The Human Side of Change: The Secret Behind Change Fatigue
Why do even highly capable people struggle with change? Why does change so often break down in organisations full of talented, intelligent people?
Hint: competence isn’t usually the limiting factor. What’s at play is much deeper. Much more, human.
Human Behaviour In Times Of Constant Change
Change erodes our sense of certainty and control. And when change is no longer episodic but constant, it can feel like the ground is permanently shifting beneath our feet. You just about get your head around one change, and then there’s another.
When the rules keep shifting, people quietly start asking questions about identity, status and belonging:
Do I still matter here?
Can I still be successful as me?
Without psychological and emotional fitness for change, individuals can be consistently triggered into their least best selves - reverting to narrower, more closed and more self-protective ways of thinking and being.
We often see what might be described as armoured professionalism.
People remain busy. They deliver outputs. They appear composed. But internally, they narrow what they are willing to say, risk or experiment with. They cling to what has worked before, not because they are stubborn, but because it feels like the last safe ground.
Others move into overdrive - taking on more, rescuing others, trying to control every variable. It can look like commitment. It is often anxiety in disguise.
William Schutz’s FIRO theory highlights three core relational fears:
Not being valued
Being humiliated
Being rejected
Change can trigger all three.
When those fears activate, fear drives behaviour. It narrows perspective. Produces tunnel vision. Turns collaboration into self-protection. The nervous system shifts into survival mode. And when enough individuals operate from survival, the collective climate shifts too.
The Culture Question: Is It Safe to Speak the Truth?
Underneath sits this question:
Is it safe enough for me to be honest about what I am really thinking and feeling right now?
If people don’t feel psychologically safe to express doubt, grief or challenge, they comply on the surface and protect themselves underneath. That is where performance and trust start to fracture.
This is where culture becomes critical. When uncertainty is not spoken about, it shows up instead as anxiety, withdrawal or resistance.
Change Fatigue: When Energy Leaves the System
Change fatigue is what happens when people absorb wave after wave of change without the time, support or voice to make sense of it. The nervous system is still running, but the spirit has quietly stepped back.
It shows up when people feel change is happening to them rather than with them.
Change fatigue looks like:
Energy drops, more emotional flatness
Cynicism creeps in
Fewer questions, less curiosity
People stop offering ideas because they don’t believe it will make a difference.
People may comply but there is little ownership and almost no appetite to go above and beyond.
Resistance to change
Change fatigue sounds like:
“What’s the point?”
“This will blow over too”
“We’ve seen this all before.”
The cost is significant:
Poorer decision-making
Reduced creativity and innovation
Slower responses to emerging issues
Lower engagement and discretionary effort
Lower wellbeing, more stress, burnout and absence
Loss of people who are still deeply capable but no longer feel able to contribute fully
Lower productivity
Failure to change or transform
From Change Fatigue to Change Capability
In our work, we consistently see that successful change - the kind that protects performance and wellbeing - depends on two interdependent forces:
The psychological and emotional fitness of individuals.
The culture they operate within - particularly the presence (or absence) of psychological safety.
Ignore these forces, and even the most capable organisations experience change fatigue and resistance.
Strengthen them, and you build an organisation that can change successfully - without sacrificing performance or wellbeing. That is when change becomes intuitive across the organisation - not a programme to survive, but a capability to draw on.
Authors: Ishreen Bradley | Nicky Neal-Smith | Russell Davis | Angela Dellar | Rachel Neaman
