Kate --
As you peruse Gantthead, you'll probably see a fair number of posts from me dealing with Critical Chain project management. Critical Chain is only one application of the Theory of Constraints. Another piece of the TOC body of knowledge is related to your question of "resistance to change" and to tools used to deal with it. Actually, one of my favorite quotes comes from the "father of TOC," Eli Goldratt, who has said that "The greatest force FOR improvement is resistance to change." Wrap your mind around that one for a bit.
;-)
The aforementioned logical tools are known collectively as the TOC Thinking Processes, and when used appropriately bring a target audience through what we in TOCLand call the "six layers of resistance" so that buy-in, collaboration, and co-ownership of necessary players can be achieved.
These six layers of resistance are:
1) Lack of agreement on the problem
2) Lack of agreement on the direction for a solution
3) Lack of agreement that the solution will truly address (all aspects of) the problem
4) Concern about unintended side effects
5) Concern about obstacles blocking the solution
6) Unverbalized concerns; Failure to move ahead despite having gotten past 1 through 5
Moving through them in sequentially, and knowing which layer a particular person is stuck in is important for smoothly achieving buy-in.
This past summer, I presented a paper on the subject at the Insititute of Industrial Engineers' annual conference. If you're interested in reading more on the subject, click on "Taking Advantage of Resistance to Change" to go to my website version of the paper.
