Why Teams Resist Change: Lessons From the Invisible Barrier
Insights on overcoming resistance to change in teams, featuring practical leadership advice, the impact of company culture, and the importance of genuine buy-in.
In every episode of Rockstar Product Teams, there's a thread of curiosity that drives me to dig into the roots of why organizations thrive-or, just as often, why they get stuck. When I sat down with Randa Mazzawi - an industrial engineer turned business transformation specialist and founder of Mazzawi Consulting - it immediately became clear: resistance to change isn't just an individual quirk. It's a complex, often invisible barrier woven into the fabric of how teams and organizations operate.
The Familiar Friction of Change
I've lost count of how many times I’ve seen this story play out: a new initiative is rolled out with the best intentions, but the team keeps returning to business as usual. During our conversation, Randa called out several common onboarding mistakes—especially the speed with which newcomers get siloed. "You’re in marketing, you’re in procurement… and you don’t know how you contribute to the ecosystem," she said. That sentence hit home. I’ve felt it myself: the sense of being part of a machine but not seeing the big picture.
The same pain points repeat again and again, Randa noted, regardless of industry: unclear processes, lack of ownership, and, perhaps most critically, a leadership style that's more "my way or the highway" than "our way." Too often, companies try to copy-paste what worked for someone else—a friend’s story, a famous CEO’s playbook—without digging into the unique DNA of their own culture.
Let’s dive into the conversation!
The Many Faces of Resistance
Why do smart, dedicated people resist change? It’s tempting (and lazy) to blame it on a generic human aversion, but Randa reframed it: "There’s different dimensions of that resistance. Someone might say, ‘I don't have the skillset,’ or ‘I don't have the resources’… but sometimes, people just don’t want to admit they don’t know what they’re doing."
That’s real. I’ve sat in workshops mapping processes, only to encounter vagueness, missing steps, and exceptions treated as the rule. It’s not that people don’t care. The fear of being exposed as uncertain or lacking knowledge can silently kill momentum. Randa’s method is about crafting a “safe space” where people can speak openly—her job isn’t to get people fired, she jokes, but to help them shine by fixing what’s broken.
Leadership underestimates this fear. There's a fine line between aspiring for excellence and stifling transparency. If every mistake gets hidden to avoid negative consequences, teams protect themselves by resisting change, consciously or not.
The Safety to Fail (and to Learn)
One of the biggest corporate buzzwords of the last decade has been “fail fast.” Leaders say they want innovation but often reward only positive outcomes, not experimentation or learning. "It’s like a marathon," Randa mused, "but you’re forced to sprint to the finish line without the benefit of those baby steps—of actually doing, experimenting, and iterating."
When an organization’s true culture punishes risk-taking—even if unconsciously—change will stop at the surface. I’ve seen brilliant minds leave or disengage because every metric, every KPI, reinforces the status quo instead of the pursuit of progress.
The Culture Conundrum
Randa drove home the core point: “The missing link is culture.” You can have buy-in at the top, and champions at the bottom, but if change doesn’t flow through the layers in between, it stalls. Drawing on the “traffic light” metaphor, she described three key attitudes toward change:
Green—the adopters, ready to move forward;
Red—the resistors, entrenched against change;
Yellow—the undecided middle, shifting their stance depending on which way the wind blows.
Ironically, it's this yellow group—those who feel uncertain, scared, or unmotivated—who can sway the entire organization's direction. Why aren’t they all-in? Often, it’s because the culture rewards playing it safe, ambiguity in communication, or even subtle forms of intimidation.
Ownership and the Right Kind of Buy-In
Another theme that kept resurfacing was the failure of “top-down” change efforts. I’ve witnessed leaders become desperate to innovate, investing heavily in new technologies, restructuring whole departments, and then watching as everything slides back to the status quo. As Randa put it plainly: “You operate on your own silo as a leader, and you are not cascading it down… You’re not getting the right buy-in.”
That’s the fatal flaw—lack of authentic two-way communication. Change can’t be dictated. Teams need to understand why a tool or process is being introduced. It’s not just about the numbers or the shiny new system; it’s about the impact on real people and day-to-day work. Without that bridge, changes create confusion, extra steps, and hidden costs that outweigh their imagined value.
Building Change Champions and Honest Conversations
What actually works? As the episode unfolded, practical solutions emerged from the hard-earned wisdom of both our careers:
Foster a culture of honest, two-way conversation—not just “open door” in name, but in repeated, genuine invitations to speak up.
Identify and empower “change champions”—those green lights who can help rally the yellows and even sway the occasional red.
Create psychological safety for admitting mistakes, gaps, or ignorance. Progress only comes when people trust that “not knowing” isn’t a fireable offense.
Tie changes directly to the company vision, mission, and individual growth: As Randa said, employees ask: “Where am I seeing myself?” If they can’t see their path in the change, they’ll resist it.
Bite-size change: Adopt an iterative, MVP-like approach to transformation. Don’t overhaul everything at once—allow room for learning and adaptation.
Prioritize and unify: A cacophony of initiatives doesn’t help. Leadership must align around what really matters.
My Reflections and What I’m Taking Forward
If there’s one lesson to underline—and it bears repeating—it’s that resistance to change is often a product of the very systems, cultures, and metrics organizations build for themselves. Quick-fix solutions don’t work, and “one-size-fits-all” frameworks fail precisely because they overlook the deeply human, local context of teams and their history.
Leading change is less about finding the perfect process and more about earning trust, being ruthlessly clear about the “why,” and having the humility to embrace feedback from every direction. As Randa said, “Figure out what gets people comfortable enough to talk.” That’s the real beginning of change—when teams feel safe enough to let go of “the way things have always been.”
Change isn’t just a business imperative - it’s a human journey. And as a host, a leader, and a teammate, that’s the path worth walking.
Special thanks to Randa Mazzawi for sharing her expertise and to everyone driving positive change and sustainable growth both individually and within organizations.