When an employee resists a change, reflect their concern before you defend the decision. Be clear about what's already decided, then ask what would need to be true for the change to work in their area, and give them real say over that part. Pushback on a new process usually mixes worry about the change with frustration about how it was decided, and each needs a different response.
What you're hearing
Resistance to change rarely arrives as one thing. Listen for two strands.
Concerns about the change itself. "The kiosks will confuse our older patients." "Bedside report wakes people up." MI calls this sustain talk: reasons to keep things the way they are. It's normal, and it often contains useful information.
Frustration about the process or about you. "Nobody asked us." "You've never worked a night shift." MI calls this discord. It's about the relationship, and it needs repair before anyone can talk about the change.
The two sound similar and call for different moves. If you answer discord with a better explanation of the change, the employee hears you defending the people who left them out. For a fuller treatment of both, see how to respond to sustain talk and discord.
Be clear about what's decided
Employees resist harder when they suspect the decision is still open and their pushback might stop it. If the change is happening, say so early, and say what's still open.
I'm still not sure the kiosks make sense for us. Is this a done deal?
Well, we're piloting it, so we'll see how it goes. Let's keep an open mind.
Yes, the kiosks go live at every site next month. What's open is how we set them up at yours, and I'd like your help with that.
The vague version invites a month of lobbying. The clear one closes the settled question and opens the one where the supervisor has real expertise, which respects him more than a pretend consultation would.
Reflect before you explain
Your instinct when someone criticizes a change you're responsible for will be to explain the reasoning. Hold off. A reflection first tells the person you heard the concern, and it often surfaces the specific worry under a general complaint.
The new system takes twice as many clicks to release a result. It's going to slow everything down.
It's only slower until you learn it. And it's going to cut down on transcription errors, which is the whole point.
You're worried the extra clicks will add up on a busy night.
Yeah. Especially for stat troponins. The ED calls within ten minutes if we're late.
Now you know the specific worry: stat results on nights. You can work on that. "It'll get better once you learn it" would have ended the conversation without telling you anything.
Use both sides of their ambivalence
Most people who push back on a change can also see something good in it. When you hear both sides, a double-sided reflection holds them together. Put their reason for change last, because people tend to keep talking about whatever you said most recently.
Scanning every tube at the bedside slows me down on morning draws. I get that it would catch mislabels, I guess.
It adds time to a tight morning, and you can see it catching the mislabeled tubes.
The phlebotomist made the case for scanning, and the supervisor repeated it back.
Ask for their expertise
The people closest to the work usually know where a change will break. Ask them. Asking treats their objection as expertise and gives them a problem to solve.
Half our patients are over seventy. They're going to stand there staring at a touchscreen.
You know these patients better than anyone. What would it take to make the kiosks work for them?
Somebody standing next to the kiosks for the first few weeks, at least in the mornings. And keeping one window open for people who won't use them.
That's a plan, and he wrote it. He's more likely to make it work than a plan you handed him.
Be careful to ask only about what's open. If you ask "What do you think we should do?" when the answer can't be "skip the kiosks," the employee will notice, and you'll lose trust you need for the next change.
The veteran who's seen it before
Long-tenured staff often push back hardest. They've watched initiatives arrive with fanfare and disappear a year later, and the current way of working may be where their expertise lives. Acknowledge the experience directly.
Twenty-two years on this unit. I've seen plenty of these "new models." They all go away.
I hear you, but this one is different. It's backed by the CNO.
You've watched a lot of changes come and go, and you're not going to put energy into one that won't last.
Pretty much. Although the ratios on nights have been bad for a long time. I'll give it that.
His last sentence is the first piece of change talk in the conversation. Reflect it ("The ratios have been a problem for a while") and ask him what he'd want the new model to fix. If the conflict is with you and about how the decision was made, start there. Practice that version with Tom, a night charge nurse who learned about a staffing change from a memo.
Practice this conversation with Tom →
Answering "Why are we even doing this?"
Sometimes the employee wants the reasoning. Give it, using elicit, provide, elicit, so it doesn't turn into a sales pitch.
Why are we even switching systems? The old one worked.
What have you heard about the reasons so far?
Something about the hospital merger.
That's part of it. The bigger reason is that the old system can't send results straight into the new EHR, so someone retypes about two hundred results a day, and that's where the transcription errors come from. What do you make of that?
Asking first shows you what they've already heard, including rumors you may need to correct. Keep the explanation to a few sentences and end on their reaction.
Don't recruit them as a salesperson
A common mistake is asking a skeptical lead to champion a change to their team. It asks them to say things they don't believe, and their team can tell. Ask for something smaller and honest.
I'm not asking you to tell your team you love the kiosks. I'd like you to make sure they're trained, and to tell me what's going wrong in the first two weeks so we can fix it.
Respecting how they talk to their own team is part of supporting their autonomy: you set what has to happen, and they choose how to frame it.
Practice this conversation with Kevin →
The limits of MI with change resistance
MI works on the conversation around a change. Some situations need a different approach.
- Refusal after go-live. Once the change is in place, following it is part of the job. If someone keeps working around a required process, state the expectation and the consequence, and follow your HR process. Reflect their frustration, but don't reopen the decision.
- Safety and compliance changes. A new infection control step or medication check isn't open for debate. Say so plainly, then use MI to work on how they'll fit it into their shift.
- When you're the one who's unsure. If you have doubts about a change, say what you can stand behind and take your concerns up the chain. Using MI to sell something you don't believe is manipulation.
The leaders page has more on practicing these conversations, and motivational interviewing for managers and leaders covers the broader approach.
Questions people ask
How do you talk to an employee who is resistant to change?
Say clearly what's decided, then reflect their concern before you explain or defend anything. Ask what would need to be true for the change to work in their area, and give them real influence over that part.
Should I try to convince a resistant employee that the change is good?
Arguing for the change usually makes the person argue harder against it. Reflect their concerns, ask what they see that you might be missing, and let them name their own reasons to make it work.
What if the employee refuses to follow the new process?
Once a change is in place, following it is a job expectation. State that plainly, along with what happens if it doesn't change, and follow your HR process. MI can keep that conversation respectful, but it isn't a negotiation.
Why do experienced employees resist change the most?
Often because they've watched earlier changes fail, or because the old way is where their expertise lives. Acknowledging that experience openly tends to lower the temperature.
Reading it is step one.
The skill shows up when you practice it out loud. Try a five-minute drill or a role-play with someone who isn't ready to change yet.
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