Scales of Resistance

Where does Resistance come from? The concept is commonly discussed at the individual level, but its sources and expressions aren’t limited just to one person at a time.

Resistance in Individuals

The seminal work on Resistance, Pressfield’s The War of Art, focuses pretty tightly on the individual level. This is a great starting point for thinking about and understanding Resistance, not least because we can all relate. It’s also not comprehensive–Resistance can emerge individually, in teams, in systems, even in societies.

At the individual level, Resistance is emotionally rooted. It’s often an expression of a wide variety of fears, be they around status, effectiveness, routine, breaking things, the perception of others, and so on.

Imposter syndrome is Resistance at the individual level. Oftentimes, so are procrastination, perfectionism, and the fear of failure.

Resistance in Teams

Resistance in teams is rooted in culture, norms, and processes. You see it when people say or paraphrase “but we’ve always done it this way”. A series of failed initiatives can instill cynicism in a team’s culture–especially when management or leadership is graceless and blame-heavy. Resistance can also grow from consistently under-resourcing efforts towards change, expecting growth without providing training resources, or in setting arbitrarily unrealistic deadlines and then beating the team over the head with them.

Resistance at the team level shows up as cynicism, disengagement, and a muddled chaos of confusion as communications get further strained. If you’re on or managing a team like this, you’ll likely feel like you don’t know what people are doing with their time, or what they’re thinking when you interact with them.

Resistance in Systems

Resistance can arise from the individual or the team level, or it can come in more diffuse form from the systems we live and work in. Typically, at the systemic level, Resistance grows from either structural or knowledge barriers–though cultural issues similar to those on teams can emerge writ large and have similar effect. There’s two essential questions to address: how risky, difficult, and effective is it to make change within the organization, and how does one learn how to do it? For example, does your organization’s software have a lot of technical debt, and is knowledge of the gnarlier bits siloed off into just one team? Or does unclear ownership over a business function mean that you have to coordinate with five different teams to accomplish a small change, only to find that the needed expertise to pull it off isn’t present in the organization?

Resistance in Societies

Ask an American about their ability to concentrate on new things during an election week.

I may want to expand on this lattermost scope of Resistance Sources in the near future, but (perhaps fittingly) am living out this form of Resistance right now.