Beware The Cost Of Change Fatigue

Look, I get it. As if the pandemic wasn’t enough, business must (MUST!) constantly pivot and change if it is to remain viable and relevant to the market. This has always been true as when Shug’s rock weapon was replaced, rather violently, with Ruk’s spear. The bag phone gave way to the hand-held mobile which gave way to the flip phone which you can only see in a museum because of the smart phone; who knows how long it will last.

Innovation, reinvention, and reorganization is the (THE) muscle most needed in business for leadership and the mass of employees. BUT, folks are wearing out. Resilience is not inexhaustible. Leaders, CEO’s, CPOs, and others all need to stop and take a hard and honest look at what they are asking of their people. How much can they handle?

Yet, the bigger issue is not the reservoir of resilience. It’s actually the wisdom and skill of leaders and managers in leading and managing change. Something I’ve seen repeatedly in my career is the failure of great ideas and negative impact of innovation on employees due to the absence of simple change management.

Professor John Kotter’s book, Leading Change, was first published in 1996 (as in 25 years ago!) but it is still needed today. Whether you are leading a transformation in your company or trying to stay up with current events to stay afloat, it’s time to get back to the human side of change. Learn to communicate and reinforce the why, the what, the how, the who, the how much, the when of what you are doing constantly and almost pedantically. Or…pay the high cost of change fatigue.