Managing Resistance Workshop

No matter what our job is, we inevitably run into resistant people—both children and adults. We typically lament how our jobs would be easier if only “so-and-so” would not be so oppositional or contentious. Consequently, we spend a lot of time trying to get others to be more cooperative or receptive to our suggestions and compliant to our instructions. This approach makes sense if you believe that resistance originates from others’ behavior. However, I believe this approach is bound to fail because it is our behavior, not others’ behavior, that engenders resistance. If you’re questioning this last assertion, then you’ve proved my point! I offer several presentation and workshop formats that focus on helping you manage resistance effectively.

Is this topic for you? One way to find out is to ask yourself the following questions:

• Do the individuals I work with ever engage in oppositional or resistant behavior?
• Do I lament how the techniques recommended to increase compliance don’t work?
• How much time do I spend trying to get others to listen to me?
• When was the last time a severely oppositional person followed my instructions?
• How often do I expect others to understand my point of view?
• How much energy do I expel trying to manage others’ behavior?
• How much better could I deal with resistance if I became more flexible and unrestrictive in my interactions?

How these Presentations and Workshops Can Help You

Many of us have attended seminars that provided information on how to manage others’ challenging behaviors. And you may have thought that many of those speakers had interesting and relevant techniques you were excited about trying out on your clients or children. But how many of these techniques actually worked? I’m willing to bet that very few resulted in the type of long-term increase in compliance for which you were hoping. That’s because most seminars focus on how to change a client’s or child’s behavior.

In my presentations and workshops, you will learn how to alter your behavior to reduce resistance. This represents a radical shift most of us are not willing to make because we all tend to be stubborn and inflexible. But after attending these presentations and workshops you will be able to engender compliance regardless of how resistant an individual may first appear. In fact, the more resistant an individual appears, the easier it is to engender compliance! This is a big claim. But it is one that is attainable for two reasons:

1. You will learn how to use resistance to engender compliance. As George Bernard Shaw said, “Don’t be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against the wind, not with it.”

2. The only person’s behavior you can control is your own. Therefore, altering your behavior to be in tune with another individual’s frame of reference creates a state of rapport—the opposite of resistance. Once rapport is created it becomes easier to move someone in the direction of a desired outcome.

Presentation and Workshop Formats

I offer a variety of presentation and workshop formats that include a one to two hour keynote address and more intensive half day, full day, and two day workshops. Participants of the keynote addresses may receive three of my most well-received articles. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to access:

• Managing Resistance (NOTE: This is a large file; it may take a minute or more to open.)
• Oppositional Students or Oppositional Teachers: Managing Resistance
• Why They Say No

In addition, participants of my one and two day workshops may receive a 50-page training manual which allows them to avoid the tedious task of trying to simultaneously listen to a speaker and frantically write down the information.