How People Respond To Change and What That Means for Your Communication

Mel Loy:

If you’ve ever wondered why some people seem to love change and others seem to loathe it, you’re not alone. As frustrating as these reactions can be, they’re perfectly normal. The challenge for change communicators is being able to anticipate different reactions and tailor our communication to suit. Before we get to that, it’s worth understanding what’s happening in the brain that drives either resistance to — or acceptance of — change.

This piece was previously published in Catalyst, IABC‘s thought leadership magazine.

Your Brain Loves the Status Quo

Status quo bias is very real, and for good reason: The status quo represents safety and comfort. From our days as cave dwellers living in tribes, we aimed to keep the status quo purely for survival.

Nowadays, while staying alive and having access to food and safety may not be as critical for some, we still love our comfort zone. That’s because, as humans, we tend to be highly risk averse. Prospect Theory — developed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky — shows that people are more likely to go for a sure bet over a potential gain if that gain is perceived as risky.

When it comes to change, this often shows up when there’s a lot of uncertainty. We perceive the unknown as a risk, even if what’s on the other side is likely to be better for us.

Your Brain Is a Prediction Machine

One of the wonderful things about the human brain is that it’s constantly scouring the landscape for patterns. When it perceives one — real or not — it uses that pattern to make sense of the world around us.

It also draws on what it observes in the current environment and past experiences to try and predict what’s coming. Again, this is a survival mechanism borne from our early days as explorers, hunters, and gatherers.

The problem is that during change, without clarity or certainty, our audience’s brains leap ahead and start filling in the gaps, trying to predict what’s coming and whether it’s good or bad. People make up their minds very quickly, so it’s important to be on the front foot with your messaging.

Your Brain Processes Different Information at Different Speeds

Some people make decisions or form a point of view more quickly than others, and that can be due to a range of factors, like:

• Processing Preferences: Do you like to take time to mull over a decision, or do you tend to conserve that energy for other things?
• Context: Is the situation familiar or exciting, or does it feel unfamiliar and concerning?
• Previous Experiences: Have you had negative experiences with change in the past that have made you more cautious?

According to Daniel Kahneman, we also have two types of thinking: fast and slow. We use fast thinking about 98% of the time because it allows us to move through life without too much thought and respond quickly to perceived threats. We simply wouldn’t survive without it.

The challenge with fast thinking is that it relies on past experiences — which may not be relevant to the current situation — and relies on biases to make decisions.

Our brains will tend to reserve slow thinking for the big, complex decisions or learning, especially when the stakes are high.

Understanding How It All Works

What does all of this mean? Building on this understanding, I’ve developed four main archetypes for how people respond to change:

• Happy Helen: Helen has low risk aversion and fast processing times. She typically loves change and will jump at the chance to try new things. The challenge is that she can sometimes suffer from “shiny thing syndrome,” so our communication needs to help her stay focused on strategic objectives. That said, she can be a wonderful change champion, especially if she’s a trusted voice among her colleagues.
• Cautious Cal: Cal is generally optimistic about change, but be prepared for a lot of questions! They’ll take time to process the information and often come back with thoughtful questions, though they may be a bit slow to commit. Still, they’re valuable challengers for Happy Helens and can help prevent chaos by encouraging more deliberate thinking.
• Nope Nelly: Nelly’s default response to change is “no.” They’re the person who says, “We tried this before, and it didn’t work.” While they’re quick to resist, asking questions that require specific answers — and involving them in sharing their own ideas — can start to shift their mindset. After all, sometimes people just want to be heard.
• Fence-sitting Fred: Fred will hitch his wagon to the winning horse. He prefers to wait and see where others are heading before making a decision. Typically, he’s high risk averse and a slow processor. Our communication needs to anticipate their potential objections and address them right away. Your Happy Helens can even be recruited to help bring Freds on board.

While these are generalizations, these archetypes provide a useful framework for thinking about your change communication strategies. They’re also helpful for leaders who need to have tailored conversations with their teams and individuals.

It’s important to note that people can move between these archetypes depending on their past experiences with change and the context of the situation.

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Mel Loy is an international award-winning change communication consultant and the founder and CEO of Hey Mel! Communication & Training, based in Brisbane, Australia. Her small but mighty team supports clients around the world to deliver change through effective communication strategies and capability building.

She is a podcast host, and the author of two books: “Change Isn’t Hard: A Practical Playbook for People-centred Change Communication”; and “Less Chatter, More Matter: The SKILLS to Communicate More Effectively.”

Written by: Editor