Beyond No: Harnessing the Power of Resistance for Positive Organizational Growth - Hardcover

by Erik Nagel (Author)

Start viewing resistance as something beneficial instead of an inconvenience that must be eliminated

Beyond No: Harnessing the Power of Resistance for Organizational Growth is a thought-provoking exploration of the concept of resistance--something that is bound to arise within every organization in response to new projects, policies, or initiatives. Rather than seeing resistance as an inconvenience that needs to be eliminated, this book invites readers to take a new approach to different types of resistance, both hidden and obvious, and instead view resistance as a guiding light to discover objective differences, dissatisfaction, criticism of procedures, or different assessments or values.

This book contains a wealth of real stories from a wide variety of business leaders, detailing situations where resistance was encountered, solutions that were implemented, and their outcomes. Readers will also learn about:

• Shortcuts that lead to dead ends when managing resistance, including thinking "man does not want to change" and "one third is always against it anyways"
• Explanatory models behind resistance, including emotional events, attempts at domination, normative control, and expression of a damaged relationship
• Principles to productively manage resistance, including commitment, dignity, right to dissent, learning, and mindfulness

Beyond No earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of all business leaders, executives, and managers seeking to achieve excellence in leadership through a thoughtful approach to resistance instead of relying on ineffective command-and-control tactics.

Front Jacket

Resistance to change is a -universal experience for managers and business leaders tasked with guiding their organizations through contemporary challenges and into the future. Too often, however, that resistance is written off as an annoyance or an irritant, rather than the important signal that it really is.

In Beyond No: Harnessing the Power of Resistance for Positive Organizational Growth, renowned leadership and change management expert Erik Nagel delivers an insightful new perspective on how to view organizational resistance not as an obstacle to be overcome, but as a resource to be harnessed. You'll learn how to understand both subtle and overt resistance in order to turn legitimate disagreements and important instances of dissatisfaction and criticism into something productive. This can create a competitive advantage for your company.

The author explains how to use instances of resistance as opportunities to ask critical questions: What is the resistance actually about? What are the concerns and actual reasons? How did it come about? Through asking these and other questions, you'll discover unexpected insights into your company and uncover new areas of potential improvement.

Beyond No contains case studies and examples from managers of companies of varying sizes. They discuss their everyday experiences of resistance and explain how they forced a closer examination of important issues that would otherwise have remained hidden. It also describes the different kinds of resistance and offers hands-on strategies you can deploy immediately to deal with resistance productively.

Perfect for managers, executives, entrepreneurs, founders, and other business leaders, Beyond No is also an essential read for project managers and technical and administrative employees tasked with managing and furthering change within their companies.

Back Jacket

Transform organizational resistance from an inconvenience into a competitive advantage

Beyond No: Harnessing the Power of Resistance for Positive Organizational Growth is a groundbreaking new take on the transformative power of taking a close look at resistance to change and examining its root causes. In the book, change management and leadership expert Erik Nagel walks you through how to transform organizational resistance to change from an annoyance into a powerful resource, capable of highlighting critical issues that demand to be addressed.

With case studies and examples from a wide variety of business leaders, you'll discover how to react when you encounter resistance. You'll also discover strategies you can implement immediately for understanding and managing that resistance to help drive change and facilitate a good relationship with your employees. From the explanatory models behind resistance to common mistakes made by leaders who encounter it, this book describes hands-on steps you can take to turn resistance into an enduring competitive advantage.

Representing a startlingly insightful new perspective on an age-old business problem, Beyond No will earn a spot in the libraries of managers, executives, founders, entrepreneurs, project managers, and other business leaders.

Author Biography

ERIK NAGEL, PhD, is a -professor and Vice Director of the Lucerne School of Business and Co--Institute Director of the Institute for Management and Regional Economics IBR. He researches and teaches leadership, change management, resistance, cultural change, and organizational consulting.