Change…How much is too much?

Change can be relentless.

Often leaders look broadly across the business and have a idea about what needs to change to either improve EBITDA, generate more customers & clients, drive greater revenue or any of the other key business drivers that occur at any time. These are all reasonable and expected in the dynamic world that we all work in.

But despite the different reasons there isn’t a single change or transformation silver bullet that addresses all of the micro changes that’s need to deliver the key goals. In fact the overarching objective is often only achieved through multiple smaller change elements. This leads balancing act for all involved and impacted by the change to juggle both the  change delivery and whilst maintaining and working through business as usual activities.

The Real Question

Change fatigue is real - whether people are being impacted by a singular change over a long period of time or just trying to survive in the merry-go-round of multiple change initiatives over a short period of time. Don’t get me wrong I’m not advocating that we shouldn’t implement change activities and sometimes they have to be implement quickly to ensure it keeps pace with industry specific developments or to create a sustainable base which to guarantee workforce employment for the short to medium term.

When I land in businesses who’ve asked me for support in delivering there change and transformation plans - regardless of the size of change – I’ve seen time and time again that once senior leadership have agreed to make changes it all needs to happen now, at the same time.

So I often find myself spending time understanding the business impacts -  the financial costs of doing or not doing the required change, the disruption of process changes and the impact of the flow of work through the business, client and customer impacts, risks. In actual fact leaders tend to answer these pretty clearly, quickly and comprehensively.

Then I come to, arguably for me, to two most important questions – “What are you going to stop doing to allow time and effort the change to land right first time?” and “Who’s going to be impacted by the change required?”

This always stops them in their tracks.

 Putting first things first

This is where change readiness becomes important.

It’s easy to assume that because a change makes commercial sense, the business is ready to deliver it. But readiness isn’t simply whether people understand or agree with the change. It’s whether the organisation genuinely has the capacity, capability and headspace to make it happen alongside everything else.

And I know I’m probably preaching to the vast majority who already know this, but every change has dependencies. Particularly people change, which often sits at the heart of wider business transformation.

A new operating model might need the organisation design to be clear first. New structures need roles and accountabilities. New roles might need capabilities, processes or systems to change. Managers may need to be equipped before employees can reasonably be expected to work differently.

You can have several of these things moving at the same time – and often we do – but that doesn’t mean everything should be implemented at the same time. The sequence matters.

Sometimes deliberately slowing one thing down, creating space between changes or completing one dependency before another lands actually gets you to the overall business outcome faster – and with considerably less rework along the way.

So perhaps taking the time at the very start to understand the answer to change readiness question is the ultimate key to change and transformation delivery success and I’d encourage all business and HR leaders to taking that time, which isn’t often that long, to reflect on the direction of travel.

Because good change isn’t about how much you can launch at once. It’s about sequencing the right things in the right order so the organisation can absorb them and make them stick.

When capacity becomes a wellbeing issue

And let’s not underestimate the impact that multiple changes can have on those experiencing it and on those delivering it. People aren’t always resistant to change - sometimes they’re simply full.

When employees are trying to absorb new structures, systems, processes, leadership expectations and ways of working while still delivering the day job, there comes a point where asking people to carry more starts to affect their ability to deliver the change well and maintain BAU – and potentially their wellbeing too. This clearly is a growing trend with Prosci reporting that 53% of employees feel there is too much change happening at once and 71% feel overwhelmed by the amount of change in their jobs

There’s also an interesting paradox here for HR.

During significant people change we can find ourselves wearing three hats at the same time: adviser to the business, delivery partner making the change happen and employee experiencing the change ourselves.

We might be supporting leaders through difficult decisions, preparing managers for conversations, helping employees navigate uncertainty, scoping and launching change initiatives and keeping BAU moving – while privately wondering what the same transformation means for our own team or role.

We do need to remind ourselves that HR teams are human and have limits because when the HR team runs out of capacity, it becomes more than an wellbeing issue. Communication can become reactive, managers receive less support, decisions slow and the very people responsible for helping the change land may have little left in the tank to embed it afterwards.

Change itself isn’t necessarily bad for wellbeing -sometimes not changing is the greater risk. Good transformation can remove impossible workloads, create clearer roles, improve leadership, simplify processes and ultimately create a healthier and more sustainable business.

So the answer isn’t less change. It’s making wellbeing and capacity part of the change planning conversation before people start struggling.

Because looking after wellbeing during transformation isn’t about lowering expectations. It’s about making sure the people delivering the change still have enough left to make it stick. 

Could this be an issue in your business?

Sometimes the hardest part is knowing what to look for before something becomes a bigger problem.

That’s why I created the CAPhr People Health Checks — practical self-assessments designed to help you take a step back, understand where you are today and spot the gaps, risks and opportunities that might need attention.

No lengthy consultancy exercise. No jargon. Just structured questions, practical guidance and clear next steps to help you work out what’s working, what isn’t and what to do about it.

Take a Health Check →