How to Handle Resistance to Change

Resistance to change usually protects something the person values

When people push back, they are rarely resisting change in general. They are protecting something specific that the change seems to threaten. Naming what that is turns a vague problem into one you can work with.

The table shows four common sources of resistance, how each tends to sound, and what helps. A single person may be dealing with more than one.

Ask before you persuade

The most effective response to resistance is a private conversation where you do most of the listening. Your aim is to understand the concern well enough to state it back in a way the person agrees with. Only then does it make sense to respond.

These questions open that conversation without sounding defensive. The skills behind it are covered in the guide on active listening for leaders.

• ✦'What worries you most about this change?'
• ✦'What do you think we are missing?'
• ✦'What would you lose that matters to you?'
• ✦'If you were designing this, what would you do differently?'
• ✦'What would need to be true for you to feel this could work?'

Respond to the concern you heard, not the one you expected

1. 01

   Reflect it back

   'So your concern is that the new approval process will slow down urgent client requests. Is that right?' Wait for them to confirm or correct you.

2. 02

   Separate what can change from what cannot

   Be honest: 'The move to central approvals is decided. How we handle urgent requests within it is still open.'

3. 03

   Invite them to solve the part that is open

   'Would you work with the project team on an urgent-request route and bring a proposal by the end of the month?' Critics often design the strongest solutions because they have spotted the real risks.

4. 04

   Follow up visibly

   If their input changes the plan, say so publicly and credit them. If it does not, explain why. Both build trust; silence destroys it.

Quiet resistance is harder to see and more common in hierarchical workplaces

In workplaces where respect for seniority is strong, including many across the Gulf, people may not voice disagreement with a senior leader at all. They nod in the meeting and then continue to work the old way, wait for the change to fade, or raise concerns with colleagues rather than with you.

Watch behaviour, not words. Signs include deadlines for new steps slipping, old reports still being produced in parallel, and questions arriving through third parties. Make it safe to object: ask for concerns in small groups or anonymously, thank people who disagree openly, and avoid treating the first critic as disloyal. The iceberg model is a useful way to think about the beliefs sitting below what people do.

When to adapt the change and when to hold firm

Not all resistance should be accommodated. Some changes are required by regulation, strategy or the survival of the business, and endless negotiation only prolongs the uncertainty. The skill is telling the difference between resistance that improves the change and resistance that simply delays it.

Adapt when the concern points to a real risk you had not seen, or when a different route reaches the same goal with less disruption. Hold firm when the core decision is sound and has been explained, and the objection is about preference rather than evidence. When you hold firm, say so clearly and kindly, and set out what support people will get.

Responses that make resistance stronger

• ✦Labelling people as negative or difficult. It hardens their position and signals to everyone else that concerns are unwelcome.
• ✦Answering every objection with more presentation. If people do not feel heard, extra slides only confirm that the decision was made without them.
• ✦Consulting after the decision is fixed. Asking for input you will not use is worse than not asking.
• ✦Going around the resister. Bypassing a respected long-serving colleague often turns their peers against the change too.
• ✦Ignoring workload. Expecting people to learn a new way of working with no time freed up almost always slows adoption.

Example: a senior specialist who opposed a new process

Imagine an operations manager at a Bahraini hospital group introducing a new patient scheduling process. The most experienced scheduler, respected across the department, says it will never work and quietly keeps using the old spreadsheet. Others follow her lead.

Instead of escalating, the manager asks her privately what she thinks the new process misses. She explains that it ignores how specialist clinics book follow-ups, which would leave gaps in consultants' lists. The manager asks her to help redesign that part. She becomes the person who trains others on the adjusted process. This is a hypothetical example to show the pattern: the loudest objection often contains the most useful information.

When a coach helps you work with resistance

Resistance tests a leader's patience and self-belief. It is easy to become defensive, avoid the people who object, or push the change through by force and pay for it later. A coach helps you see the situation from more angles and notice how your own reactions are shaping the response you get.

Change leadership coaching supports leaders through exactly these moments: preparing the hard conversations, deciding where to adapt and where to hold firm, and staying steady while others are unsettled. For the broader sequence of leading a team from announcement to new normal, see the guide on how to lead a team through change.