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Six levers for creating change in the face of resistance

This post is based on a talk given by Katherine and Alex at Camp Digital in July 2025.

No-one likes change. Most of the time, we only resort to it when the cost of keeping things the same outweighs the effort of creating change.

So if you’re trying to make digital transformation happen in your organisation, finding ways to weather and overcome that resistance is an essential - and highly complex - part of your job.

In this post, we go through the six levers that can help you.

You may not need all six, but as we'll see, you do need a balance.

1. Power

Power gets things moving. With strong backing and budget, you can push through bold change fast - enough to shift the system overnight.

But at the same time, power is temporary. It walks out of the door with the people who gave it to you. Lean on it too hard and you risk generating resentment, plus a long list of people waiting to undo your work.

Power also works the other way. Powerful individuals can slow things down. They can block, stall or delay.

And when no-one has enough power to push or stop something, you get the ‘slow no’: where stakeholders avoid saying yes or no, work drifts, and things start and stop without ever really changing.

Sometimes you can break a hole through the organisation to force change fast. But you must recognise when you don’t have that lever at the right level. Push too hard without real power behind you and it will backfire. The key is knowing which situation you are in, and strategising accordingly.

2. Skills

There is no getting around the fact that digital transformation requires hard digital skills.

But those skills can’t be dropped in like Lego bricks. New capability can make existing teams feel threatened. If you bring skills from outside, do it quickly with a team that can operate independently, or do it slowly with pairing and care. Ensure you are embedding, not replacing.

Equally, make sure you hire for the system you’ve got. You want people who can work inside the mess - rather than stand outside it, wishing the organisation was different.

The best teams have a clear mission, work well together, and most importantly, have the right mix of skills to actually deliver. Learning is great, but you need enough expertise to make progress now.

3. Money

You may have radical ambition, but you can’t make change happen without some money.

Money gives you freedom. It buys skills, tools, and most of all, options: You can test ideas, fund services, and back up proposals with real delivery which makes your work harder to ignore. Money can also buy influence: When you can afford to pay for something others need, people are more likely to come with you.

However, money also makes you visible. If you don’t have power or trust, being granted a budget can look suspicious. As such, you must use it carefully and generously, ensuring that money isn’t your only lever.

Money can shift priorities, but it can also disappear overnight. If the people who backed you leave, then the funding may vanish with them.

4. Influence

Influence is the slower route to change - and likely to be your main lever if money is not available. You build it by connecting with people, working in the open, and showcasing progress that others will want to be part of.

Try to be a victim of your own success by making the work look desirable. You want people to glance over and think: that looks like a good day at work.

Senior sponsorship can feel like a safety net. But influence tied to one person is fragile. People leave. Priorities shift. Political winds change. If influence is your main lever, make sure you have something underneath it: skills, money, or trusted allies.

Influence grows fastest when people see value and ask to join in. But it disappears fast if you can’t deliver. So keep the work visible, and keep it moving.

5. Opportunity

Change will only work if there is a good reason for pursuing it, whether that’s budget pressures, regulatory changes, a major customer problem, new leadership, or even a major failure. It is not enough for the reason to be: “everyone else is doing digital.” People must really believe in the purpose and value of the work in front of them.

Sometimes the moment of opportunity is obvious. Sometimes you have to make it visible by telling the right story and linking the right problem to the right idea. And sometimes you just have to wait.

Detecting the nuances of the moment is critical in choosing your timing, as well as coping with failure. If you weren’t heard this time, it may not have been the fault of your efforts; perhaps the organisation just wasn't ready to listen.

6. Friends

Friends are the most resilient lever. If you have enough friends, they can’t be reorganised out, and they will also help to keep you stable when things are in flux.

Look for friends within and also beyond your team: Connect with people from across the organisation, and look left and right to people who are at the same level as you in other departments and teams. Seek out needs that you have in common, looking for consensus and shared values. You don’t have to agree on everything - just enough to find common ground.

In the search for friends, kindness and friendliness go a long way. Being trustworthy and dependable will mean people are more likely to advocate for you when you need it.

The most important lever is you

When you’re trying to lead change, so many factors will be outside your control.

However, the one constant you can always manage is your behaviour. Having the self-awareness to examine how your words and actions are impacting your attempts at leading change is an invaluable skill. That means:

  • Being open-minded, and listening to feedback - particularly from the people who are themselves good at receiving it, and who are willing to step up to make change happen.

  • Trying not to take things personally. The act of advocating for radical change can make you unpopular, and it will be easy to feel at times that everyone is against you. Remember that resistance is not a personal failure or a sign of personal dislike. If you look across the whole organisation - not just at those whose voices are loudest - you may find you have more allies than you think.

  • Ensuring that frustration (which is normal) doesn’t turn into anger. This is probably a sign that you’re too emotionally attached to the work. Having some emotional distance is likely to make you a better leader.

  • Staying optimistic and constructive. Treat failures as learnings, and channel frustration into action. If you’re going to complain about something, make sure you’re willing to try to fix it too.

Finding a balance

Change is hard, and there is no magic solution.

The levers which are accessible or impactful will depend on the nuances of your organisation, and it’s important to use them in the right order.

For example, exercising power without having friends can make you feel things are going well, but will ultimately create backlash. And using skills in an environment where there is no opportunity will only breed frustration in your talented team.

Instead, the following combinations are likely to be effective:

  • Power + friends: you’ll move quickly with people by your side

  • Skills + opportunity: you’ll turn ambition into outcomes

  • Money + influence: you’ll shift priorities and open doors

  • Influence + skills: you’ll set the direction and deliver on it

Your best chance of success involves finding a balance: Use these levers together, develop a continuous awareness of which ones you have and which ones you don’t, and do the hard work needed to strengthen each of them.

To talk to us about making change happen in your organisation, get in touch at workwithus@public.digital

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