When New Rules Meet Old Habits
This is the third article in a series exploring change management through a behavioral science lens using ADKAR as a framework.
Humans are rule-governed beings. We love rules because they give us predictability and a clearer path for decision-making. In behavioral science, a rule is simply a description of that contingency: if I do X, then Y will happen.
"If I need approval, I email Charlotte."
"If the system is down, I use a spreadsheet."
"If I need an exception, I talk to Javier."
Organizations run on rules, and if we reframe an organizational change to a rule change, we can see why some of those changes face such resistance.
How Rules Become Habits
Whether rules are formal or informal, people learn them over time. They figure out what works, what doesn't, who to ask for help, where to find information, and how to navigate obstacles. As those behaviors repeatedly produce successful outcomes, they become habits.
Then a change initiative comes along and asks employees to do something different. But organizations aren't just introducing new rules. They're asking employees to replace deeply ingrained patterns of behavior.
This is where resistance creeps in.
Organizations often assume that once employees understand a new rule, behavior will naturally follow. But understanding a rule doesn't erase years of experience with the old one.
An employee may fully understand that requests should now be submitted through ServiceNow. They may agree with the change and even support it. Yet when a customer is waiting, a deadline is approaching, and Charlotte is sitting two desks away, they email Charlotte.
Not because they forgot the rule.
Because that's the behavior their environment has reinforced hundreds of times before.
Making New Rules Visible
So, what do we do?
We document new rules in procedures, process maps, job aids, workflows, decision trees, and training materials. We explain what's changed, what employees should do instead, and what outcomes they can expect.
In other words, we make the new contingencies visible.
But documentation alone isn’t enough. The organization also has to behave consistently with those new rules.
If the new process says requests should be submitted through ServiceNow, but Charlotte continues responding to emails, employees receive two competing messages.
One message is written down.
The other is reinforced by experience.
And experience usually wins.
This is why knowledge is about more than communicating information. Employees don't just need to understand the new rule. They need clarity about which contingencies are now in effect. That clarity comes from governance and accountability systems that align what’s documented with what will actually happen.
What Rules Are Actually Governing Behavior?
Knowledge during a change isn't just knowing the new rule.
Knowledge means understanding which contingencies are actually in effect. If an employee in your organization followed an old process tomorrow, what would happen? If the answer is “nothing”, then new contingencies haven’t been established yet.
And if the contingencies haven't changed, the behavior probably won't either.