and inclusive in our decision-making where that was possible? Or did we blanket-apply the same strict confidentiality to every aspect of the change because of the sensitivities (in some cases legally) of certain parts?
• Have we introduced organisational change at a time when employees are fatigued or overloaded, either with previous changes or general workload?

Kotter and Schlesinger found that resistance to change in the workplace often stems from misunderstanding, low trust, differing perspectives, or low tolerance for change caused by pre-existing factors, not a complete unwillingness to accept change.

Employee resistance to change is an emotional journey

From a psychological perspective, especially when change creates uncertainty because it hasn’t been explained or communicated properly or comes at an already difficult time for the business, it can trigger a stress response. That usually manifests in an internal anxiety about what the change means for them personally, which can lead employees to worry about things like job security.

Research also highlights ‘loss aversion’ and ‘status quo bias’ as key drivers in how people naturally react to change. What this means is that the majority of people are motivated to avoid losses more than they are to pursue gains, which can make adopting even beneficial changes sometimes feel quite risky. This can result in resistance to change in the workplace simply because people prefer to stick with what they know.

This backs up the idea that staff resistance to change is not a causal issue, but it is the result of deeper psychological responses to what they are hearing from their leaders. When they appear resistant, it’s often an instinctive response to what they believe they might lose. They want to feel reassured that going along with change is safe or beneficial.

At this point, it’s useful to remember that change is therefore an emotional journey. The Kübler-Ross Change Curve illustrates this clearly: individuals move through emotional stages such as denial, anger, and acceptance when faced with change. While that’s not perfectly linear or universally applicable, the model remains useful in highlighting an important truth. That is, resistance is often an early-stage emotional response, not a fixed mindset. Even if your hands were forced and you were unable to implement change effectively from the start, it is possible to recover from that initial resistance and help people get on board with the journey from where you’re at right now.

Managing resistance to change effectively

Understanding employee resistance is only half the challenge. The next step is practical: what can leaders actually do to either avoid or address resistance to change management?

1. Start with ‘why’

Many change models begin with building a vision for change, which includes awareness of the fundamental reason behind it. This links to what we’ve said before; if employees don’t understand why change is necessary, resistance is almost inevitable. As a leader, you can say:

• “Here’s what’s changing and why staying the same is no longer an option.”
• “If we don’t act, here’s the impact on our customers and our future.”

In practice, you need to be communicating these ‘whys’ early, clearly, and repeatedly, while also connecting organisational goals to individual impact. This satisfies the emotional response of “what’s in it for me?”

2. Build desire and don’t rely on compliance

Awareness is important, but is not enough alone to create buy-in. Employees must equally want to engage, and you have a responsibility in helping them see how the nature of change is beneficial enough to break their biases for loss aversion and status quo.

Leaders can best achieve this by involving employees in shaping the change where it’s possible. Even in situations where change is sensitive or must be confidential for legal reasons, you absolutely must think creatively about the small ways that even a specific selection of employees (like a ‘champions’ group) can be included early on. Kotter emphasises participation and involvement as key levers for reducing resistance in his change models.

Also, acknowledging trade-offs honestly, and addressing concerns openly rather than dismissing them, are important in building the trust needed for people to believe your sincerity, which will make them more likely to want to follow you. It’s easy to assume that focusing on positives is the solution, but you have to give credit to the intelligence of your people. They will notice if you’re hiding the negatives and not addressing them properly, and that’s a surefire way to erode trust and desire rather than build them.

3. Equip people to succeed

Employee resistance often appears when people feel unprepared or incapable. In an ideal world, you will have thought ahead of this and identified ways to introduce targeted training, offer coaching and mentoring to people, and real-time support that removes barriers like process and time constraints. Introduce tools and technologies that can enable people to effectively manage their workloads while adapting to change.

The idea here is to say to your people, “While you’re listening to these early messages about change, we don’t expect you to have everything figured out right now in terms of how it impacts you. But here’s the plan around how we’ll support you through the next few months…” This authenticity and transparent leadership can have a major impact on whether your change management efforts take off or fall flat with your workforce.

4. Lead through the emotional curve

Using the change curve as a lens, leaders can tailor their approach depending on the signs they are noticing around the organisation.

If you are seeing and hearing people who are in denial, the best thing to do is provide them with facts to bring clarity. If you’re seeing frustration, it’s best to listen actively and empathise. If people are showing signs of wanting to explore and be involved in driving organisational change, then absolutely encourage and facilitate experimentation, and enable them with tools and better processes.

And importantly, when commitment begins to show, reinforce this with progress updates and confidence boosting morale messages.

Ultimately, you need to pay attention to how your people are feeling and notice the key shifts when they happen because resistance often contains valuable data about what needs to change in your approach. Gradually, you can move from providing information and listening to emotions towards coaching, empowering, and inspiring people.

Kotter’s research is also important to remember here, highlighting that successful transformations build momentum through that evolution of your approach. When communicating your ‘why’ for change, focus simultaneously on creating a compelling sense of urgency and building strong coalitions with people who are naturally more open to change, as they will be more likely to champion it across the organisation.

Overcoming employee resistance to make change stick

Managing change, and the subsequent employee resistance to change management, are not one-off activities. The real test of change management effectiveness is sustainability.

With that in mind, leaders have to constantly be thinking about how they are building trust, keeping themselves visible, demonstrating integrity and honesty, and communicating effectively in the workplace. All this while also reinforcing behaviours across the business that ensure people do not revert to old habits.

Celebrate the early adopters of change and share stories of impact quickly after they happen. Expressing gratitude at work is so important, particularly if they are championing something brand new to the organisation. You don’t need to wait for metrics; people are just as inspired by a good story.

Make it a point to review your policies and processes related to the change, and their impacts on the employee experience. Is there anything that can be improved for future change implementations? Even tech systems, perhaps especially, must support the change, too. If any of these get missed, people won’t feel equipped or supported, and you’ll find these factors will quietly undermine what you are trying to achieve. Organisations that achieve strong alignment around a clear vision, supported by consistent leadership and working practices, are significantly more likely to sustain performance over time.

From resistance to change management to sustainable change

Resistance is not something you can eliminate, it is something to learn from. Employee resistance to change will almost always exist, though it is usually not a failure of those individuals who are resistant. Instead, it reflects how change is designed, communicated, and led within your organisation. The volume of change management resistance simply reflects whether you have done these things well or not.

Ultimately, the goal is not just managing resistance to change, but to reduce its impact over time. This means doing what you can to normalise change as part of your culture. Be intentional about the way you talk about it and develop your leaders so they are capable of leading change consistently.

By combining psychological insight with structured frameworks like ADKAR, Kotter’s model, and the Kübler-Ross change curve, leaders can move from merely reacting to resistance towards planning for it before change starts. In doing so, change stops being something organisations simply do when they must, and becomes something they are built to sustain effectively for the future.

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• What employees need from leaders in order to succeed
• The importance of organisational transparency
• Tips for building a stronger workforce

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