027. People, resistance to new ideas and the power of removing friction: interview with Loran Nordgren

Summary

Why do people resist new ideas, including inside organizations, and including with regard to organizational change initiatives? And what can we as change managers/leaders do about this?

What's more important: making your new idea more 'shiny', more attractive, or removing obstacles that stand in the way of people accepting new ideas?

Would resistance to new ideas play out differently in the nonprofit sector as compared to others?

What does ‘neophobia’ mean, and does it apply as much to the (international) nonprofit sectors as to the private sector and government sector?

In this podcast episode which is of prime relevance to change managers and leadres, I interview Loran Nordgren of Northwestern University, USA, whose research together with David Schonthal, also at Northwestern, on why people resist new ideas, and the importance of removing friction. 

Loran focuses on individual-level psychology, more than on organizational or industrial labor relations fields of work. His research is cross-sectoral: he looks at change processes and the adoption of new ideas in the private sector, government sector, and nonprofits.

Loran Nordgren’s Bio:

• Professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at NorthWestern University in Chicago, USA
• Co-author of the book ‘The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance that Awaits New Ideas’, to be published on October 5th, 2021, together with David Schonthal
• Co-founder of Creative Candor LLC
• Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at University of Amsterdam

 

We discussed: 

• Forces that propel a new idea forward: this is fuel
• When you want to change people’s mind, or bring them to your side, including in organizational change processes, you need to not just focus on making the new idea more attractive, and increasing the incentives to adopt this new idea (the ‘fuel’ or ‘ammunition’) .  You need to also take away the sources of 'friction', the aspects that may make it difficult for people to adopt or accept your new idea or initiative
• Friction becomes a drag on innovation
• Strategies for taking away friction: consider how the new idea stacks up in terms of:
   
  • Effort: Does this idea represent a big or small change? If big, expect more resistance 
  • Does this change happen quickly, or gradually? The bigger and faster the change, the greater the inertia
  • Does it take a lot of effort to implement the idea? Can you reduce the level of effort needed, as change manager?
  • Does the idea create ambiguity among audience: if people don’t know how to implement, and it requires discovery, it is harder to embrace
  • Emotion: Does the idea represent a threat? (and neuroscience indicates humans experience change as ‘pain’, as threat) 

 

Resources:

Loran Nordgren

Linkedin profile

Company website

Personal Website

Short Podcast (Kellogg School Interview with Loran)

Book: ‘The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance that Awaits New Ideas’ (out in October, 2021)

 

Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces