Resistance to change: how to create the habit of innovation

Why is resistance to change so strong? How can companies simplify digital adoption and create the habit of innovation?

Change is the only constant in our lives. That much is certain.

Just think of our brain regenerating itself by introducing new neurons into brain circuits on a daily basis. A continuous reorganisation of the interneuronal connections occurs and it seems that the new cells are crucial in linking everyday experience to memory.

But if our brain is primarily an organ deputed to change, why is it that in companies when it comes to innovation, change is so difficult and resistance in people is so strong? In reality, people say they want to change but at the same time they want to stay the same or do the same things.It is a dichotomy that generates resistance, especially at the unconscious level.

Many organisations are feeling the urgency to digitise, to be more flexible to market changes. Project times, costs and impacts are estimated, implementations are planned, integrations between technologies are studied. All evolution scenarios on existing infrastructures are hypothesised in order to be able to quickly resolve any incidents or problems. But the most important aspect, the human aspect, is left out.

The adoption of a new technology can be held back by the very resistance of those who are supposed to use it. Functions never explored, empty dashboards, data relationships never applied, preference for paper or physical processes... The cases can be many.

Can resistance to change be reduced?

I recently read “Atomic Habits” by James Clear (in Italian, “Small Habits for Big Changes”). The author, who is recognised as one of the greatest gurus on the subject, explains that change starts from the ideal of the person you would like to be and you build it day by day by making small choices that take you in that direction.

In this regard, he gives the example of an aircraft taking off to reach its destination. Shortly after its departure, the course is changed by a few degrees. This is a deviation of only a few metres.

But in doing so, the plane that was headed from Los Angeles to New York actually arrives in Washington, 400 km north. It might seem like a irrelevant change departure, but actually completely changes the destination of the journey. It changes it by four hundred kilometres.

The book then follows with a series of practical rules for changing one's habits effectively and without too much effort. Clear talks about individuals, but I wondered whether they could also be applied to a business innovation context. The answer is yes and I will now explain why.

Practical rules for building good habits

The first rule mentioned by Clear is “Make new habits clear and obvious”. According to him, the ideal would be to associate the new habits with actions already present in the personal routine. This will make it easier to incorporate the new behaviour.

A digital transformation project should study the behaviour of the people involved, in order to improve their lives. What actions do they take to achieve which work goals? Taking the objectives into account, we intervene in the triggered processes, revising them so that people can reach their goals more easily.

This will make it easier to associate processes optimised with the help of technology with the achievement of goals. People must perceive the usefulness of the changes, to believe that the efforts are necessary. So necessary as to be obvious.

Clear's second rule is “Make new habits enticing”.  In this regard, he cites dopamine, the pleasure hormone. The more tempting an activity is, the more likely we are to be willing and enticed to repeat it. This is why we cannot fail to consider the centrality of the user experience when proposing a new technology. Guided paths, intuitive interfaces, simplified navigation... all these elements can entice people to adopt a digital tool and get them used to using it.

We must bear in mind that the digital divide is still very high, so it is important to make digitisation accessible to all levels and digital skills.

Clear's third rule is “Make new habits easy”.  According to him, the key to creating new habits or changing existing ones lies in repetition. . By repetition he means not so much the time for which one repeats an action, but the number of times one repeats it. This implies that the effort to do it must be small. Performing it must not be demanding.

Everything that can be done to facilitate people must be applied: involvement in the project from the beginning, publicity, training, sharing best practices, etc. Digitisation should not be dropped from above, but guided in a transparent manner, so that it is not perceived as an additional effort to work tasks.

Finally, the last rule is "make new habits rewarding". Achieving small goals is more motivating for the pursuit of the next ones.

If we talk about digitisation, the ability to keep track in real time of some small indicators of improvement (e.g. working time saved, increase in the number of orders handled, etc.) will make people want to raise the bar higher and higher, in order to achieve better and better results.

Resistance to change: the right mindset

We said at the beginning that the change starts from the ideal of the person one would like to be, which in this case is that of an innovative person in an innovative company.

The little effort required to approach the new technologies and the maximum benefits achieved will naturally generate in people a mindset of continuous innovation, to the point of creating in the entire organisation a sense of urgency to strive more and more towards the ideal. Without any resistance to change.