How to Overcome Resistance with Persuasive Narratives
Here’s a scene that might seem familiar: You’re giving a presentation about a major change initiative in your company. This transformation project is crucial for success of the business, and you’ve packed your slides chock-full of charts and data to prove it.
But as begin to state your case, you notice people aren’t leaning in like you’d hoped. Instead, you see a lot of blank faces, some worried looks, and a few not-so-subtle eye-rolls. It’s not a fun situation to find yourself in, though it’s actually quite common.
If you’ve faced a tough crowd when communicating a change, you’re not alone. According to Gartner, nearly 80% of employees have low trust that organizational change will succeed. The sad truth is they’re not wrong, because Gartner also found that only 1 in 3 leaders report seeing successful adoption of change in their organizations.
Why is it so hard to get people on board with a transformation program? Change fatigue, for one. Because employees today experience dramatically more organizational change than in the past. In fact, Accenture calculates that change volume has increased by 183% since 2019.
As a result, most corporate transformations fail. Not because the strategy is wrong, but because leaders fail to get their people energized and emotionally invested in the change. Management consulting firm McKinsey estimates that 70% of change programs fail largely as a result of internal resistance.
Yet, McKinsey’s research also suggests the solution to this problem: a transformation is 5.8 times more likely to succeed when the organization’s leaders communicate a compelling change story. Story turns abstract strategies into tangible mental images that even the most skeptical employees can get excited about. When you use storytelling in change management, you’ll win more support for your initiative and increase the likelihood that change will stick. Because stories don’t just inform; they transform.
What is storytelling in change management?
Storytelling in change management uses narrative techniques borrowed from literature and cinema to engage and persuade business audiences. Stories transform abstract strategies into compelling narratives that help people understand why change is necessary and what’s in it for them personally. This approach increases engagement, overcomes resistance, and fosters openness to new ideas.
Resistance to change is natural
If you’re trying to get buy-in to a vision for change, you will undoubtedly encounter resistance. Because it’s human nature to fear the unknown. When our brains encounter change, they literally see it as a threat, like a hungry tiger that’s ready to pounce. Sensing danger, the amygdala, which regulates emotional reactions, unleashes a flood of stress hormones to help us react quickly. But those same hormones cause the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain that handles rational thinking – to essentially shut down, leaving the emotional amygdala to run wild.
This biological process explains why even smart, dedicated employees can become seemingly irrational when faced with change. They’re not being difficult; they’re being human. Yet many leaders are surprised and frustrated by pushback. To be honest, I’ve been there myself. I can think of several moments in my career when I’ve poured all my energy, creativity, and drive into casting a vision for something new … only to have it run right into the great wall of “nope.”
It’s easy to get angry, defensive, or deflated when people fail to cheer at the brilliance of your plans. Yet I’ve learned (the hard way) to reframe resistance as a learning opportunity. Because it contains seeds of insight that can actually improve your strategy. Resistance is actually a form of feedback. It tells you a lot about what your stakeholders want, need, and value.
Figuring out which factors feed resistance for your specific audience requires empathetic listening. That’s why I wrote in HBR that empathy is the secret to successful change. Simply asking for feedback makes stakeholders feel heard, which helps defuse uncomfortable emotions. You might even hear an idea that makes your plan work better for everyone.
As you listen to what people say, notice the language they use for cues about the underlying cause of their upset. Resistance typically shows up in three distinct ways: intellectual, emotional, and relational (see Figure 1). You can gauge which type of resistance you’re facing using phrases that change consultant Rick Maurer says people are likely to utter when they aren’t entirely on-board:
- “I don’t get it,” which indicates intellectual resistance
- “I don’t like it,” which indicates emotional resistance
- “I don’t like you,” which indicates relational resistance
Each type of resistance demands a different approach. But they all have one thing in common: they’re all asking you to help people make sense of the change and their role in it. And one of the most potent tools for sense-making is story.
Storytelling helps drive adoption of new ideas
The most persuasive change stories don’t spew facts; they make meaning. They connect transformation to something people already care about: their customers, their colleagues, their community, or their craft. To paraphrase the great persuader Dale Carnegie, people don’t do things because you want them to – they do them because they want to.
That’s why it’s incredibly effective to wrap your change strategy in a story that makes people feel like the hero in an epic tale. I once worked with a Fortune 500 software company that was facing a massive shift from on-premise to cloud-based products. The transformation would take huge effort from every employee, on top of their already ambitious annual growth goals. Burnout was running hot, so why should people work harder than they already do?
The CEO realized he had to give them a reason to push harder by tapping into what psychologists call “intrinsic motivation.” In other words, he needed to make every employee feel personally connected to and motivated by his vision. Instead of leading solely with data, the CEO crafted a story about the company’s new mission to help millions more organizations succeed. He painted a picture of local businesses thriving because of their technology, and how the profits from growth would let them give back to communities worldwide. For his altruistic employees, this was a future they could see themselves in and feel good about.
When we hear a compelling narrative, something wonderful happens. We feel emotions and sensations while also processing thoughts and memories. This immersive experience triggers a phenomenon called “narrative transportation.” When we get swept into a story world, our minds go on an incredible journey. The critical part of our brain quiets down and the creative part kicks in. In that creative space, we become more open and receptive to new ideas. We even start to imagine ourselves living in that world.
“When we get swept into a story world, our minds go on an incredible journey. The critical part of our brain quiets down and the creative part kicks in. In that creative space, we become more open and receptive to new ideas.“
– Patti Sanchez, strategic storytelling expert
Two types of stories every change leader should tell
Transformational leaders like Howard Schultz, Satya Nadella, and Indra Nooyi understand that storytelling in change management is a potent way to inspire and motivate people to embrace new ways of thinking and working. If you want to get people on board with your own transformation vision, you need to tell stories, too. But there are two specific types of stories you’ll need in your change communication toolkit: a strategic change story and a personal change story.
The strategic change story
A strategic change story sketches out a big-picture narrative that puts your change in a larger context. It explains why change is necessary, what the change will make happen, and how you’ll get there, all using a clear yet classic three-act structure.
The process of change has long been described as a phased approach. Change management frameworks frequently describe the process as comprised of three phases, such as Kurt Lewin’s “unfreeze, transition, refreeze” model as well as the Prosci® model for change, which outlines a three-part process designed to move people from their current state, through a transition state into the desired future state.
Interestingly, persuasive stories also share a common structure made of three distinct parts – or acts – with a beginning, middle, end. That same structure applies to change stories which also have a beginning, middle, end (see Figure 2):
- Beginning: The beginning of a change story describes today’s reality for your organization, where there is a problem to be solved. That problem carries consequences that affect key stakeholders, such as customers, employees, board members, shareholders, etc.
- Middle: The middle of the story describes the change that needs to be made and how you plan to implement it. But you must also convey the benefits to people whose support you need to make the change successful.
- End: The end of a change story describes the brighter future your change will create, in which today’s problem has been resolved. The negative consequences have disappeared and promised benefits have been realized.
Ultimately, the strategic story needs to answer three critical questions: Why is change necessary? Why is it good for your audience? And why should they trust you to lead them there successfully?
The personal change story
Revealing your own experiences with change can help others navigate the journey, too. Sharing change insights in the form of a personal story not only conveys educational information; it also helps overcome doubts about your credibility and build trust in your ability to lead change successfully.
The structure of personal story is based on an ancient story form called the hero’s journey described by the author Joseph Campbell. Just like the strategic change story, the hero’s journey follows a three-act structure (see Figure 3):
- Beginning: In the beginning of a story, we meet a hero and learn about their situation. The hero usually has a goal – something they want to attain is valuable to that person. The more valuable the goal, the greater the struggle they’ll have to endure to achieve it.
- Middle: As the hero pursues their goal in the middle of the story, they run into roadblocks that stall their progress. Facing a series of difficult challenges, the hero is tempted to quit. But with the help of a mentor, they are able to persist and overcome.
- End: In the end of the story, the hero triumphs over adversity and achieves their goal. Along the way, the hero also gains experience and insight that changes them forever.
Together, the strategic and personal narratives accomplish two things: they humanize you as a leader and they provide a roadmap for how others can navigate change successfully. By the way, that software CEO I mentioned earlier used personal stories to great effect. When communicating his vision to the company, the CEO made a bold choice to share a cautionary tale.
After hearing from HR that some employees questioned whether he was willing to hear negative feedback, he realized he needed to get really vulnerable. So, the CEO told a brief anecdote about a past product launch that failed because he didn’t listen to criticism from his executive team. By owning his mistake and sharing what he learned from the failure, the CEO built trust that he was committed to truly hearing from his team. That’s leadership in action.
Stories bring messages to life in the mind
Crafting a compelling change story is just the beginning. The real magic happens when you turn that narrative into a communication strategy that moves people to action. This means thinking beyond the big announcement. How will you reinforce your story through multiple touchpoints? What experiences will you create to let people step into the narrative? How will you equip managers to tell the story to their teams with authenticity and confidence?
Different audiences need different versions of your story. Managers need to understand why the change is good for the business but how it will benefit their specific teams. Employees, on the other hand, care about one thing above all: what’s in it for them personally. The organizations that succeed at change don’t just tell better stories: they create story-driven cultures where everyone understands their role in the transformation narrative.
To help you apply the art of storytelling to your change management challenges, I’ve created a comprehensive 90-minute on-demand course called “Crafting Compelling Change Stories.” You’ll learn practical frameworks and practice applying them to a real scenario. At the end, you’ll walk away with tools you can use immediately. So, no matter what change you’re leading, you’ll be ready to help people embrace it.