Avoiding manager/ supervisor resistance

Direct managers/ supervisors are your best advocates to support change. They work closest to front line staff and are key to build support or at the very least, identify roadblocks, miscommunication and pain points.

According to recent training by Prosci, these steps are the most effective to avoid resistance from managers/ supervisors:

• Communicate (refer back to the communication packet)
• Communicate openly, honestly, and timely - the best way to avoid resistance
• Communications need to be tailored to the audience and to set up feedback mechanisms for managers and supervisors to share thoughts and feelings about the change
• Involve impacted groups
• Early in the process, engage impacted groups. This helps to create a sense of ownership in the project and thus reduce resistance
• Address ADKAR barriers
• Awareness  

• Desire 

• Knowledge

• Ability 

• Reinforce 

• This includes coaching, having a highly credible sponsor and setting up reinforcement methods throughout the project
• Share the need for change (refer back to the communication packet)
• the leader such as a director, Chief Librarian or project sponsor needs to show support.  Sharing a vision for the organization's future state and informing people of business drivers
• Engage senior leaders/ sponsors
• Again, senior leaders as advocates early in the process, as key. They may even be asked to speak one-on-one with managers who are resisting.  

Showing the benefits of change from the onset help in avoiding resistance. Having an active and visible sponsor that employees trust to lead the change is a critical success factor.

Leaders or project sponsors are so importance that I'll speak to that next.