LeadershipLeadership

Change Rules — How to turn resistance into momentum

March 3, 2025
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7 min read
Photo by Atharva Tulsi on Unsplash
The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence—it is to act with yesterday’s logic.
Peter Drucker

Movements don’t start with a lone leader; they start with the first follower.

In Derek Sivers’ TED Talk, How to Start a Movement, he demonstrates this idea... a now-famous video where a lone dancer awkwardly gyrates at a music festival. The crowd looks on, unsure.  Then, someone joins him.

Sivers explains, “The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader.” Soon, a third dancer joins, then a fourth, and before long, the crowd becomes a movement.

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If change is about people, that is what we are looking for—a movement. Creating one is messy, unpredictable, and often uncomfortable. But with the right actions—knowing where people stand, finding your early adopters, and building momentum—you can turn skepticism into support and resistance into progress.

Here are six practical rules to turn resistance into support and create a movement.

#1. Map where people are—and remap.

#2. Tell Story 1 and Story 2.

#3. Find the second person.

#4. Go outside to come inside.

#5. Keep talking about wins.

#6. Use OKRs to stay on track.

#1. Map where people are—and remap.

Change is a journey.

If you don’t know where people stand, how can you move them forward? The change spectrum is your map—it shows who’s resisting, who’s neutral, and who’s on board. Your job is to shift people to the right.

Wishful thinking won’t cut it. You need real data. Some methods are fast and loose, others take longer but give you depth.

  • Fast and loose: Get your team in front of a whiteboard and plot key stakeholders on the spectrum. Where are they now? Where do you need them to be?
  • Middle ground: If your company already runs pulse surveys, use them. AI can scan verbatim comments and extract patterns.
  • More accurate: Survey or interview people. Ask them directly how they feel about the change. AI tools can analyze responses and surface sentiment trends.

However you do it, visualizing is key. The map makes it real. It’s the “you are here” sign when you’re lost.

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Tactics:

✅ Run quick “temperature checks.” Forget long surveys. Ask people in one-on-ones or quick Slack polls, “How are you feeling about this change today?” Patterns emerge fast.

✅ Make progress visible. Use a whiteboard, dashboard, or sticky notes to track shifts—who’s in, who’s hesitant, who’s stuck. Track movement over time.

✅ Hold “listening sessions.” No slides, no agenda—just space for people to talk. Resistance has roots. You must find them.

Traps:

Assuming you’re done. People shift. Resistance today doesn’t mean resistance tomorrow. Keep checking in.

Overcomplicating it. Speed beats science. A gut check is often better than a 50-question survey.

Admiring the problem. A map is only useful if you’re going somewhere. The next step is to act on it.

#2. Tell Story 1 and Story 2.

Change is a story.

Story 2 paints the picture of where you’re going. What’s possible—a future that’s better, faster, and worth the effort. Story 1 charts the path to get there—small acts that build into big change.

Story 1 is the how and the when; Story 2 is the what and the why.

People don’t move on facts alone. Emotion first, logic second. Story 2 builds belief. Story 1 builds momentum.

The best leaders use both to connect the dots, set the tone, and push change forward.

At its core, Story 1 and Story 2 are a message stack—the core messages and message discipline that frame change. They give people a way to see themselves in the picture. Better than raw information—they make change something people can feel. Crack that, and people don’t just understand change. They know what to do and how to do it.

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Tactics:

Show before-and-after. Snapshots make the contrast clear. How things are now (slow, painful, broken) vs. how they will be (faster, easier, better). Show the gap.

Make it personal. It’s not “the company”; it’s us. Show how this change helps real people—sales closing faster, bugs fixed sooner, and a hassle-free customer experience.

Encourage fan fiction. Let others tell the story. A PowerPoint won’t move the needle. People trust their peers. Find influencers who can share how the change is working.

Traps:

Leading with spreadsheets. Data backs up the story—it doesn’t replace it. If you start with numbers, you lose people.

Separating change from day-to-day work. Story 1 and Story 2 must feel real—not like some side project. If people can’t see how the change connects to their daily work, they won’t engage.

Thinking one story is enough. People need reminders. Keep telling the story. Keep connecting the dots. Change is a campaign, not a one-time announcement.

#3. Find the second person.

Movements don’t start alone.

They need a spark—someone who steps up with you and inspires others to follow. Find that second person. Then the next, and the next. Somewhere in that string of ‘nexts’ is a tipping point—the moment resistance flips into momentum.

The first follower matters as much as the leader—they validate the movement and make it safe for others to join.

You must spot early adopters and put them front and center. This is not just about influence—it’s about social and political capital. Who do people trust? Who do they listen to?

It’s about connectors—who connects teams, bridges functions, and makes things happen?

These are the people who turn isolated change into a movement.

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Tactics:

Pair up hesitant employees with believers. Peer influence is stronger than a top-down directive. A nudge from a respected colleague goes further than a mandate.

Start small, then scale. Get momentum rolling with one team, then expand. It’s easier to spread change when there’s proof it works.

Give early adopters something to own. Let them shape how the change rolls out. When they have a stake in it, they’ll pull others in.

Traps:

Thinking title means influence. Sometimes, the most powerful changemakers have no official authority—but everyone listens to them.

Playing favorites. You highlight early adopters because of what they do, not who they are. Pick based on action, not personal preference.

Trying to convert the unconvertible. Don’t waste time forcing skeptics to buy in. Focus on the movable middle—they just need a push.

#4. Go outside to come inside.

Change doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

The people inside your organization aren’t just influenced by internal conversations—they’re watching what’s happening outside. Talking about the change beyond your walls—to customers, partners, or the market—shapes perception and builds momentum. It signals commitment, reinforces urgency, and makes it real.

Push and pull—push change from the inside and pull it in from the outside.

When change is visible externally, it feels inevitable internally. To do that, you have to flip the perspective—ask: If we were an outsider looking at our company, what would we say?

And bring in external disruptors—voices from outside the industry, startup founders, or competitors-turned-advisors—to challenge thinking and shake up the status quo.

Timing matters. Press previews—conversations with industry experts, analysts, and SMEs ahead of major announcements—can prime the market for your message. When the change goes public, they’re already echoing and reinforcing the story.

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Tactics:

Talk about the change publicly. Announce it to customers, partners, or investors. External reinforcement makes internal commitment real.

Bring in outside voices. A respected expert, a case study from another company, or even a customer’s perspective can validate the change.

Use press previews to set the stage. Brief industry experts and SMEs in advance so they reinforce your message when the change goes live.

Traps:

Assuming internal messaging is enough. People need external proof that this isn’t just another initiative—it’s a decisive shift.

Overcomplicating the message. If you can’t explain the change in one sentence, it’s not clear enough. Keep it as simple as Story 1 / Story 2.

Talking but not acting. Announcing change externally creates expectations. Follow up fast or risk confusion and doubt.

#5. Keep talking about wins.

Where you are is familiar. Where you’re going is not.

For this reason, change is always abstract. That is the uphill battle you face. What you have done is concrete. What you might do feels uncertain.

Change is an elastic band—you stretch and pull it, but it always wants to snap back to what you did yesterday.

Inertia, rubberized.

That’s why wins matter. They make the future feel real. They inspire, create momentum, and show people what ‘good’ looks like. Without them, change stays vague—just another initiative in a long list of priorities. File under “This too shall pass.”

Not all wins are created equal. People don’t need generic pats on the back; they need a clear path forward. Make recognition highlight real progress, not just participation. Spread it too thin, and it loses its punch.

The goal isn’t fairness—it’s reinforcing what works.

Big wins are great, but if you wait for massive milestones, momentum dies. Small wins stack. Make them visible, make them repeatable, and make sure people know exactly what success looks like.

Then, they know how to follow.

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Tactics:

Celebrate the outcome, not just the effort. Trying isn’t the goal—impact is. Highlight wins that show real change: faster workflows, better customer experiences, and less friction.

Tie every win back to the message stack. Story 1 and Story 2 don’t stop after the announcement. Reinforce them by linking every success back to the bigger narrative of change.

Make wins shareable. Encourage teams to post their successes—on Slack, in newsletters, or all-hands meetings. Let people see progress happening in real time.

Traps:

Praising for fairness instead of impact. Recognition isn’t an equal-opportunity program. Highlight the wins that matter—real progress, not just participation.

Only celebrating the finish line. Change is a marathon—if you don’t acknowledge progress along the way, people stop running.

Keeping wins vague. "Great job, team" isn’t enough. Create a pattern. Show exactly what success looks like so others can follow.

#6. Use OKRs to stay on track.

Change is messy. OKRs bring clarity.

They keep teams focused, aligned, and accountable. Without them, change drifts—priorities get muddled, momentum fades, and people default to what’s familiar.

Good OKRs act like guardrails, keeping change on course.

But OKRs aren’t just about setting goals. They’re about managing work. They turn strategy into execution, shifting the focus from "what we want to do" to "what we’re doing right now." Used well, they create a rhythm—a system that keeps change moving.

You have to live by them too.

You cannot disconnect them from real priorities or have them cover half the work. When change stalls, it’s not because teams are busy—it’s because focus shifts. Prioritization is everything. OKRs should force trade-offs. If new must-dos emerge, drop something else.

And forget about hitting 100%.

OKRs should stretch teams, not punish them. If you hit every OKR, you’re playing it safe. If you hit none, the system is broken. The key is tracking progress early and often. If you wait until the end of the quarter to check in, you’ve already lost.

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Tactics:

Make OKRs about action, not aspiration. A good OKR doesn’t describe what you hope will happen—it defines what will get done. If it’s vague, it’s useless.

Force hard trade-offs. If everything is a priority, nothing is. When a new must-do emerges, drop something else. OKRs should make choices, not add to the pile.

Track progress in real-time. OKRs aren’t a quarterly exercise—they should live in weekly standups, dashboards, and decision-making moments. If you're not adjusting along the way, you’re already behind.

Traps:

Confusing OKRs with task lists. OKRs measure outcomes, not activity. "Launch a training program" is a task. "85% of employees adopt the new system by Q2" is an OKR.

Watering them down. If every OKR is at 100% by the end of the quarter, they weren’t ambitious enough. Stretch goals drive real change.

Letting OKRs collect dust. They should live in people’s heads. If they only show up in quarterly reviews, they’re already irrelevant. They should drive action, not a report card.

Gavin McMahon is a founder and Chief Content Officer for fassforward consulting group. He leads Learning Design and Product development across fassforward’s range of services. This crosses diverse topics, including Leadership, Culture, Decision-making, Information design, Storytelling, and Customer Experience. He is also a contributor to Forbes Business Council.

Eugene Yoon is a graphic designer and illustrator at fassforward. She is a crafter of Visual Logic. Eugene is multifaceted and works on various types of projects, including but not limited to product design, UX and web design, data visualization, print design, advertising, and presentation design.

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