As someone who’s spent years working in change and transformation, I’ve heard the phrase “resistance to change” more times than I can count. It’s a convenient label, but I’ve never been fully convinced it tells the real story.
People aren’t inherently resistant—they’re often just unsure. And when things are uncertain, our brains naturally go into protective mode. What we interpret as pushback is often just a rational response to risk.
Everett Rogers’ work in Diffusion of Innovations has helped me make sense of this. He talks about how new ideas spread—or don’t—and identifies four big factors that hold people back:
- Complexity – Too theoretical or hard to understand: “It sounds smart, but I don’t get it.”
- Incompatibility – Doesn’t fit with current practices or beliefs: “That’s not how we do things here.”
- Lack of Observability – No clear cause-and-effect or tangible proof: “I can’t see if it’s working.”
- Lack of Trialability – Difficult or risky to test in a safe way: “How do I even try this without breaking something?”
These four barriers don’t just slow things down—they create friction, uncertainty, and fear of failure. And that’s what stops transformation in its tracks.
🧠 1. Complexity: The Gap Between Knowing and Understanding
When I first started out, people told me I “spoke like a book.” At the time, I didn’t realize how alienating theory can sound when it’s not grounded in something people can see or feel.
But I’ve also come to believe that theory is crucial. It’s the foundation that helps us navigate ambiguity. The real art lies in bridging that theory into practical application, in a way that meets people where they are.
What helps:
- Simplify without dumbing down. Use stories, analogies, and visuals.
- Translate abstract frameworks into hands-on tools.
- Anchor ideas in the day-to-day language of your audience.
🛠 Try this: Next time you introduce a concept, don’t explain it—show it. Walk through an example, draw a sketch, or better yet, co-create it with the team.
🔄 2. Incompatibility: “That’s Not How We Do Things”
By definition, transformation means change. And change means doing things differently—often in ways that feel uncomfortable, unnatural, even threatening.
You’re asking people to step outside their current worldview, sometimes before they fully understand why. Of course that feels incompatible. That’s not resistance. That’s being human. Transformation requires the mindset and leadership you don’t have, yet the good news is that you can acquire it.
What helps:
- Connect new ideas to existing values or goals—show how it’s a continuation, not a rejection.
- Don’t force-fit. Instead, frame new approaches as evolution, not revolution.
- Build a coalition of early adopters who can model the change authentically.
🛠 Try this: Ask “What are we already doing that aligns with this idea?” Find the overlap. Build from there.
👁️ 3. Lack of Observability: When You Can’t See the Win
In a world obsessed with results, it’s hard to stick with a change when the payoff isn’t immediate or obvious. But most meaningful transformation doesn’t follow a neat cause-effect path. There’s often a long delay between planting the seed and seeing the fruit.
What helps:
- Focus on progress over perfection. Track shifts in mindset, behaviour, collaboration—not just KPIs.
- Create rituals that surface emerging insights—after-action reviews, reflection sessions, storytelling.
- Get comfortable with ambiguity, and help others do the same.
🛠 Try this: Look for “weak signals”—small but meaningful signs that something is shifting. Then amplify them.
🧪 4. Lack of Trialability: When “Just Try It” Isn’t an Option
Here’s the dilemma: Leaders want guarantees. They want to know how much it will cost, what it will save, and exactly when it will pay off. That mindset works well in simple and complicated domains—where cause and effect are clear, outcomes are predictable, and best practices exist.
But transformation doesn’t live in those spaces. It lives in the complex domain, where the path isn’t known until you walk it. You can’t blueprint your way to change—you have to experiment your way there.
Unfortunately, when we apply linear thinking to complex challenges, we kill the opportunity before it even begins. I’ve seen promising ideas get dismissed because they couldn’t be “proven” in advance. And that’s a shame, because the only way to learn in complexity is to try.
What helps:
- Frame change as safe-to-fail experiments, not bets you can’t afford to lose.
- Educate stakeholders about the difference between complicated and complex problems.
- Design pilots that generate insights—not just outcomes—and reward learning, not just success.
🛠 Try this: Use the language of probes—small, reversible actions that test what works in your context. Track the impact, reflect on it, and adapt. That’s how change grows.
💬 So… What Is the Answer?
It’s not about forcing change. It’s about creating the conditions where change feels safe enough to try.
Our job isn’t just to drive transformation—it’s to steward it. That means building bridges between theory and reality, old and new, known and unknown. It means holding space for the uncertainty, while helping others move through it with just enough confidence to take the next step.
So next time someone says “People just don’t want to change,” consider whether they’ve actually been given the chance to change safely. Because when people feel safe, curious, and supported—they don’t resist change. They start to lead it.
Through Yinsight, I support companies, their managers and teams in their development with a view to achieving tangible performance that respects people. Creating strategy, working on collective values, aligning teams, managing complexity and interpersonal dynamics, and providing individual and collective support for transformation are at the heart of my work.