Home Pastors Articles for Pastors 13 Facts About Opposition to Change Too Many Leaders Miss

13 Facts About Opposition to Change Too Many Leaders Miss

6. Loud does not equal large

So why do the 10 percent feel bigger than they are?

Because they’re loud. Conversely, the proponents of change are usually quieter, even respectful.

Just because the opponents of change are loud doesn’t mean they’re a large group. The most opposed people make the most noise.

Don’t make the mistake most leaders make when they assume large equals loud. Almost every time, it doesn’t.

7. Most people opposed to change do not have a clearly articulated vision of a preferred future

Most people opposed to change do not have a clearly articulated vision of a preferred future. They don’t know what they want. They just know what they don’t want.

In fact, most just want to go back to Egypt. And you can’t build a better future on a vision of the past.

8. Fear of opposition derails more leaders than actual opposition

Fear of opposition derails more leaders than actual opposition. Wouldn’t it be horrible to look back on your leadership and realize there was little opposition to change—you just thought there was?

So push past your fears. And push past the opposition.

Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s the determination to lead through your fears. By the way, this also does wonders for your faith.

9. Buy-in happens most fully when people understand why, rather than what or how

What and how are inherently divisive. Someone’s always got a better, cheaper, more expensive, faster, shorter, longer way to do what you’re proposing.

Articulating why you’re changing something is different. It unites people. Why reminds everyone why we do what we do, and why we’re doing this in the first place.

So focus on why when you’re communicating. Why motivates. Always start with why, finish with why and pepper all communication with why.

10. Unimplemented change becomes regret

If you don’t muster up the courage to usher in healthy change, you’ll regret it.

You’ll look back and yearn for what might have been, not for what was.

Unimplemented change becomes regret. Remember that.