Introduction: Challenging a Dangerous Assumption
“Change is hard because people resist it.” You’ve heard this phrase — maybe even said it yourself. It’s one of the most repeated mantras in leadership, organizational change, and coaching literature.
But what if it’s wrong?
What if resistance isn’t a real thing — not in the way we’ve been taught? What if systems don’t push back, but simply react in predictable, meaningful, and even helpful ways?
This article challenges the core assumption of “resistance” in systemic transformation. It invites coaches, facilitators, and system thinkers to move beyond shallow metaphors and start working with what’s actually happening.
What Systems Actually Do: Feedback, Adaptation, and Homeostasis
When a system seems to “resist” change, it’s not acting out of malice or inertia. It’s doing what systems always do: balancing itself based on current inputs, structures, and feedback loops.
Systems operate on three primary principles:
- Feedback loops: These are circular processes that reinforce or dampen behavior over time.
- Homeostasis: The system tries to stay in equilibrium. Not out of stubbornness, but survival logic.
- Emergent behavior: What arises from the interaction of parts often looks irrational — but it’s patterned.
Calling this “resistance” is like blaming gravity for making it hard to fly. You’re not fighting the system — you’re misreading it.
Why the Language of Resistance Backfires in Coaching
Coaches often enter a system and encounter friction: stalled meetings, defensive leaders, emotional reactivity. It’s easy to label this “resistance.”
But that label creates two dangerous effects:
- It externalizes blame. The coach or leader starts seeing the system as the problem.
- It shuts down inquiry. Once we name it “resistance,” we stop asking, “What purpose does this serve?”
Resistance is not feedback — it’s a reaction to poor leverage. The moment we reframe it, new paths emerge.
Reframing Resistance: Tension as a Signal
Every time we experience so-called resistance, we’re really encountering tension in the system — and tension is full of information.
Here’s what to ask instead:
- What parts of the system are overburdened?
- Where are the energy leaks or misalignments?
- What old identity or pattern is still serving a purpose?
In this sense, resistance is not a barrier — it’s a compass. It shows you where the transformation must pass through.
The Real Question: What’s Being Protected?
In complex systems, what we call resistance is often a form of protection:
- Of legacy identities
- Of hidden power structures
- Of fragile trust dynamics
Change isn’t rejected because it’s new. It’s rejected because it threatens something sacred — often without recognizing it.
System coaches must become curious about what the system is trying to protect. Only then can they shape change from within.
The Role of the Coach: Midwife, Not Mechanic
Most change efforts fail because they treat organizations like machines. They see resistance as a bug to be debugged.
But system coaching is more like midwifery than engineering. You don’t push the system into change — you hold it through transition, without interrupting the wisdom of its process.
That requires:
- Deep listening
- Symbolic pattern recognition
- Patience for slow emergence
In this role, the coach becomes a space holder for systemic rebirth.
Case Example: “Resistance” in Culture Transformation
A multinational company sought to move from a command-and-control culture to a networked, trust-based system.
Initial workshops went poorly. Leaders disengaged. Teams mocked the new language. The transformation stalled.
Instead of pushing harder, the coaching team reframed the problem. They asked:
- “What’s being lost in this shift?”
- “Where do people still feel unsafe?”
- “What rituals anchor the old identity?”
This inquiry led to micro-interventions that honored legacy knowledge, reestablished psychological safety, and co-created new symbols of trust. Momentum returned. The “resistance” dissolved — not because it was overcome, but because it was understood.
How to Work with Systemic Tension (Instead of Fighting It)
Here’s a framework for working with tension instead of calling it resistance:
- Sense the friction: Notice the patterns that push back.
- Diagnose the purpose: What’s the system trying to preserve?
- Widen the conversation: Bring in overlooked voices.
- Introduce symbolic shifts: New rituals, language, and stories that allow movement.
- Hold the discomfort: Change often needs a holding pattern more than a plan.
This approach doesn’t speed up change — it deepens it.
Summary: Stop Fighting, Start Shaping
“Resistance” is a myth that limits our ability to partner with systems. When we replace it with a systems lens — feedback, protection, emergence — we unlock deeper transformation.
As a coach or leader, your job is not to eliminate resistance. Your job is to become fluent in the language of systemic tension, and to guide it toward integration, not rupture.
Because the system isn’t resisting. It’s responding — and waiting to be heard.
Continue Your Journey
- From Systems Thinking to System Shaping
- How Paradigms Collapse: A Systemic View of Social Crisis
- Mapping Organizations by Value Systems
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