Even the best plans can derail. Conditions change – changing market forces, new directives from headquarters, a change in personnel, a union election, and so on. In other words, resistance to change takes over. Managing organizational change is especially challenging during this stage.

Three critical things to know at this stage:

• Be able to spot resistance early and in its many subtle forms.
  And be able to determine if the potential derailment is caused
  technical, financial, or human factors. These are common
  sources of resistance to change. If you know these, you can
  avoid many of the real headaches that come with change.
• Ways to find out why things are going off track. If you judge
  wrong, you can either get people madder at you or waste
  some valuable time.
• Strategies to turn opposition and reluctance into support.

Here are some tools that can help.

Getting back on track demands that we listen to what others have to say. Often that is very difficult. Avoiding these pitfalls could make the difference between success and failure.

This is a simple exercise you can use to see more clearly why people might be opposing you or your idea.

According to a survey of Fortune 500 executives, resistance is the primary reason that changes fail in organizations. In a similar survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting, 80 percent of the CIOs surveyed said that resistance was the main reason why technology projects failed. Not lack of skill or resources, but that soft touchy-feely human reaction of resistance.

Level 2 Resistance is an emotional reaction to the new idea. In short, people are afraid. They fear that with this change they will lose control over their work, lose respect, become overwhelmed by yet another straw on their backs — or-they may be afraid they will lose their jobs.

Level 3 is the deepest, most firmly entrenched form of opposition to any change. The problems are big and may appear overwhelming. (In Level 1 resistance people don’t go along because they don’t understand or don’t agree with your interpretation of the data. Level 2 comes from a fear of what the change will mean.) In Level 3, people are opposing you. This resistance could be based on your history together, conflicting values, or who you represent (i.e. union versus management, differences in race or culture.)

This snippet must be a portion of a longer article I was working on. It is a list of things that can help you regain trust.

Listening is the most important skill to use when things are going poorly.

This is an assessment you can use to determine what’ s going on and develop strategies to get things back on track.

This is a short interview with Rick Maurer conducted by the Association for Quality Control.

Click here to listen to the audio, Why Do Changes Go Off Track?

Did you ever find yourself in the midst of a major change, only to see it start to fail badly? Do you begin to worry that all that time and money and hope — not to mention your reputation) is going down the tubes?. . . If so, you’re not alone. It happens a lot.