A guest speaker in one of my recent workshops was asked how to know when you’re on the right track leading a transformation initiative. His answer, offered with a laugh, “Expect cynicism followed by criticism,” is more truth than humor. In the same vein, a late friend (former boss) regularly shared his version with a military twist: “When you’re close to the target, expect flak.”

In coaching senior leaders striving to lead organizational change, the cynicism, criticism, and flak are often withering, raising self-doubt and causing some to give up or scale back their ideas. My suggested reframe is to use the presence of this negativity as a barometer and then double-down on engaging the critics in constructive dialog around interests and not positions. What you uncover will help build a broader coalition for support or assessing whether your initiative may run into an immovable object.

9 Reasons Why Many are Cynical and Critical of Your Change Initiative

1. Jealousy—they wish they had identified the opportunity before you.

2. Competition—they see this as a threat to their power and an opportunity for you to grow yours.

3. Trespassing—you’re stepping all over something they view as theirs.

4. Definition-they don’t understand the problem you are trying to solve.

5. Exhaustion—it’s one more thing they have to find a way to support on top of an overwhelming number of initiatives they or their teams are involved in helping.

6. Prioritization—they perceive your issue as less important than other initiatives struggling for resources.

7. “It’s Not Broke-ism” Their view on what you are trying to change or do is that the status quo is just fine.

8. Expertise—they view themselves as stakeholders in this initiative and weren’t consulted.

9. Visibility—they want a piece of this.

One or more of these (or other flavors of the above) show up in the early stages of every transformation initiative. Savvy operators view the reactions as a barometer, not a verdict, and redouble their efforts to engage and, as needed, adjust their approach.

Ideas to Neutralize the Flak

1. Engage with your cynical and critical colleagues to better understand their actual objections. While not all will be forthcoming with their real reasons for objecting to your initiative, proper questioning will help you tune in to their thinking.

2. Accept that some individuals lead with resisting new ideas, and it’s your challenge to understand the resistance and strive to at least get them to listen. Have empathy with their situation and objections. Their resistance may be less about you and your initiative and more about them and their workload or stress level.

3. Clarify the problem you are striving to solve. A great deal of personal resistance stems from ambiguity over the real problem you are trying to remedy. Work hard to clarify and communicate this issue and ask others their views on the problem.

4. Ask for their opinion. Try: “Here’s the problem I see here. What’s your view on this?” And, “If you were trying to remedy this situation, how might you solve it?”

5. Ask for their help or support. If you misread the stakeholder map and didn’t involve someone who views this as important, make amends and ask for help.

6. Engage your sponsor. If the initiative is significant or strategic, it’s best to have an executive sponsor involved and ready to help defend or knock down walls. Leverage your sponsor.

And, one cautionary tale. You will run into individuals who want you to expand the scope of your initiative. In the words of my colleague, “Scale is the enemy of transformation in the early stages.” Resist this tradeoff to gain support. Your goal early in the process is focused on experimenting and learning. Don’t introduce complexity by expanding scope prematurely.

The Bottom Line for Now:

Don’t let the flak derail your transformation initiative. Instead, dive in to understand the core of any resistance better and strive to build your coalition. Transformation initiatives succeed on the strength of relationships, not ideas.

Art's Signature