Overcoming Fears with Gains Matrix
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NEXT: fears of executives, managers and workers
and appropriate resolution for each
Everyone wants to get past the "good idea" stage or limited pilots, but
when you really try to roll out a telework program or institute hoteling in a
large organization, you quickly discover significant pushback to change.
It's often this human element, this genuine resistance from individuals,
which stalls the whole effort and prevents well-planned, beneficial
change from having a meaningful, lasting impact. Use the guide to see how
to identify and overcome the fears behind such resistance.
What causes resistance?
We as humans don't like change because we fear
the unknown and we fear loss of something.
When the subject is as important or as fundamental
as the way we work and the desk we "have" to do
work at, the fears are as large as the perceived
change.
To overcome resistance and gain buy-in, we have to
ad-dress people's fears. That requires Persuasion,
Influence and Participation.
Dr. Robert Cialdini pointed out important aspects in
his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
which relates to understanding and overcoming
these Fears:
• Reciprocity - People tend to return a
favor
• Commitment and Consistency - people
tend to honor commitments they make
orally or in writing
•
•
Liking - People are persuaded by
other people that they like
Scarcity - Perceived scarcity generates
demand
How to overcome the resistance?
Since the resistance comes from individuals' fears,
the way to overcome the resistance is to understand
those fears, resolve each fear or exchange some gain
for each fear, and tailor the response to each audience.
Resistance generally comes from three different
groups (executive management, middle management
and the employees) and the response to each group
must be spe-cific to that group in order to be effective.
Some of the questions answered in this Fears vs Gains
Matrix include:
• Who is the person resisting change?
• What is the cause of the resistance
to change?
• What is the proper response to the
resistance?
