{"id":12005,"date":"2021-04-01T16:04:53","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T14:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.flow.de\/?p=12005"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T11:41:46","slug":"fear-and-resistance-to-change-would-you-like-a-little-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flow.de\/en\/fear-and-resistance-to-change-would-you-like-a-little-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear and resistance to change … would you like a little more?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In connection with change, there is often talk of fear and resistance. Frank Wippermann describes why this is so and what should (also) be addressed instead in the following blog post.<\/p>\n

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Please check\u00a0the following five arithmetic problems and then summarise:<\/p>\n

15 + 7 = 22; 6 x 7 = 42; 24 : 8 = 3; 37 \u2013 9 = 29; 27 \u2013 11 = 16<\/p>\n

Nine out of ten of you (at least!) will have thought: “Ey, a mistake!”. Only a very few will have thought first: “Great, four tasks solved correctly.” This minority group is likely to include, as a rule (and hopefully), teachers at primary schools. For them, it is important to strengthen the self-esteem and motivation of the children sitting in front of them through positive feedback – four correct answers. Most others have lost this attitude of emphasising the positive at some point in their socialisation. Okay, some may never have had it …<\/p>\n

The top: fear and resistance<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let’s take a look at books, workshop agendas or change training courses. It is very likely that there will be a point called “Dealing with fears” or “Resistance in change processes”. Implicitly, this is primarily about the fear and resistance of others, preferably subordinate employees. After all, the aim is to take away their fear and reduce their resistance. And only rarely is one’s own fear as a leader and one’s own resistance to change addressed. Well, from a leadership point of view it is also easier when the problem is not with myself but with the other person. Then it is simply easier to lead…<\/p>\n

Fear is one of many emotions. And it is initially incomprehensible why this emotion in particular is pushed to the forefront of change (with its partner, resistance). Except: we are so wired that we tend to overlook positive things and emphasise mistakes … see above. It helps to broaden one’s own perspectives. By the way, broadening perspectives is one of the leadership competences that will become increasingly relevant in the future<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Five Emotions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Philip N. Johnson-Laird, one of the leading psychologists of thought of our time, together with Keith Oatley determined the following five basic emotions<\/a><\/strong> in the late 1980s:<\/p>\n