Most leaders encounter resistance to change. Fewer understand the psychology behind it. Attachment theory may shape the way people respond to transitions and explain how leaders can better support their teams.
On episode 148 of The Science of Personality, cohosts Ryne Sherman, PhD, and Blake Loepp spoke with Victoria Grady, PhD, associate professor of management at George Mason University’s Costello College of Business, to talk about the psychology of change.
“I am inherently a change-averse person,” Victoria said. “As I studied change to help myself become more flexible, I became fascinated with the role that attachment theory plays in how we manage through the change process.”
Read on to learn about the tension between innovation and change, how attachment theory affects our responses to change, and the importance of strength anchors.
Resistance to Change Versus Innovation
“Based on my experience in studying attachment behavior for 15 years, I don’t believe that it is the change that people are resisting. Instead, I think it is more about the loss that they will experience because of going through the change,” Victoria stated. People don’t resist the change itself but rather the uncertainty of the transition from a current state to a future state. Psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott published on this concept about the transitional space in the 1950s.1 Resistance to the transitional space can be rooted in uncertainty, instability, and anxiety about loss.
Innovation inherently brings change—and risk. The demand for innovation and the fear of uncertainty are often juxtaposed. People feel justifiably concerned about what losses might result from change. This includes intangible losses, such as productivity, creativity, and innovation itself.
Victoria described a tech startup that moved locations from a one-room space to an office suite. About half of the company was excited and half uncertain. After their move, productivity plummeted. Victoria found that the creative connections of the small space had become siloed by the new office. Once Victoria restored a space for connection, the startup’s performance increased.
“Identifying and providing support mechanisms for individuals who are experiencing change is critical to success,” Victoria said. In that scenario, the support mechanism that fueled the startup’s innovation was feeling connected. Regardless of whether the individuals were resilient or resistant, they all needed that support mechanism to regain productivity.
How Attachment Theory Affects Responses to Change
Resistance to change may be rooted in our attachment style. Attachment theory suggests that emotional bonds with others affect how we respond to stressors. Development during early childhood—mainly our relationship with our primary caregiver from birth to age five—affects our disposition to attach.
Attachment Styles
While everybody feels some degree of stress during change, individual differences in attachment style affect how much resistance we may show:
- Secure attachment - Likely to respond in a resilient, proactive way
- Fearful attachment - Reluctant to trust others for fear of being let down
- Dismissive attachment - Likely to seem distant or even shut down
- Preoccupied attachment - Likely to need approval or seem dependent on others
Someone with a dismissive attachment style tends to be skilled at finding support mechanisms during change. Those with secure attachment are also nuanced in the types of support mechanisms they seek. These support mechanisms, also called strength anchors, are extremely important in our responses to change.
Strength Anchors
Strength anchors can be individuals, objects, environments, or values. “The strength anchor is what helps you reset when you feel that initial uncertainty or instability or anxiety related to a change,” Victoria explained.
Victoria worked with a government organization that was losing a leader after 35 years. Members of the organization felt sad about the loss and struggled to reconcile their grief with wanting to celebrate the leader’s next phase. The leader held an all-hands meeting to acknowledge their feelings and give each member a fidget toy printed with the organization’s mission. “The leader created a culture that flourished at a level even more productive, more innovative, more effective in his absence because he empowered his people to believe that they could do it on their own,” she said.
Many organizations fail to acknowledge what is hard and talk about how to move forward. Although the leader was previously the strength anchor, the new strength anchor became not the toy itself but the shared values of the organizational culture. Effective leaders help their teams find the object, whether tangible or intangible, that can provide support during a transition.
Resistance to Change and Team Dynamics
Just as personality affects team dynamics, so does attachment style. One team that Victoria worked with had representatives from various attachment styles. “Once they realized how to work with each other, it became a powerhouse team. But it took a minute,” she said, explaining that a team member with a preoccupied attachment style caused frustration until all understood each other’s styles.
From a change perspective, understanding what it looks like to work together is an important component to navigating the change process and avoiding change fatigue. Organizations that assume healthy team dynamics will form without any transition time have unreasonable expectations. An activity to improve team dynamics might identify how attachment styles and personality tendencies affect workplace performance.
There is no perfect combination of attachment styles for a high-performing team. “The magic formula is to take the time to understand who you have on your team,” Victoria said. Effective leaders learn how each team member contributes, what makes them feel supported, and what anchors them to the team’s mission. That understanding is also what reduces resistance to change when transitions inevitably occur.
Strategies for Introducing Change
How organizations and leaders introduce change can have a huge impact on how it's eventually received. Victoria advised using these strategies for introducing change:
- Be aware of the role that attachment plays in the workplace. Every leader and team member can observe the behaviors of others at work and infer how they attach. Attachment is part of our biological instinct and stays with us through our entire life.
- Select a framework to suit the team. The framework that will best guide the change process will be specific to the organization, the change, and how the change will impact people.
- Affirm a commitment to mission or values. Change management processes can become positive when they connect to people’s job satisfaction. For instance, Apple has weathered significant change because the spirit of innovation acts as a strength anchor, not the specific person of Steve Jobs.
- Provide the team with a strength anchor. Leadership through change should equip others with the transitional object that helps carry them through despite uncertainty and loss.
“My biggest takeaway for leaders would be to take the time to recognize that you and everybody who works with you need the support that comes from a transitional object,” Victoria said. “A strength anchor has the power to influence the change strategy, whatever framework you pick.”
Listen to this conversation in full on episode 148 of The Science of Personality. Never miss an episode by following us anywhere you get podcasts. Cheers, everybody!
Reference
- Winnicott, D. W. (1953). Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena; A Study of the First Not-Me Possession. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 34(2), 89–97. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1954-02354-001