We’ve all heard the phrase “change is the only constant”. But when one change rolls into the next, with little time to find your feet in between, it can start to take a toll.
A new strategy. A restructure (and another, and another and another!). A system implementation. A change in leadership. Each might make sense in its own right, but for the people experiencing them, they all add up. Not only that, they’re usually happening alongside the everyday work that still needs to get done.
That cumulative load is something organisations need to pay attention to, because change fatigue can affect how much energy people have for their work, how leaders support their teams, and how employees feel about the organisation itself.
We’ve previously explored how organisations can manage change well, including involving employees, supporting leaders and paying attention to the employee experience. While those foundations remain essential, when several changes are happening at once, we also need to look at the combined demands they place on people.
Each change has a plan. Who’s looking at the total load?
Organisations often plan change initiative by initiative. Each has a sponsor, a timeline, a set of deliverables and perhaps a communications plan. What we often tend to forget is that employees experience all of those initiatives together.
The team learning a new system might also be adjusting to a new reporting structure, covering a vacant role and working towards an ambitious delivery target. Each change asks something of them: time to learn, energy to adapt, conversations to work through and decisions to reconsider.
Even positive changes take effort. Something that will eventually make work easier can still add to the load while people get used to it.
Change load is rarely spread evenly. A small change for one team can be a significant undertaking for another, particularly if it lands on top of several changes already underway.
Looking at each initiative separately can make it easy to miss how much the organisation is asking of the same people.
The impact goes beyond another tired team
For employees, change fatigue might show up as frustration with shifting priorities, less enthusiasm for a new initiative or a feeling that they can never quite catch up.
Someone who previously contributed ideas might stop offering them. Others might keep using familiar processes because they haven’t had the time or support to build confidence with new ones.
It’s worth being curious about those responses. What looks like resistance may be someone who understands the direction but is struggling to absorb another demand. Equally, people may have valid concerns about the change itself. Listening helps leaders understand the difference.
Leaders carry their own load, too. They’re expected to deliver results, explain decisions, respond to concerns and help their teams navigate uncertainty. Often, they’re doing this while processing the change themselves.
Leaders also need time to understand what it means, access to answers and support to make decisions about workload and priorities. Thinking about the best way to engage them and make them feel confident leading through the change is critical to both their engagement and the success of the change itself.
How you manage change becomes part of your culture
Every experience of change teaches people something about the organisation.
Do leaders acknowledge the effort involved? Is it safe to question a timeline or raise a concern? When employees give feedback, does anything happen? Do priorities genuinely shift, or does everything simply get added to the list?
Over time, those experiences can shape trust and expectations.
If initiatives regularly disappear without explanation, people may become reluctant to invest in the next one. If raising a capacity concern achieves little, they may stop speaking up. If every announcement promises something better but the practical difficulties remain unresolved, enthusiasm can turn into scepticism.
This is where culture becomes very tangible. The way an organisation makes decisions, listens and follows through during change gives people a direct experience of its values.
It also creates an opportunity. Acknowledging the pressure, making thoughtful trade-offs and responding to feedback can help build confidence in how the organisation handles change, even when the change itself is difficult.
What can Exec Teams and People & Culture teams do?
Some changes are urgent. Others are essential to the organisation’s future. Understanding change fatigue helps leaders make better decisions about how to deliver them.
For Exec and P&C teams, there are a few useful places to start.
1. Look at the combined load
Bring the major changes into one view. Look at who is affected, what people will need to do differently and where the demands overlap.
P&C teams can help connect the organisational plan with the experience of employees and leaders. That includes asking where capacity is already stretched and which teams are carrying more than the plan might suggest.
Exec teams need to use that insight to make decisions across initiatives, particularly where different sponsors are relying on the same people.
2. Make real choices about priorities
If everything is a priority, people are left to make the trade-offs themselves.
Be explicit about what matters most, what can wait and what can stop. Account for the work involved in change when setting everyday delivery expectations. Training, testing, learning and helping colleagues all take time.
Sometimes the most useful support a leadership team can provide is a clear decision to sequence two initiatives differently or remove work from the list.
3. Give people a meaningful voice
Be clear about what has been decided and where people can influence the approach.
Employees often have valuable insight into how a change will work in practice: where a process will create extra effort, what customers might experience or what support a team will need.
Close the loop on that input. Explain what you heard, what you’re adjusting and what you can’t change. People need to know their contribution has been considered, even when the answer isn’t the one they hoped for.
4. Support the leaders carrying it
Check what leaders need to lead the change well, including their own capacity.
Give them opportunities to work through questions, discuss difficult conversations and raise issues they can’t resolve alone. Equip them to make practical decisions about priorities, with clear pathways for escalating competing demands.
Make room to ask how they’re going. Leaders need support as people experiencing change, as well as people responsible for delivering it.
5. Give change time to take hold
A launch date tells you when something went live. There is usually more work to do before it becomes an established way of working.
Check whether people understand what’s expected, whether the new approach is workable and where friction remains. Resolve problems and share progress so people can see what their effort is achieving.
Before moving attention to the next initiative, make sure someone remains accountable for helping the current one succeed.
Before you add the next thing
Change takes capacity as well as commitment.
People can understand why a change matters, support the direction and still struggle with the amount being asked of them. Paying attention to that load is part of giving the organisation’s priorities a realistic chance of succeeding.
Before asking your people to take on the next change, take a look at what they’re already carrying. Do they have the clarity, capacity and support to make it work?
If your organisation is navigating change and you’re wondering how much more your people can carry, we’d love to help. At Nine Yards, we work alongside you to understand the pressure points, support your leaders and shape a practical approach to change. Let’s chat.
