Mobilizing Change
Bronwyn Evans - October 1, 2003

People Are Resistant to Change

It's not news that people are resistant to change. Inertia, one of the rules of the universe, applies to people as well as to objects. Many organizations, seeking to improve performance, have come unstuck by under-estimating the amount of resistance that will be offered by people. Sometimes the resistance is active, deliberately undermining the efforts of those implementing the change. Sometimes the resistance is passive, where people mouth the right words but keep on doing things the old way. And why not? Making changes is hard. It's uncomfortable. And it takes a lot of effort...