The cognitive and emotional mechanics of change resistance — and what leaders who understand these patterns can do differently to move people forward.
Resistance is often treated as irrational obstruction. More often, it is information about threatened competence, identity, status, belonging, predictability, or trust. Leaders who understand that psychology can address what is actually at stake instead of repeating the business case more loudly.
“People rarely resist change in the abstract; they resist the loss, uncertainty, or mistrust the change represents.”
We cover the psychological and neurological basis of resistance, how to identify where someone genuinely is in their change journey, and — critically — how to surface what people are actually resisting, which is often different from what they say out loud. As the opening course in Leading Change and Transformation, it sets up the culture and uncertainty courses that follow.