Tuesday July 4th 2023
“Why does it need to be changed, it's working now, right?” A common complaint when it comes to change management. How to deal with resistance to change?
Managing resistance to change
Change management, in short, is the process of (continuously) changing the structure and way of working of an organization. The objective for change management is to improve the efficiency or effectiveness of the organization. This might include doing more work with the same number of people, increasing the quality of products or services, meeting market demands more quickly or being at the forefront of innovation, for example. Change management is often divided into four different phases; the denial phase, resistance phase, exploration phase and acceptance phase. An organization almost always goes through these four phases, even for smaller changes.
Resistance phase
After the denial phase, where employees keep their distance and hope the change will blow over, the resistance phase follows. “Why do we need to change things? Are we not working effectively now?”; “Not every change is an improvement”; “We don't have a problem, do we?”
These are just some of the many arguments against change. They are genuine; change is not easy after all. Frequently, the people that will need to undergo the change do not feel heard or included in the process. Especially in the case of large and broad changes, which are designed and launched at the center of the organization. It is not always possible and very time-consuming to involve everyone.
Resistance to innovation
As an example, we see many companies still testing software by hand or with test scripts. This is time-consuming, limited and depends on domain knowledge (and sometimes the heroes in an organization). Teams themselves experience no real problems, as this is how they have always worked. So why invest in new methodologies and technologies?
The person driving the change sees the benefits. For example, results at other companies, which were able to deliver faster after the change and experience fewer problems in production. The team is not yet convinced; “Our product is very different and much more complex. The other company did not include the cost of the tool. Their approach is a lot more expensive. It's better to hire an additional tester instead.”
For some people, change is a challenge, for others a threat. Uncertainty and fear play a role. How does one get these people on board anyway?
From resistance to exploration and acceptance
How do you move smoothly from the resistance phase into the exploration phase? By simplifying the change and starting small. This way you lower the threshold of change, and it can quickly be demonstrated that the change has the desired effect. It is also important to share achieved goals and successes with the team. This will stimulate curiosity and enthusiasm and guide them into the exploration phase. In this phase, team members start looking for their role and possibilities in the new situation. Once the entire organization understands, respects and to some degree embraces the broad outlines of the change, the acceptance phase begins. Team members now feel involved, which boosts motivation and productivity.
How do we do it?
Our perspective is that quality is born at the start of the development process. We call this “shift-left”. By writing down specifications unambiguously (and preferably formally) from the start using our unique testing platform, the foundation for good software is laid. The software can later be tested with one push of a button. This way, the process itself is not fundamentally changed, but more time is spent getting the requirements correct and explicit. This in itself is a small change to the way of working but gives significantly more insights into progress and quality. An additional benefit is that this enables better interaction between business and IT, reducing the chances of unwanted surprises afterwards.
By demonstrating that the change works in a small setting and letting it spread from there, it is easier to have the (entire) organization slowly embrace the change. With the Axini approach, change management can thus be implemented smoothly.
Interested in how can we help you? Contact us or follow us on LinkedIn.