Embracing Resistance

As a change leader you will be more successful if you embrace resistance rather than avoid it or react to it with rules. Resistance is not a technical problem. It is an adaptive challenge. It requires you to exercise emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence includes these three skills:

1. Your awareness of your own emotions
2. Empathy – identifying with what others feel
3. Ability to build relationships

When embracing resistance you need a strong working relationship with the people involved. If this does not exist it will hamper your attempts, so you must build a strong working relationship. You could use this process to achieve a strong working relationship. Typically, you would do the following:

• Respect those who resist.
• Understand the reason for the resistance.
• Link with their position – find common elements in your respective positions.
• Establish to what extent the person has bought into the vision, objectives and implementation procedures at your school.
• Discuss the question “What is in it for us?”
• Develop a plan of action.

1.  Your tutor will assign you a partner with whom you will conduct a mock resistance interview.
2. Identify a typical issue that causes resistance.
3. Decide on a way in which you will conduct this meeting in real time. You could use the telephone, instant messaging, video conferencing or any other means upon which you agree.
4. Open the Resistance Interview Template to record the meeting. One of you should act the role of the principal and the other act the role of the resisting stakeholder.
5. Use the checklist to assess your performance.
6. Send a copy of the interview record to your tutor for feedback.