It’s certainly no surprise that people don’t like change. So any change from what we’ve come to know, or are comfortable with, can, and often does, create resistance and fear — fear of the unknown or an expectation that we’ll lose something.

But change is important for ourselves, our businesses and our cities. Standing still isn’t an option. The world moves too fast. We need to constantly push ourselves, seek new opportunities, and stay on top of our game.

The key to managing and guiding the positive change you seek is in understanding that you can’t avoid resistance, but you can manage it.

Kurt Lewin, regarded as one of the founders of modern psychology and perhaps best known for developing the Force Field Analysis,  viewed organizations as systems in which the present situation was not a static pattern, but rather a dynamic balance of driving forces (those seeking to promote change) and restraining forces (those attempting to maintain the status quo) and that in order for any change to occur, the driving force must exceed the restraining force, thereby shifting the equilibrium.

Force field analysis is a management technique developed by Lewin for diagnosing situations and can be useful in team building and when attempting to overcome resistance to change.

The analysis is a method to:

• investigate and understand the balance of power involved in an issue
• identify important stakeholders and target groups
• identify opponents and allies
• identify how to influence each target group

Conducting the analysis is an easy process. Here are the typical steps.

• Describe the current situation.
• Describe the desired situation.
• Identify where the current situation will go if no action is taken.
• List all the forces driving change toward the desired situation.
• List all the forces resisting change toward the desired situation.
• Discuss and understand all the forces: are they valid? Can they be changed? Which are the critical ones?
• Allocate a score to each of the forces using a numerical scale (i.e. 1 = extremely weak and 10 = extremely strong). Chart the forces. Use three columns on a piece of paper with the desired change in the middle, the driving forces on the left and restraining forces on the right.
• Add the point scores of each side to understand the situation. This will help you determine how viable the change is and which of the forces have some flexibility for change or which can be influenced. How can you raise the scores of the driving forces or lower the scores of the restraining forces, or both?
• Create a strategy to strengthen the driving forces or weaken the restraining forces, or both. Then prioritize action steps based on which will have the greatest impact.
• Identify the resources you’ll need and decide how to implement the action steps.

We all experience change in personal ways. Understanding that and addressing people’s values when you encounter resistance can reduce any negative impact of resistance and help move things in the direction you desire.

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