Do you always agree with everyone? Do others always blindly take all your suggestions from you? Of course they don't. When your job revolves around teaching new ways of working and changing behavior, you will be familiar with resistance. So, how to deal with resistance from others? And what do we do with resistance from within ourselves?
Last Friday we held the third edition of our semi-annual PsyMeetup with the behavioral experts at Online Dialogue. A day where we invite professionals with a psychology background from other fields to exchange experiences on a particular topic.
Talking with psychologists about workplace resistance, restoring autonomy and culture change
Today stood Resistance on the menu. The meeting discussed various techniques that can be used to address resistance. In doing so, we shared stories and experiences from our own lives to illustrate how these techniques can be used in a practical way.
“People want to change but don't want to be changed”
In general, there are three forms of resistance you can recognize (Knowles & Linn, 2004; Knowles & Riner, 2007): skepticism, reactance & inertia.
Skepticism can be recognized by a critical attitude and counterarguments. It can feel like a reluctance to agree and is focused on the content of the proposal or message, or the sincerity of the messenger. The purpose of skepticism is often that they want to be sure to make a good decision.
How can you deal with skepticism?
Because skepticism fears that the decision may not be the right one, it may help to make counterarguments of one's own (and take them away), guarantee the desired outcome, or frame the decision differently or change the reference point against which the decision is compared.
Reactance comes into play when people do the opposite of what you have asked, or when people try to make influence attempts themselves. It can feel like rebellion and is directed against influencing. The goal of the person with this resistance is to restore their own autonomy.
How can you deal with reactance?
Tell a story! When people empathize, they are less likely to come up with counterarguments. Let them think and involve them in the decision. Take a different role, for example, as an advisor and not the client. Or acknowledge resistance: ’I understand that this is unpleasant for you...'
“Closed people are the hardest.”
Inertia is perhaps the trickiest form of resistance (also read this blog about dealing with inertia from our psychologist Joost). There was also consensus on this among the participants: closed people are the most difficult. People who exhibit inertia avoid the message, don't listen, say yes but do no, or are extremely passive. It often feels like being ignored and is focused on the status quo. The goal of those with inertia is that they do not want to change. With this kind of resistance, small steps can help: let people get used to it gradually. Or make change seem like the easiest path. Sometimes people also show inertia because they don't understand it well, help them to acquire the necessary knowledge/skills.
One participant noted that closed-mindedness is often also related to self-efficacy. For example, not everyone has the self-confidence to say they disagree with something and therefore express it in less constructive ways. This is also fueled by the environment and the confidence whether you can say how you feel about something. Therefore, it is important to make people believe in themselves and create a safe environment where people dare to express their concerns.
Sometimes, however, the resistance is so great that it is better to focus your energy on others. This was named during the meetup as the travel leader effect: every group always has a few people who always have something to complain about during a trip. If as a tour leader you only focus on the minority who are not having a good time, it not only takes a lot of energy, but you forget to pay attention to the majority who are having a good time. Focus on the group that does want to go; once the critical mass is converted, the rest will follow.
Apart from the more specific resistance responses, other tips were also shared. For example, people were advised to use the structures within the organization to bring about change.
Start from a questioning mode rather than the persuasive mode, to disarm people, give them a platform and understand them better before you try to persuade them. It can also work to call a spade a spade: “Hey Isabella, I get the feeling you don't quite agree with my suggestion, what is this about?”. So, as with many problems, it helps to talk about them. By engaging in conversation and being open to the concerns of others, you can understand each other and (hopefully) reach a solution together that satisfies everyone.
It also helps to talk about it with others, as we did on this day. Exchanging experiences with people who deal with resistance on a daily basis is very instructive.
We were very excited about the day and would like to thank all participants again. Would you like to read more about resistance within organizations? Then read our blog about resistance and culture change, or the blog about from resistance to temptation.
We at Online Dialogue are eager to find out how psychologists ‘in the wild’ use their knowledge and skills. That's why we like to organize these Psychologists-in-the-Wild meetups at our office in Utrecht. Are you interested in participating in the next Psymeetup? This will be an international edition with the theme of inclusivity and diversity. Then please contact me (Isabella), we would love to make a spot for you! Would you like to read about our previous Psymeetup? You can do so here: psychologists in the wild.
Knowles, E. S., & Linn, J. A. (2004). Resistance and persuasion. Psychology Press.
Knowles, E. S., & Riner, D. D. (2011). Omega approaches to persuasion: Overcoming resistance. In The science of social influence (pp. 83-114). Psychology Press.
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