Change doesn’t fail because of technology. It fails because of people.
Most transformations don’t fail due to poor strategy — they fail because people feel left out. Here’s how to overcome resistance and lead real change.
How to overcome resistance to change and build momentum for transformation
When excitement meets silence
Not long ago, I observed a curious paradox. Senior leaders were enthusiastic about a new digital transformation initiative. The technology was sound. The business case, compelling. Yet when implementation began, something unexpected happened: resistance.
Not open rebellion. Something subtler, harder to name. Meetings where people nodded but didn’t act. Promises made, then quietly forgotten. The transformation wasn’t being blocked — it was being quietly delayed.
And this wasn’t an isolated case. In a national programme to improve infrastructure delivery, I encountered the same pattern. The obstacle wasn’t technical capacity. It wasn’t budget. It was something far more human: the feeling that change was being imposed, not co-created.
Who really drives change?
Many transformation efforts try to win over the whole organisation at once. But that’s rarely necessary — and often counterproductive. As Greg Satell points out in his article, real change doesn’t begin with the majority. It begins with a critical minority: just 10-25% of your ecosystem.
In our case, we shifted focus. Instead of chasing consensus, we concentrated on a small but influential group of government officials. We didn’t ask them to believe in an abstract idea — we showed them real, tangible benefits through early wins.
That changed everything. Once they saw results, momentum built organically. The resistance softened. Adoption accelerated. What started as a pilot became a systemic shift.
Two principles that changed the game
1. Start small — but start with influence
Don’t wait for everyone. Align early with the people whose opinion shapes others.
2. Show results — not just intentions
Nothing builds credibility faster than a concrete, visible success.
These aren’t just tactics — they’re a different theory of change. One that honours how humans actually operate in systems: through trust, demonstration, and peer influence.
What resistance really signals
Resistance is not failure. It’s feedback. It’s the system telling you: “We haven’t understood this yet. It doesn’t feel safe. It doesn’t feel like ours.”
If we want change to work — especially in large institutions or public programmes — we must stop treating humans as implementation tools. They are the terrain. They are the strategy.