Handling Pushback and Resistance from Experienced Staff
3 hour LIVE, Online course (via MS Teams or Zoom) with a professional trainer and a maximum group size of 16 people.
Overview
Handling Pushback and Resistance from Experienced Staff is a practical 3-hour online workshop designed for local government managers leading long-serving or highly experienced teams. In many councils, resistance is not about unwillingness but about professional identity, status, and change fatigue — and when handled poorly, pushback can quickly escalate or damage morale.
This engaging learner-centered session helps managers understand the psychology behind resistance and respond with confidence, composure and authority, without confrontation or avoidance. Through realistic local government case studies, structured exercises and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, participants gain practical tools and language they can apply immediately to maintain credibility, protect professional relationships and lead experienced staff through change with clarity and respect.
Who should attend?
Team leaders, supervisors, and middle managers leading long-serving or technically experienced staff.
Course Outline – Agenda
- Introduction
- Healthy challenge vs resistance vs undermining
- Understanding Resistance – Why experienced staff push back
- The Identity Factor in Resistance
- Managing Yourself Under Challenge
- Two common manager traps – Over-assertion vs Avoidance
- Transactional Analysis
- “Power With” vs “Power Over” (Contemporary Leadership Theory)
- Influencing Without Confrontation
- Handling Public Pushback & Undermining
- Conclusion and action plan
Learning Objectives (success criteria)
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
Understand the psychological drivers behind pushback and resistance from experienced staff within a local government context.
Apply practical frameworks to respond to challenge with composure, clarity and authority without escalating conflict or avoiding difficult conversations.
Lead conversations that maintain professional respect while reinforcing accountability and aligning experienced teams around shared service outcomes.
Bookings, Costs and Dates
If you are looking for training for 6 or more people we can run this course on a date convenient to you. Please enter your details below or email us at hello@lgtda.co.uk and we will be in touch.
