Previous Publications
The Real Reason People Won't Change
It's a psychological dynamic called a "competing commitment," and until managers understand how it works and the ways to overcome it, they can't do a thing about change-resistant employees.
By Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey
Every manager is familiar with the employee who just won't change. Sometimes it's easy to see why-the employee fears a shift in power, the need to learn new skills, the stress of having to join a new team. In other cases, such resistance is far more puzzling. An employee has the skills and smarts to make a change with ease, has shown a deep commitment to the company, and genuinely supports the change-yet, inexplicably, he does nothing.
What's going on? As organizational psychologists, we have seen this dynamic literally hundreds of times, and our research and analysis have recently led us to a surprising yet deceptively simply conclusion. Resistance to change does not reflect opposition, nor is it merely a result of inertia. Instead, even as they hold a sincere commitment to change, many people are-unwittingly-applying productive energy toward a hidden competing commitment. The resulting dynamic equilibrium stalls the effort in what looks like resistance but is in fact a kind of personal immunity to change.
When you, as a manager, uncover an employee's competing commitment, behavior that has seemed irrational and ineffective suddenly becomes stunningly sensible and masterful-but unfortunately, on behalf of a goal that conflicts with what you and even the employee are trying to achieve. You find out that the project leader who's dragging his feet has an unrecognized competing commitment to avoid the even tougher assignment-one he fears he can't handle-that might come his way if he delivers too successfully on the task at hand. Or you'll find that the person who won't collaborate despite a passionate and sincere commitment to teamwork is equally dedicated to avoiding the conflict that naturally attends any ambitious team activity. In these pages, we'll look at competing commitments in detail and take you through a process to help your employees overcome their immunity to change…
…Based on the past 15 years of working with hundreds of managers in a variety of companies and organizations, we've developed a three-stage process to help them figure out what's getting in the way of change. First, managers guide employees through a set of questions designed to uncover their competing commitments. Next, employees examine their commitments to determine the underlying assumptions at their core. And finally, employees start the process of changing their behavior.
To order:
The Real Reason People Won't Change (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)
