The Effects of Change Fatigue on Organizational Culture

Do you fell burnout, frustration, apathy, low morale, and mistrust in your company’s leadership? Do you feel resigned to the future success of your company? If so, you are probably experiencing change fatigue. Change fatigue can have a great impact that can undermine the spirit, faith and well being of people within an organization. In addition to personal stress, organizational change fatigue can result in decreased job satisfaction and increased turnover.

What exactly is Change Fatigue? It is an organizational culture that has low energy for change due to a history of failed or problematic changes. It is a type of morale that may lead to resistance to change. When a company has experienced multiple failures and the perception of weak leadership it can become engrained in the culture. Over the course of the last several years many companies have experienced rapid change and for many employees too much change too fast can cause exhaustion. Change brings about uncertainty and can undermine the status quo or the traditions of an organization. When employees experience fatigue they can become resigned and normalize the fatigue as part of the company culture. Apathy and mistrust in leadership can infect the culture, productivity stalls, people disengage, and creativity is stifled. This can have a snowball effect and infiltrate every part of an organization. Combating change fatigue is crucial in creating a healthy culture where employees feel they can thrive and be proud of the connection to their company.

Much of the research on organizational change to date has focused on change resistance, which is theoretically different from change fatigue. Behaviors associated with change resistance are intentional and disruptive, while change fatigue behaviors are often passive and employees become increasingly disengaged, apathetic, and passive about organizational changes over time. Leaders often mistake change fatigue as change resistance. By understanding the difference leaders can move their organizations in the right direction and build the foundation of a thriving culture.

It is true that change is part of any organizational culture. Without change you are not moving forward. But rapid, continuous change, without the appropriate planning and resources, can have dire consequences. People often think that the largest changes such as mergers and acquisitions cause the most fatigue, but it is often the ripple effect of many smaller, often failed or diverted changes and a hands-off leadership approach that causes fatigue. Gartner research shows that the best approach to managing change and reducing change fatigue is to focus on how employees experience change, not just the “outcomes of changed behaviors. By thinking about the desired experience first, leaders can work backward to identify the specific change actions that are needed to create that experience. Change management must account for the small ripples of change in the organization, not just the Big Bang, because it turns out that those ripples take the greatest toll on employees,” said Jessica Knight, Vice President, Gartner.

How can organizations off-set change fatigue and move toward a more positive company culture? Gartner analyzed data from more than 4,000 employees across levels, regions and geographies and found that two differentiators enable employees to better absorb change: Trust and team cohesion. Employees who report high trust within their organization have an average capacity for change that is 2.6 times greater than those with low trust. And employees with strong team cohesion have a capacity for change 1.8 times greater than the capacity of those with low team cohesion. It really comes down to communication and transparency. In any modern successful organization these two key factors can create thriving cultures. It seems simple, but letting go of tradition, perceived power, control, and models of the past can be difficult for leaders and employees alike. We first must look at our own internal fears of the unknown and what we can do to create an engaging and strong workforce culture. It does not have to be a top-down approach. Leaders can build trust and create a more collaborative environment by showing their own vulnerabilities, leading by example and sharing the company’s vision. They can build team cohesion by communicating, being transparent with information and seeking to understand others perspective. Remember that communication is a two-way street. Leaders need to listen and show that they care about the people that work for them. This should be ongoing and not a check the box activity. Leaders should continuously be checking in on their employees and take time to allow the natural ebb and flow of how people absorb change to occur.

As technology advances, competitive landscapes grow and the world moves at an increasingly faster pace, the risk of change fatigue will continue to be part of a company’s culture. David Altman, Chief Research, and Innovation Officer at the Center for Creative Leadership, “If you think change is constant now, then you ain’t seen nothing yet.” “What leaders must do is to help employees and managers recalibrate their expectations,” Altman argues. “This is the world we live in now — change is constant. There’s no ‘getting back to normal.” Culture Change is a continual evolution and the responsibility falls to the leaders of companies to foster a positive working culture and ensure that both the company and its employees thrive. Ego’s need to be checked at the door and companies need to provide a psychologically safe culture for employees to speak candidly, share their truths and take risks without fear of retaliation. We can all benefit by lessons learned and recognize that what worked in the past may not work now or what may have been seen as a failure in the past may have merit in today’s business landscape. Companies, as are people, are fluid and ever changing and taking time to connect and understand rather than isolate and resist will come a long way in creating thriving company cultures the future.