The other day I was offered a free, first class upgrade on my flight. Naturally, like any reasonable person I turned it down. After all, the upgrade was a change and people don’t like change, right?

I explained to the agent that it would be too disruptive for me to switch. I had been anticipating my cramped, uncomfortable flight for weeks. I was mentally prepared for it. Having flown coach all of my life, I’ve grown accustomed to it. I know what to expect. I’ve learned how to use the current system – I know just how to contort my body to minimize the discomfort of the seats. I’ve learned the process for gauging whether there is going to be overhead storage by the time I get to my seat or whether I should put my bag in the first opening I find. I’d have to re-learn all of that for first class. Worse yet, I don’t know what to expect in first class. I have horrific visions of the scene in “The Wedding Singer” when Robbie (Adam Sandler) mistakenly takes a warm towel and tucks it into his shirt like a bib. I don’t want to put myself at risk of making such an error and being ridiculed. Sticking with coach is a much safer option. Why would I want to change?

Of course, I’m making this up. The airlines don’t even offer free peanuts anymore let alone upgrades. Yet, as you read it, you probably thought that my arguments were completely irrational. Yet, those are the same arguments that we are willing to accept when people talk about resisting change. People are not as adverse to change as we think. They are adverse to doing things that provide them with little to no value (or that make things worse).

Leaders who approach change as something that will be naturally resisted are creating an excuse to fail. Such a mindset gives them justification to cut back on things like communication, training, and other ways of supporting their people. Their rational is that if people are predisposed against changing, it doesn’t matter how much or how little they spend. As a result, most go with the minimal level of investment and support.

People will rally around a change that:

1) Make a difference to them or are in their interests

2) Are easy to implement (or at least require less effort to implement than does maintaining the status quo)

3) Produce a difference in results – too many changes just reshuffle people, processes, or technology to yield the same old results

While you can’t always meet the first criteria, you can meet the second and third.

If a change is important enough to your business that you are willing to disrupt your people’s lives, then it should be important enough for you to invest in minimizing those disruptions. This isn’t just about better “messaging” – talk is cheap. This is about making a full investment in the change so that your people can succeed through it.

Don’t assume that your people are resistant to change. Instead assume that they are resistant to having their time, energy, and passions squandered. Then, act accordingly.