Discussion Guide: Addressing Reactions to Change

Your primary role as the discussion leader is to get your team talking about
why and how the concepts can be leveraged in the context of their
situations. Please consider the following when using this guide:
Use the questions in the Guiding the Discussion column, as well as any of
your own design, to encourage your team members to share their
challenges, experiences, and points of view.
It will also be helpful to introduce your own perspective and experiences
to highlight a key point, lesson learned, or best practice.
The Points to Highlight column provides examples of question responses
you may want to add to the discussion.
Please note that the accompanying slides can be leveraged during the
discussion, but are not necessary for an effective discussion. The slides
can be helpful when leading a distributed group discussion via
teleconference.
Working through this guide can take up to 45 minutes. If you prefer a
shorter 15- or 30-minute session, you may want to focus only on those
concepts and activities most relevant to your situation.
Guiding the Discussion

Points to Highlight

INTRODUCTION

Today, were going to talk

about how, as leaders, we can
and should address the various
reactions to change in our
organization.
For todays discussion, were
going to focus on a specific
change effort as the basis for
the discussion. [Highlight the
specific change effort
impacting your team and

Note: The discussion below helps you

and the leaders that report to you,
understand and address the various
reactions to change especially
resistance to change. Prior to the
discussion, you will need to preselect a specific change program to
focus on during the discussion.
However, if there is no applicable
change program underway, you may
opt to use a past change effort as

Copyright 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

Discussion Guide: Addressing Reactions to Change

Guiding the Discussion
organization.]

WHAT ARE

THE

REACTIONS

TO THE

What comments have you

heard, or behaviors have you
seen, that indicate some
people are supportive of the
change initiative?

Points to Highlight
the basis for the discussion. The
lessons learned by examining past
change efforts can greatly inform
future efforts.
CHANGE? (15

What comments have you

MINUTES )

Note: For illustrative purposes, the

example responses provided in the
rest of this guide are from a fictional
team of leaders at a financial
services company. The company is
going through a major
reorganization, with many roles
changing and groups merging.
Example responses:
o People seem to understand the
need for the reorganization.
Many people said we had to
do something since our
market has changed so much.
o Several of my team members
told me that they are pleased
that theyll be doing something
new.
o The mood immediately after
our last company meeting
when they made the
announcement seemed
upbeat.
Example responses:

Copyright 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

Discussion Guide: Addressing Reactions to Change

Guiding the Discussion
heard, or behaviors have you
seen, that indicate some
people are resistant to the
change initiative?

o
o
o
o

What do you think are the

underlying motivations for
these reactions?

HOW SHOULD WE ADDRESS

THE

Points to Highlight
There is a lot of whispering
going on in my group, and
people seem nervous.
People seem really quiet in our
staff meetings.
Ive heard some negative
comments about the group
that we are merging with.
People seem reluctant to
participate in any of the
communication events about
the upcoming change.

Example responses:
o People prefer the status quo or
feel that change will mean
personal loss in terms of
security, money, status, or
friends.
o They are not confident the
change will succeed.
o People dont know much about
the other group were merging
with; and theres a definite lack
of trust.
o Ive heard a couple of false
rumors about the new roles
and some of the standards
well need to adhere to.

REACTIONS

TO

CHANGE? (15

Copyright 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

MINUTES)

Discussion Guide: Addressing Reactions to Change

Guiding the Discussion

Points to Highlight

Understanding the
perceptions of our teams while
undertaking change is vital,
especially, if there is some
resistance to the change.

Think about your

situation specifically, and some
of the resistance that might be
developing. The Harvard
ManageMentor topic lists four
steps you can take to help your
team. The first one involves:
Encouraging people to
openly express their
thoughts and feelings
about the change.
What are ways that we can
encourage this with our teams?

Example responses:
o I could have a formal one-onone with everyone on my
team, and ask them how
theyre doing with the change
effort.
o I could have special open
office hours when anyone who
wants to can stop by, and ask
questions.
o In our group, we usually have
some of our better informal
conversations over lunch
maybe I could host a lunch
every other week where we
openly discuss the change
effort.
o Ive found that our staff
meetings are not really that
effective at bringing up
concerns our group is too
big, and people are somewhat
hesitant to be seen as resisters
in front of the large group.

Example responses:
o Besides listening attentively,
we need to ask good questions.
Ones that have worked
particularly well involve asking
What are you looking forward
to the most regarding this
change? followed immediately
by What are you most
concerned about?
o Always ask clarifying questions.
Dont assume you know
exactly what theyre going
through.
o We should always take their
comments seriously.

The next tip involves:

Listening carefully.
What are ways that we can
listen more effectively?

Copyright 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

Discussion Guide: Addressing Reactions to Change

Guiding the Discussion

The next tip is:
Treat resistance as a
problem to solve, not as
a character flaw.
What are ways that we can
avoid treating resistance as a
character flaw?

The next tip is:

Once you understand the
nature of their concerns,
bring people together to
discuss and deal with the
perceived problems.
What are ways that we can
bring people together to deal
with perceived problems?

Points to Highlight
Example responses:
o Ive had some success in
getting some of my more
skeptical team members by
involving them in the planning
and implementation process of
the change effort.
o I have found that some of our
resisters are very helpful at
identifying risks and
unanticipated consequences of
the change effort. This
responsibility really energizes
them.
o It helps when I try to
understand a resisters
rationale and sources of
motivation.
Example responses:
o Ive found that addressing all
concerns head on and
providing my team with as
much information as possible
really works well.
o I have found that it helps if my
team members can hear
explanations from their peers
rather than me, their manager.
o Youd be surprised how well my
team members can craft
change communications that
really speak to the issues that
their peers are dealing with.

Copyright 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

Discussion Guide: Addressing Reactions to Change

ARE

Guiding the Discussion

WE READY FOR CHANGE ? (15

Points to Highlight
MINUTES )

Thus far, weve talked a

lot about addressing resistance

to the change effort thats
currently under way.
There are also some
steps that we can take to help
our teams address any change
more successfully in the future.
Examples mentioned in
the Harvard ManageMentor
topic include:
o
Developing more
participative approaches
to how everyday business
is handled.
o
Giving our employees
a voice.
o
Driving fear out of our
group.

Note: Consider providing examples

from your experience of a team that
you were on that was, or was not,
demonstrating any of these changeready characteristics, and what
impact this had on the change effort.

Example responses:
o I think we could develop more
participative approaches to
how our everyday work is
handled. Decision making is
very much top-down on our
teams.
o I agree, and think that we
could do better at understating

Which one of these steps

in particular could really
improve our groups readiness
for change?

Copyright 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

Discussion Guide: Addressing Reactions to Change

Guiding the Discussion

How can we implement

this step in our group?

Points to Highlight
the day-to-day issues that our
frontline employees are facing.
o I feel strongly too that we work
in silos, with very little crossfunctional collaboration.

Example responses:
o We can push our decisions
down more. As leaders, we
really need to trust our
employees and if they dont
have the proper skills to make
these decisions, then we
should help them obtain the
skills.
o Id like to start engaging my
employees in the trenches
more, even if it means
following them around from
time to time, asking more
questions, and offering my
help.
o Our reorganization efforts
should actually help us work
better cross-functionally. We
should highlight this as a key
benefit.

NEXT STEPS

Copyright 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

Discussion Guide: Addressing Reactions to Change

Guiding the Discussion

Reflect and act on the ideas
discussed today for addressing
reactions to change and
preparing your team for
change.
Consider using the Worksheet
for Addressing Resistance
to Change to identify
opportunities to engage your
team about our change
initiatives.

Points to Highlight

Copyright 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.