The Best Way to Handle Employee Pushback During Organizational Change

We hear it all the time. Your organization is going through a big change, and the employees don't seem to be on board.

In my career, I've been a part of a wide range of organizational change initiatives, and it doesn't matter if it's a new ERP implementation, large policy updates, or mandated regulatory reform, there's always employee pushback.

Why Does Employee Pushback Happen?

One of the biggest mistakes we can make is to not stop and ask ourselves why. 

Why is there pushback from employees? 

Why are they not on board with what's happening?

Most often, the answer is that your employees don't feel engaged in the process. Change is difficult for most people, and when change happens in the workplace, it can bring a sense of uncertainty for the people who work there.

“Employee pushback is the canary in the coal mine. It’s a prime indicator of how smoothly your implementation will go, and how successful your changes will be in the long term.”

Strategies to Address Employee Pushback

So how do you address employee pushback during organizational change?

• Change Your Language: Remove words like "combat", "fight", or "eliminate" from your vocabulary when thinking about your employees and organizational change. Your employees are not your combatants, and your goal shouldn't be to fight with them about the change.

• Take a Strategic Pause: I know this can be hard when working on huge implementations, but it's necessary. Your organization is likely spending millions of dollars on this initiative, a small pause could be the difference between success and failure.

• Engage Through Surveys and Focus Groups: Use the pause to connect with your employees, especially if you didn't do this before you started implementing this change. Surveys and focus groups (particularly when done by an outside consulting agency) can reveal where your employees are feeling disconnected from the process of change.

• Implement Feedback: Course correct. Again, this isn't always easy, but taking your employee feedback into consideration and making changes where possible will go a long way towards getting them actively engaged in the change.

• Communicate Effectively: Communicate to your employees about the course corrections you're making based on their feedback. This shows them that you value their input and that you're all working together towards a common goal.

The Importance of Employee Feedback

When it comes to organizational change, employee pushback is the canary in the coal mine. It's a prime indicator of how smoothly (or not) your implementation will go, and how successful your changes will be in the long term.

To use another idiom, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Engage your employees early and often and show them how their feedback is being implemented into the project on an ongoing basis. Not only will you have less pushback, but you might even end up with some project champions!