Resisting Change

A personal experience that I struggled with and needed to change was my lifestyle as far as my physical health is concerned. I was classified as obese and this made a terrible impact on my life. Obesity results from poor health choices such consumption of large quantities of fast foods and taking too many sugary drinks. Also, minimal physical activity contributed a lot to my overweight.

As a result of these habits, I was diagnosed with elevated blood pressure and the risk of the condition being hypertensive was very present. It was about time for me to change my lifestyle, without which I would easily slip into avoidable conditions. I needed to reduce my weight gradually from obese to overweight and eventually to a healthy weight.

Overcoming Resistance to Change

I needed to make two major changes in my lifestyle with regard to nutrition and physical activity. I had to shift from eating overly processed food to fibrous and whole meals and I have to admit that it was quite challenging. I had to reduce taking my favorite and mouthwatering fast foods and this was mentality difficult because I had to overcome my cravings. Getting to start aerobic exercises and sustaining physical activity was quite tasking because the entire body would ache for days and I would feel fatigued most of the time.

My weight kept reducing gradually but time and again, I would backslide and gain a few pounds. What kept me going was the zeal to get to live a healthy lifestyle. Through the support of my doctors, nutritionists, friends and family, I was able to lose significant pounds. I have not gotten to my ideal healthy weight yet, but every day I make progress towards it.

Applying Lessons Learned

From my personal experience, it is indeed factual that change is difficult and there are many factors that can lead to change resistance. According to Bossard (2021), many employees resist changes because they don't see how beneficial it is to them. Employees oftentimes resist change because the changes are not communicated clearly leading to fear of the unknown. Also, when there is little to no support in navigating the changes, resistance to change becomes imminent.

In my case, it was quite clear that my health was deteriorating fast and without making changes, I could slip into hypertension and other obesity-related conditions. With the support of doctors, nutritionists, family and friends, I have been able to make great progress towards a healthy lifestyle.

Therefore, through proper communication and effective support from the organizational leaders, employees can be guided through smooth transitions. Leaders should effectively communicate and explain why it is important for the organization to make changes because, without it, the performance of the organization may end up becoming healthy and unprofitable. References

Daniel Bossard, June 13, 2021. 10 Reasons Why Employees Resists Changes at Work https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-reasons-why-employees-resist-changes-work-daniel-bossard-ba

QUESTION:

• Ask a question about or relate your experience to the time your colleague needed to make a change but resisted it.
• Offer an insight you gained from your colleague's analysis of what held them back and what helped them overcome their resistance to change.
• Provide your perspective on how receptive you might be to your colleague's suggestion for helping a team overcome resistance to change. How do you think you would respond to their approach?