What if your client’s resistance isn’t something to overcome—but valuable information about what they need in order to move forward?
As coaches, it can be frustrating when a client says they want change, then suddenly pulls back just as real transformation is within reach. In today’s conversation, Meg sits down with Travis Hahler, author of Rethink Resistance: Embracing Neuroscience to Lead Transformational Change, to explore what is really happening beneath that resistance. Instead of pushing harder, Travis encourages coaches to get curious.
Drawing on neuroscience and more than 15 years of guiding organizations through change, Travis explains six neurological barriers that can cause people to resist—even when they genuinely want the outcome on the other side. You’ll learn why high performers can be especially resistant to change, why every change involves some form of loss, and how curiosity, empathy, inclusion, transparency, and trust can help clients move forward.
Most importantly, Travis gives coaches a new lens for those moments when a client seems stuck: Rather than asking, “Why won’t they do this?” begin asking, “What is this resistance trying to tell me?”
About Travis Hahler
Travis Hahler is the author of Rethink Resistance: Embracing Neuroscience to Lead Transformational Change. His unique background includes conducting EEG research in Denmark, studying neuropsychology at Harvard, earning an MBA, and leading transformational work with major organizations including Google and Salesforce.
Over the past 15 years, Travis has guided more than 100 companies through change efforts, earning him the nickname “The Resistance Fortune Teller” for his ability to identify where transformation is likely to stall. His work reframes resistance not as a problem to eliminate, but as information that helps leaders and coaches better understand what people need to navigate change successfully.
Show Highlights:
- Why fighting resistance can create an “us versus them” dynamic—and why curiosity is a more effective response
- How coaches can avoid taking a client’s resistance personally or allowing their own ego to enter the coaching conversation
- The connection between curiosity, understanding, empathy, and meaningful change
- Why even positive, desired change involves loss—and why acknowledging that loss matters
- Why high performers may experience more resistance to change because their established routines have contributed to their success
- The importance of allowing time for learning, practice, integration, and rest when developing new behaviors
- The difference between natural resistance and intentionally choosing to resist change
- Travis’s six neurological barriers to change and how they can help coaches identify what may be keeping a client stuck
- How routines, energy demands, exclusion, ambiguity, anxiety, and loss can influence a person’s ability to move forward
- Why inclusion and opportunities for feedback can reduce resistance and create greater ownership
- How frequent, transparent communication helps reduce ambiguity and build trust
- Why anxiety and overwhelm can make change especially difficult—and how modeling can help people see that change is safe
- How understanding an individual’s specific resistance triggers can strengthen connection, psychological safety, and organizational culture
- Why coaches should replace “Why aren’t you doing it?” with deeper, more curious questions that uncover what is happening beneath the resistance
- How Travis’s six-barrier framework can become a practical checklist when a client wants change but struggles to take action
A Key Takeaway for Coaches
Resistance doesn’t automatically mean that your client is unmotivated, unwilling, or not ready for coaching. It may be a signal that a routine feels safer, the learning curve is consuming too much energy, the client feels excluded, the path ahead is too ambiguous, anxiety is taking over, or the change represents a loss they haven’t yet acknowledged.
Rather than pushing, parenting, or shaming a client into action, get curious. Identifying the barrier beneath the resistance can open the door to deeper questions that help your client move forward.
Resources:
Connect with Travis Hahler:
Connect with Travis Hahler on LinkedIn
Learn more about Rethink Resistance: Embracing Neuroscience to Lead Transformational Change
Connect with Meg:
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