Welcome to resistance…the tension is here. – Switchfoot (from the song “Dare You To Move”)
If you are attempting to bring meaningful change into your organization through a transformation initiative (such as introducing Agile or something similar), you will meet resistance. Guaranteed.
Your resistance may be a vocal cynic, the skeptical leader, a demoralized workforce, obsolete systems, people defending their positions, or a “this is how we have always done things” attitude. Resistance will come in different shapes, sizes, and intensity but it will come.
If you find yourself encountering resistance today, this brief post is simply meant to be an encouragement and provide a few steps to prepare you to meet it head on.
Welcome it. Encountering resistance means all the easy things have been solved already. You are blazing new trails now so welcome the adventure and recognize you are finally on the fringe of doing something great.
Share it. Talk to a spouse, friend, or colleague about the resistance you are experiencing. It’s amazing how much smaller the resistance becomes as you talk it out and how much bigger the resistance feels as we internalize it.
Tackle it. Waiting will not make the resistance go away. Procrastination will not lessen the intensity. As Steven Pressfield says in his seminal book, you must “Do The Work.” Start small if necessary…but get started. Small wins build momentum.
On a side note, this is the 100th blog post on Illustrated Agile. Thanks to all the readers out there!
3 replies on “Meeting Resistance”
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