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Resistance Management Tool
Find the real reason behind each objection to a change, match the response to it, and change the plan where the objection is right.
This tool also runs as a stage in a playbook, which takes you through several tools in order:
- Manage organizational change Stage 4 of 5: who is pushing back, and why? Start at stage 1
Not following the playbook?
Who is pushing back, and what they said
One row for each objection, in their own words. The same group can have more than one.
Hear from these first
Nobody pushing back? You can go on with an empty list. It is rare, and sometimes means people have stopped saying what they think.
Your notes never leave your browser
What people said, your responses and the changes to your plan stay on your computer and in your progress file. To write the diagnosis, only the reasons and responses you chose are sent to our server. How it works
Find the real reason, and respond to it
Listen for the real reason behind the stated one. Then use the lightest response that answers it.
- Answer the objection, then listen. If they keep coming back to the same point, they may be right: check your plan.
- If they raise a new point each time, the first one wasn't the real reason. Ask what they stand to lose: their standing, their say in how they work, or skills that made them valued.
- When they are right, change the plan and tell everyone.
Changes to the plan
Each objection, and the response
Save your progress
Download your progress file to continue from this point any time, on any computer: choose it under "Coming back?" at the start of the tool. Each new file includes everything so far, including the earlier stages when they are connected, so keep the latest one. Your work stays in this browser only until you close it.
Not saved yet.
Take your results with you
A PDF of each objection with its real reason and response, the changes to the plan, and the diagnosis.
About the tool
Why it exists
Match the response to the reason
People push back on a change for different reasons: fear of losing something, not having been told, a real flaw in the plan, or doubt that they can cope. The response that works for one reason is wasted, or harmful, on another. Resistance management matches the two.
This tool works on its own, and as stage 4 of our playbook for managing organizational change, where it starts from the groups stuck at Desire in stage 3 and the opponents found in stage 1. For the method, see our guide to resistance management.
The method
How the tool works
Five reasons. Expects to lose something; wasn't told, or doesn't trust what they were told; sees it differently; doubts they can work the new way; and a broken promise or a bad last change, which is about our side, not theirs.
The responses. From slow and durable to fast and costly: education, participation, support, negotiation, then co-optation and coercion, which are listed because they get used, not because they are recommended. "Fix our own side first" answers a broken promise. The tool suggests the lightest response that fits each reason, and warns when a response doesn't answer the reason.
When they are right. An objection that holds up needs a change to the plan, and the change said publicly. Until both are written down, that is the decision point.
What leaves your computer. What people said, your actions and plan changes stay in your browser and your progress file. To write the diagnosis, the page sends our server only the reasons and responses chosen, and the server keeps nothing.