Force Doesn’t Change People. It Only Makes Them Adapt.

One may think he or she has the power to change others.

A manager with authority. A sponsor with a budget. A parent with the final word. A leader who can set the rules, approve the promotions and decide who stays. From the outside, that looks like the power to change people.

It is an illusion, however.

We can push people by force. Our force only makes people adapt.

Adapting is not changing

The difference is easy to miss, because from a distance the two look the same.

When people adapt, they adjust their behaviour to fit the pressure in front of them. They do what is required. They say what is expected. They follow the new process, attend the new meeting and fill in the new form.

When people change, something shifts underneath the behaviour. They now believe in the new way, or at least see enough value in it to keep it without being made to.

Force can produce the first. It cannot produce the second.

What happens when the force fades

Once people adapt, two things can happen.

If the change turns out to be fulfilling for them, it may stick. They discover the new way is better, and the adaptation slowly becomes their own. The force was only the push that got them started.

If not, then when the force fizzles out, people adapt back to their previous state.

The manager moves to another role. The sponsor’s attention turns to the next priority. The pressure eases, as pressure always does. And quietly, without announcement, the old way returns.

All the effort exerted through power and force does nothing useful in the long term.

That is the uncomfortable arithmetic of force. The power and force exerted to change others brings you benefits only as long as the force continues. The moment it stops, so does the change.

How people respond to force over time

Force does not only fade. It also produces its own reactions, and they grow the longer it is applied.

People fight against the force. Sometimes openly. More often through delay, objection and a steady supply of reasons why the new way will not work here.

People get numb. The instructions, reminders and escalations stop landing. Everyone has heard them before. They are acknowledged and ignored in the same breath.

People find loopholes and alternatives. The requirement is met on paper and avoided in practice. The system is used for the part that is checked, and the old way carries on beside it for everything else.

People exert force of their own. Pressure invites pressure. Those on the receiving end find their own leverage, whether in the union, through the elected members, in the corridor or by withholding the effort that cannot be compelled.

None of these responses is unreasonable. Each is simply what people do when change is done to them rather than with them.

A familiar pattern

Consider a council introducing electronic timesheets for its outdoor workforce.

The Director decides it will happen. A deadline is set. Paper timesheets will no longer be accepted after the end of the month. Supervisors are told that compliance will be reported to the executive each week.

The numbers look good almost immediately. Within six weeks, nearly every timesheet is submitted electronically. The weekly report goes green and stays green.

Underneath, the picture is different. Several crews still fill in paper sheets in the depot, and one supervisor types them into the system on Friday afternoon. Others enter the same hours every week, regardless of what was worked, because nobody has explained why accuracy matters. Payroll spends more time correcting entries than it did before.

A year later, the Director moves to another council. The weekly compliance report is quietly dropped. Within months, paper sheets are being accepted again “just for this crew,” then for another.

The force worked exactly as long as it was applied. Nobody changed. They adapted, and then they adapted back.

Now imagine the same change starting differently. One crew is asked to try the system first, with the payroll officer sitting alongside them for the first fortnight. Their pay errors drop. Their overtime is paid on time instead of a cycle late. The crew leader tells the next depot about it before anyone from the project does.

That change did not need a deadline to survive. It was fulfilling for the people living with it, so it stuck.

Power is not the problem

None of this is an argument against using power. Power and authority are often necessary, and sometimes a push is the only way to get people to try something new.

The problem is relying on force to do what only fulfilment can do. Force can open the door. It cannot make anyone want to walk through it, and it cannot keep them on the other side once it is gone.

So if you have the power to change others, it is worth stopping to think before you use it.

The questions that remain

Here are some questions to ponder.

Is the change you are pushing for a higher purpose, on moral ground, or for the benefit of others? Or is it, underneath, for your own?

How long are you going to continue exerting force, and is that sustainable?

And are there better ways to utilise your power, force and influence?