Change saturation and fatigue

Nothing stays the same for long and whether you are open to change or resistant, it is the only constant in our daily lives. But in many organisations however large or small you are asked to accept, adapt, embed and evolve with change.

But how much is too much?

Change saturation is how much change is going on in the organisation (change disruption) compared to how much change the organisation can handle (change capacity). An organisation is at or past the point of change saturation when there are so many changes going on that it can no longer effectively handle additional changes.

In other words, when change disruption is greater than change capacity.

There are some common signs of change fatigue or saturation:

At the individual (people) level in a change saturated environment, employees can be disengaged, frustrated, fatigued, resistant, confused and more cynical and sceptical of the current changes underway and future changes being introduced, because they are already dealing with so much change.

At the project level in a change saturated environment, change projects do not realise benefits, there is a lack of resources to devote to each project, clear and decisive sponsorship is lacking, changes are not sustained and projects fail to gain the required momentum because priorities are ignored and resources are scarce.

Each level will have an impact on the organisational level. An organisation that is operating at or past the point of change saturation can experience higher staff turnover, declined productivity, increased absenteeism, loss of focus on business basics and overall negative morale and buy in.

These consequences are the result of undertaking more change than an organisation can handle while not appreciating or understanding the people elements of change and neglecting to manage change as a whole.

If any of this sounds too familiar and you need some support in this area of change then we can help.

The people elements of change are far too often overlooked and under valued but the impact of ignoring it can be wide reaching and long lasting.

Contact us at People Change Projects.