However, all people are not the same. We may find individuals that are eager to follow us, especially if we are properly prepared and can justify why the change is good. Getting some people to support the change could help us to get rest of the people to follow us, too. But the change will get harder towards the end, the last laggards are the most difficult to convince, even after we already have transformed the great majority.
The heaviest resistance is provided by narcissists. Those are people who think they know everything, are absolutely right about everything, and will never give up. Often these people represent some specific area of work, and are being impacted by the change in a negative way, i.e. increasing their workload. They are pushing the change to follow their own interests without taking any responsibility for the consequences. They ignore the benefit of the company while their own comfort is threatened.
If these people are not crucial to our change, we are lucky. We may then just try to ignore them. In any case, we need to be well prepared so that the narcissists don't convert other people to support them. We need to have facts right, information shared and know that the thing we are trying to accomplish is the right one.
If the narcissists are blocking the change, we need to focus on showing what is the value of the change for the company, and what does it cost for the company that some individuals are blocking it. Then, it will be finally the task of higher management to decide and give support, or postpone or reject the change.
But we mustn't forget that there is always also valuable resistance, which should be used as feedback to tune the change into perfection. Thus, even in the presence of narcissists, we need to keep our posture and openness towards the community, so that we will be able accomplish the change and do it right.
For a quick handbook on making a change try reading How to Change the World, pdf available just for a couple of bucks!
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