Your employees and colleagues might not react to proposed change projects with the hoped-for enthusiasm. On the contrary, change projects typically evoke skepticism, doubt, and rejection. It is possible, however, to constructively manage these reactions, appreciate them and view them as an opportunity.

Change would be easy if everyone were to participate enthusiastically. In that case, I would not have written this course, and you would not need to learn about change management right now.

The challenges in change processes are complex: one has to analyze, decide, plan, control, and evaluate – and manage employees' reactions. Most employees will react to change with skepticism, doubt, and resistance and not the hoped for admiration, applause, and gratitude.

In a typical change process, about one-third of those affected are advocates of the change, one-third opponents and the rest are undecided or even disinterested.

But this is not all bad: skepticism, doubt, and resistance are valid responses to change and can be interpreted as intelligent and critical examinations of the issue.

The art of change leadership is getting those involved "on board" and working together as a team. In the process, however, honest concerns and intuitive rejection are to be taken seriously and viewed as helpful reactions that can increase a project's changes of success.