Do You Have Change Fatigue?

We all understand that for businesses to be competitive they have to continually innovate adapt to what’s coming up and changes in technology and competition

In a recent survey by Gartner, 54% of HR leaders reported that their people are suffering from change fatigue [1].

The rapid rate of technological change, the information overload and increase in demand and expectations are taking its toll on engagement, performance and retention.

Garter's Research found that in 2016 the average business experienced two major planned changes each year and that approximately 74% of people were willing to embrace change.

Fast forward to 2022 and the average business now faces at least 10 planned changes in a year and the willingness to embrace change has dropped to a mere 38%. [2]

Neal Woolrich (Director of HR Advisory at Gartner) said “That’s a massive reduction in the willingness of our people to support our change. Change fatigue is increasing.”

He predicts that these numbers will only worsen in the following years.

The goal is not to know at all or do it all or understand it all but rather to be able to not fight growth not resist change and not avoid new ideas and new approaches

The answer is not more endurance.

When people try to outwork the change, and keep up with everything, they will inevitably end up burning themselves out.

The resilience of today needs to move beyond endurance and look at how you can repurpose pressure to be able to flow with and embrace change.

Here are two framework to consider that will help you and your team to bounce back fast when dealing with change and not become fatigue:

Framework A: Where do you need to be inflexible??

In order to sustain high quality service, performance and output, ask yourself:

What are the values, processes or principles that cannot be compromised?

What are the aspects that make up the spine of your business performance that need to be preserved?

Know what you need to keep and preserve to sustain high standards

Framework B: Where do you need to be flexible??

In order to stay competitive, up to date and a market leader, ask yourself:

Where is there an opportunity to improve, streamline or to upgrade that?

Is there something you are resisting because you’re simply familiar with 'how we do things here'?

Final Thoughts

The world isn't slowing down, getting easier or becoming simpler. Ongoing changes, continual demands and unrealistic expectations are just a part of business and life. Resilience is not simply about enduring pressure. Your opportunity here lies in your willingness to look at how to repurpose pressure so that you can have a competitive advantage and capitalise from change.