Every change at work, from a new system to a new reporting line, meets some resistance. It’s tempting to see that resistance as a problem to overcome, or as people being difficult. Usually it’s neither. It’s people telling you, often indirectly, what they need before the change can work for them.
This guide explains what resistance to change is, why employees resist, how to spot it, and how to lead through it. It includes data from 377 coaching sessions in which managers planned how to lead a real change, and what they expected their people to push back on.
What is resistance to change?
Resistance to change is any reluctance to accept or adopt a change, whether it’s open, such as arguing against a decision, or quiet, such as carrying on with the old way of working. It can come from individuals or whole teams, and it ranges from asking hard questions to actively working against the change.
Not all resistance is bad. Some of it points to real flaws in a plan, such as an unrealistic timeline or a missing piece of training. Treating every objection as an obstacle means missing that information. Treating it as feedback usually makes the change better, and makes people more willing to accept it.
Why employees resist change
We analyzed 377 Skills Coaching sessions on VirtualSpeech in 2026, in which managers and students worked through a real change they had to lead with our AI coach, Hugh. About a third of the changes involved new technology, systems or AI, and four in ten a new process, policy or way of working. In each session, they named the biggest risks of resistance they expected.
The most common worries were practical, not existential. Uncertainty and a lack of information came up in 62% of plans. Disruption to routines (55%) and workload (53%) followed closely. Job security came up in just 11%.
Most changes trigger several worries at once. The typical plan named three separate sources of resistance, and 59% named three or more. A single reassurance rarely covers it.
Here are the main causes, and what each one sounds like.
1. Uncertainty and lack of information
When people don’t know why a change is happening, what it means for them or when it will happen, they fill the gaps themselves, often with the worst case.
Sounds like: “Nobody’s told us what this actually means for our team.”
2. Disruption to routines and habits
Familiar ways of working feel efficient and safe, even when they aren’t. Changing them takes effort, and the old way usually feels faster at first.
Sounds like: “The current process works fine. Why fix what isn’t broken?”
3. Workload and time pressure
Change almost always means extra work in the short term: learning a new system, running old and new processes side by side, or covering for colleagues in training.
Sounds like: “We’re already stretched. When are we supposed to learn this?”
4. Skepticism or low trust in leadership
If previous changes were poorly handled, or people don’t believe the reasons they’re given, they hold back until they see proof.
Sounds like: “We tried something like this two years ago and it went nowhere.”
5. Loss of control, autonomy or status
Changes that alter decision rights, expertise or reporting lines can feel like a personal loss, especially for experienced people whose knowledge of the old way gave them standing.
Sounds like: “So I just follow the new system now, even though I know this work better than anyone?”
6. Skills and confidence
People worry they won’t be good at the new way of working, and that it will show.
Sounds like: “I’m not very technical. I’ll be slower than everyone else.”
7. Job security and fairness
These came up less often in our data, but they’re powerful when they do, particularly in restructures, cost cutting and changes involving AI.
Sounds like: “Is this the first step toward replacing us?”
Signs and examples of resistance to change
Resistance isn’t always loud. The quiet kind is often harder to deal with, because it’s easy to miss until the change has stalled.
| Active resistance | Passive resistance |
|---|---|
| Arguing against the change in meetings | Agreeing in meetings, then carrying on as before |
| Raising the same objection repeatedly | Missing training sessions or deadlines |
| Rallying colleagues against it | Using workarounds to avoid the new system |
| Escalating complaints to senior leaders | Going quiet, or doing only the minimum |
| Openly predicting the change will fail | Delaying decisions until “things settle down” |
Examples at work:
- A sales team keeps logging deals in spreadsheets instead of the new CRM.
- Experienced staff skip the training for a new process, saying they’ll “pick it up”.
- A team agrees to hybrid working guidelines, then quietly ignores the office days.
- A manager announces a new approval process, and requests start going around it to a more senior colleague.
In each case, the behavior is a clue to the cause. Workarounds often point to workload or skills; silence often points to low trust or uncertainty.
How to overcome resistance to change
The managers in our coaching sessions also planned how they’d respond to pushback. Their plans show what leaders reach for first, and what they tend to leave out.
| Planned response to objections | Share of plans |
|---|---|
| Offer training and support | 70% |
| Explain why the change is happening and its benefits | 64% |
| Acknowledge concerns and listen | 60% |
| Involve people in shaping the change | 39% |
| Share evidence or data | 31% |
| Pilot or phase the change | 19% |
| Be clear about what isn’t changing | 12% |
Most plans covered explaining and supporting. Far fewer involved people in shaping the change, or started small. Yet involvement is one of the best-established ways to reduce resistance. In a classic 1948 study at the Harwood Manufacturing Corporation, Lester Coch and John French found that groups who helped design a change to their work adapted faster than groups who were simply told about it.
Here’s how to lead a change so it addresses the real causes:
- Explain the why, then what it means for each person. Uncertainty was the top concern in our data. People need the reason for the change, and what will be different for them, their work and their week.
- Say clearly what isn’t changing. Only 12% of plans included this, but knowing what stays the same reduces anxiety more than another explanation of the benefits.
- Make room for the extra work. Workload came up in over half of plans. Adjust deadlines, pause lower-priority work, or phase the rollout so people aren’t learning the new way on top of a full job.
- Involve people in the how. You may not be able to change the decision, but you can usually let the team shape how it’s implemented.
- Start with a pilot. A small trial lets skeptics see results, and lets you fix problems before everyone is affected.
- Train and support people early. Build skills and confidence before the old way disappears, and make help easy to find.
- Listen to objections as information. Ask what’s behind each concern before responding. Some objections will improve the plan.
- Recruit champions. About a third of plans mentioned champions or allies: respected colleagues who try the change early and share what they find.
- Follow through and show progress. Skepticism fades when people see promises kept and early wins shared.
How to respond to common objections
Most resistance surfaces in conversation: a team meeting, a one-to-one, a question after an announcement. How a leader responds in that moment often decides whether the person comes round or digs in.
| Objection | What’s usually behind it | How to respond |
|---|---|---|
| “Why are we doing this?” | Uncertainty | Give the reason in one or two sentences, then what it means for them specifically. |
| “The current way works fine.” | Disruption to routines | Acknowledge what works, then name the problem the change solves. Ask what they’d want to keep. |
| “We don’t have time for this.” | Workload | Agree that it’s real, and say what you’ll take off their plate or how the rollout is phased. |
| “We’ve heard this before.” | Low trust | Don’t argue. Name what will be different this time, and commit to a date when they’ll see progress. |
| “Why wasn’t I consulted?” | Loss of control | Accept the point, and invite them to shape how it’s implemented. |
| “I’m not sure I can do this.” | Skills and confidence | Explain the training and support, and pair them with someone who’s already confident. |
| “Is my job at risk?” | Job security | Be honest about what you know and don’t know, and when you’ll know more. Never make promises you can’t keep. |
A simple structure for any objection:
- Listen fully before responding, and let them finish.
- Acknowledge the concern in your own words: “It sounds like you’re worried this will add work at our busiest time.”
- Ask what would help: “What would make this manageable for you?”
- Respond with what you can offer, and be honest about what you can’t.
- Agree a next step, such as a follow-up, a trial or a check-in date.
Practice the change conversation before you have it
Announcing a change and handling the first wave of reactions is a skill, and like any conversation, it improves with practice. Rehearsing with a colleague, a coach or an AI roleplay lets you try your opening, hear the hardest objections and adjust before the real meeting.
On VirtualSpeech, managers use the “Leading through change” Skills Coaching session with Hugh to plan the change message, anticipate resistance and prepare responses. They leave with a written plan, then practice the conversation in a roleplay where an AI employee pushes back.
Change models that help
A few well-known models give structure to leading change:
- Lewin’s three stages: unfreeze the current way, make the change, then refreeze so the new way sticks.
- Kotter’s 8 steps: from creating urgency and building a guiding coalition to generating short-term wins and anchoring the change in the culture.
- ADKAR: Prosci’s model of the five things each person needs: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement.
- The change curve: adapted from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s work on grief, it describes how people often move from shock and resistance through to acceptance.
Models help you plan, but resistance is still worked through one conversation at a time.
Frequently asked questions
What is resistance to change?
Any reluctance to accept or adopt a change, from open objections to quietly carrying on with the old way of working.
Why do employees resist change?
Most often because of uncertainty, disruption to familiar routines and extra workload. In our 2026 coaching data, managers expected these far more often than fears about job security.
What are examples of resistance to change?
Arguing against a change in meetings, skipping training, using workarounds to avoid a new system, or agreeing to a change and then carrying on as before.
What kind of person is resistant to change?
Some people are more change-averse by disposition, and psychologist Shaul Oreg developed a scale to measure it. But most resistance at work depends on the change and how it’s led, not personality.
How do you overcome resistance to change?
Explain the reason and what it means for each person, say what isn’t changing, make room for extra work, involve people in shaping it, start with a pilot, and support people as they learn.
What does leading through change mean?
Guiding a team through a change by communicating clearly, listening to concerns, supporting people as they adapt and following through on commitments.
How we did this analysis
We analyzed 377 English-language “Leading through change” Skills Coaching sessions on VirtualSpeech between April 9 and October 21, 2026. In each, a manager or student described a real change they had to lead, and the session’s written report recorded the change, the biggest resistance risks, planned responses to objections and next steps. We coded these reports by keyword into the categories shown, and a plan can appear in several categories. Figures are indicative. All data was anonymized and aggregated.
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