Why Smart People Resist Good Ideas

(And What You Can Do About It)

Based on “Immunity to Change” by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey | Framework adapted for executive leadership by Alli Brown Coaching

THE BOTTOM LINE

You’ve rolled out the strategy. You’ve communicated the vision. You’ve invested in training. Yet somehow, your people are still doing things the old way. Sound familiar?

Here’s what Harvard researchers discovered: People aren’t resisting you—they’re protecting themselves. Even when they want to change, they have hidden commitments that work against their stated goals. It’s like driving with one foot on the gas and one on the brake.

The good news? Once you understand how this works, you can work with it instead of against it.

WHY CHANGE REALLY FAILS

Most leaders think change fails because people need:

• More training
• Better communication
• Stronger incentives
• Clearer consequences

But here’s the reality: Your people already know what to do. They’re just scared of what they might lose.

Example: Moving to remote work

• Technical: Learn Zoom, set up home office
• Mindset: Trust that productivity happens without physical oversight

Most change requires both. Most leaders only address the technical side.

THE HIDDEN FORCES WORKING AGAINST YOU

Every person has an internal system that protects them from perceived threats. When change feels risky, this system kicks in—even when they consciously want the change.

What This Looks Like in Your Organization

Your Sales Director says she wants to collaborate more with marketing, but she:

• Doesn’t share lead intelligence
• Goes around marketing to make client promises
• Complains that marketing “doesn’t understand the business”

Why? She’s unconsciously committed to being seen as the customer expert. If marketing succeeds, what happens to her value?

Your Operations Manager agrees that innovation is critical, but he:

• Requires extensive documentation before trying anything new
• Points out risks in every proposal
• Says “we tried that before and it didn’t work”

Why? He’s unconsciously committed to preventing failure. Innovation means risk, and risk means potential blame.

THE FOUR-STEP DIAGNOSTIC TOOL

Use this framework to understand what’s really driving resistance:

Step 1: What’s the Goal? | What change are you trying to make? Be specific.

Example: “Create a more collaborative culture where departments work together instead of in silos.”

Step 2: What’s Actually Happening? | What behaviors are you seeing that work against this goal?

Example:

• Departments hoarding information
• Meetings where people defend their turf
• Cross-functional projects that stall out
• People saying “that’s not my job”

Step 3: What Are They Protecting? | This is where it gets interesting. What might your people lose if the change succeeds?

Example:

• Department heads: Their power and budget control
• Technical experts: Their status as the “go-to” person
• Long-term employees: Their advantage from knowing “how things work”
• High performers: Their individual recognition

Step 4: What Do They Believe? | What assumptions make these protective behaviors feel necessary?

Example:

• “If other departments can do what we do, we’re not valuable”
• “Collaboration means giving up control”
• “Sharing information gives others a chance to take credit”
• “The company rewards individual heroes, not team players”

YOUR ACTION PLAN

Week 1-2: Start With Yourself | Before you can help others change, you need to understand your own resistance patterns.

Ask yourself:

• What am I afraid will happen if this change doesn’t go perfectly?
• What am I committed to protecting (my reputation, my team, my results)?
• What would I lose if I truly empowered others to drive this change?

Common executive patterns:

• Wanting engagement but not willing to give up control
• Asking for innovation but punishing intelligent failures
• Demanding collaboration but rewarding individual achievement

Week 3-4: Get Curious About Resistance | Instead of trying to overcome resistance, get curious about it.

Have conversations like this:

• “Help me understand what concerns you about this direction”
• “What would you need to feel confident moving forward?”
• “What’s worked well for you in the past that you don’t want to lose?”

Listen for:

• What they value about the current state
• What they’re afraid of losing
• What success means to them personally

Week 5-6: Make It Safe to Experiment | People resist change because it feels risky. Make it feel safer.

Design small tests:

• Limited scope (one team, one project, one quarter)
• Built-in learning (regular check-ins and adjustments)
• Easy exit strategy (clear criteria for when to stop)
• Shared ownership (they help design the experiment)

Week 7-12: Build Momentum | Use early wins to challenge limiting beliefs and create new stories.

Celebrate learning, not just results:

• “We learned that customers actually want more self-service options”
• “The team discovered they could make decisions faster without three approval layers”
• “It turns out collaboration actually made everyone’s work easier”

PRACTICAL TOOLS YOU CAN USE IMMEDIATELY

The Resistance Conversation

When someone pushes back on change, try this:

–> Instead of: “You need to get on board with this” | Try: “I’m sensing some concern. What’s your biggest worry?”

–> Instead of: “This is how we’re doing things now” | Try: “What would need to be different for this to work for you?”

–> Instead of: “Everyone else is fine with it” | Try: “What’s worked well for you that you don’t want to lose?”

The Team Mapping Session (90 minutes)

Get your team together and work through this as a group:

· Round 1 (20 minutes): Everyone writes down their personal concerns about the change

· Round 2 (30 minutes): Small groups share and look for patterns

· Round 3 (40 minutes): Whole group identifies the top 3 shared concerns and designs experiments to test them

The Executive Check-In

Weekly questions to ask yourself:

• What resistance did I notice this week?
• What might that resistance be protecting?
• How did I respond—with curiosity or frustration?
• What small experiment could I try next week?

QUICK WINS THAT BUILD LONG-TERM CHANGE

Week 1: The Listening Tour

• Schedule 30-minute conversations with key stakeholders
• Ask: “What’s your biggest concern about [the change]?”
• Listen without defending or explaining
• Win: People feel heard and you get real data

Week 2: The Small Bet

• Pick one small piece of the change to test
• Get volunteers rather than assigning it
• Make it easy to reverse if it doesn’t work
• Win: Proof that change doesn’t have to be traumatic

Week 3: The Success Story

• Find one positive outcome from week 2’s experiment
• Share it widely with specific details
• Connect it back to the bigger vision
• Win: Evidence that the change can actually work

Week 4: The Next Volunteers

• Ask who wants to try the next experiment
• Use what you learned in week 2 to make it even safer
• Let the first volunteers help design it
• Win: Momentum builds organically

RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR

In Others:

• Agreeing in meetings but not following through
• Asking for more data/analysis before moving forward
• Saying “yes, but…” followed by a list of problems
• Focusing on all the ways it could go wrong

In Yourself:

• Getting frustrated when people “don’t get it”
• Making the change mandatory instead of appealing
• Skipping the small experiments and going straight to full rollout
• Defending the change instead of exploring concerns

CULTURE CHANGE: THE LONG GAME

Changing culture isn’t about big announcements or new values posters. It’s about shifting what gets rewarded, what gets attention, and what gets celebrated.

Month 1-3: Change What You Pay Attention To

• Start every meeting asking about collaboration examples
• Publicly recognize cross-functional successes
• Ask “how did we work together?” not just “what did we achieve?”

Month 4-6: Change What Gets Rewarded

• Add collaboration metrics to performance reviews
• Promote people who model the new behaviors
• Make funding decisions based on cross-department proposals

Month 7-12: Change What Gets Celebrated

• Tell stories about the new way of working
• Make heroes out of people who bridge silos
• Create rituals around collaborative achievements

WHEN YOU HIT ROADBLOCKS

“People just don’t want to change” | Reality check: They don’t want to lose something they value Try: Find out what they’re trying to protect and address it directly

“We don’t have time for all this psychology” | Reality check: You’re already spending time on resistance—in long meetings, rework, and low engagement Try: One focused conversation now vs. months of push-back later

“This is too complicated” | Reality check: You’re already dealing with the complexity—you’re just not being strategic about it Try: Pick one person and one assumption to test this week

MEASURING WHAT MATTERS

Early Indicators (Weeks 1-4)

• Number of people volunteering for experiments
• Quality of questions in meetings (curious vs. defensive)
• Time spent on pushback vs. problem-solving

Building Momentum (Months 2-3)

• Speed of decision-making
• Cross-department collaboration requests
• Employee engagement scores

Cultural Shift (Months 6-12)

• Stories people tell about how work gets done
• What behaviors get promoted and rewarded
• How quickly new ideas get tested vs. debated

YOUR FIRST STEP

Pick one person who’s been resistant to your change initiative. Instead of trying to convince them, get curious:

• Schedule a 30-minute conversation
• Ask: “Help me understand your biggest concern about this direction”
• Listen for what they’re trying to protect
• End with: “What would need to be true for this to feel safer for you?”

Don’t try to solve anything in that first conversation. Just understand.

Then design one small experiment based on what you learned.

Remember: You’re not trying to eliminate resistance. You’re trying to understand what it’s protecting so you can address those needs while still moving forward.

The goal isn’t to make everyone comfortable with change. It’s to make change feel less threatening than staying stuck.

Change is hard because loss is real. When you acknowledge what people might lose and help them discover what they might gain, resistance transforms from an obstacle into a pathway forward.

SOURCES + ATTRIBUTION

Primary Source

Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey. Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization. Harvard Business Review Press, 2009.

Key Concepts Credited to Kegan & Lahey:

• The four-column Immunity Map framework
• Technical vs. Adaptive Change distinction
• Hidden competing commitments concept
• Big assumptions methodology
• Safe-to-fail experimentation approach
• The immunity to change psychological model

Additional Research Sources

• Harvard Graduate School of Education: Change Leadership Group research
• Minds at Work LLC: Kegan and Lahey’s consulting firm and additional resources
• Harvard Extension School: Applications of immunity to change in organizational settings

About the Original Researchers

Robert Kegan is the William and Miriam Meehan Professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, with over 30 years of research in adult development.

Lisa Laskow Lahey is Associate Director of Harvard’s Change Leadership Group and founding principal of Minds at Work, a leadership-learning professional services firm.

Framework Adaptation

This playbook adapts Kegan and Lahey’s research for senior executive audiences, translating academic concepts into practical business applications while maintaining the integrity of their original methodology.

Important Notice

This adaptation is provided for educational and commentary purposes. All rights to the original “Immunity to Change” methodology, including specific tools, assessments, and processes, remain with Robert Kegan, Lisa Laskow Lahey, and their affiliated organizations.

For official training, certification, or the complete methodology, please visit: www.mindsatwork.com or purchase the original book.

This content represents an interpretation and practical application of published research. For the complete research and detailed methodology, refer to the original source: “Immunity to Change” by Kegan and Lahey.