Over the past 12-18 months, there’s been one topic that has come up in virtually every conversation I’ve had with clients, with leaders I advise, and with guests on The Edge of Work Podcast. And that word is Change.
It may sound familiar, even trite, to say that the pace of change is accelerating, but employee sentiment supports it. PwC found that 62% of workers report the pace of change has increased over the past 12 months, and 53% say there is simply too much change happening. These numbers align closely with what I see in my work every day.
To be sure, change is not a new topic. It has always been present. But something about this moment feels different. The cumulative effect can feel overwhelming, especially for employees who are asked to adapt again and again while still delivering results.
I’ve spent the better part of the last year trying to understand what makes this time uniquely hard, and what leaders who are navigating it well are actually doing differently, and today. That work led to my recent report, How to Lead Change: Modern Practices for Leading People Through Change. Drawing from my speaking, coaching, and advising work, and from dozens of conversations with leaders across industries, the report offers my perspective on why change feels so relentless right now, and the concrete practices leaders can use to guide their people through it.
Today, I want to share what I believe makes this moment distinct, and what any of us can do to navigate it more effectively.
Why Is Change Hard For People?
When we lead change, we often think about process, milestones and playbooks, but what we often overlook is that ultimately, change happens when people (humans) choose to. So before leading change, it’s essential to step into the mindset of the people who will be on the receiving end of it. Doing so requires us to call a spade a spade: while some people genuinely find opportunity and energy in change, change can be hard for employees, and in a lot of cases, because we are human.
Furthermore, we frequently lean on well-intentioned platitudes like “change is the only constant” or “change is an opportunity.”While these statements aren’t wrong, they can unintentionally minimize a very real experience.
They gloss over the fact that change, especially at work, can be destabilizing, emotional, and deeply personal. When leaders move too quickly past this reality, they risk losing empathy and missing important signals about how people are actually experiencing the change.
In my experience leading others through change and advising leaders who are doing the same, there are a handful of common challenges that consistently surface when people share their honest reactions to change.
Humans are wired to survive. At a basic level, human beings are wired for survival. When something changes—especially in our work, it can be unconsciously interpreted as a threat. Even when a change makes logical or strategic sense, our first instinct is often to assess risk: Will I still be valued? Will I succeed? Will I be okay? This survival response can show up as hesitation, skepticism, or resistance.
Change disrupts our need for predictability and certainty. Closely tied to survival is our desire for predictability. Humans are meaning-making creatures, and change disrupts the mental models we use to understand how things work. When the future feels unclear, uncertainty creates both cognitive and emotional strain. Without clarity or a compelling narrative, people are left to fill in the gaps themselves, often with worst-case assumptions.
Change can threaten identity. Change becomes especially difficult when it affects someone’s role, responsibilities, or sense of contribution. When a change effort implicitly questions who people are, what they’re good at, or why they matter, leaders are no longer just managing a process, they are navigating a threat to identity. These threats are often unspoken, emotionally charged, and invisible in traditional change plans. As a result, leaders may misinterpret resistance as stubbornness or lack of buy-in, when it is actually a rational attempt to preserve dignity, competence, and belonging.
3 Practices for Leading Change Successfully
Understanding what makes change hard is not the end of the conversation, it’s the starting point. When leaders design change with these human dynamics in mind, they dramatically increase the likelihood of adoption and sustainability. What follows are a set of practical, human-centered practices for leading change more effectively.
1)Start small with momentum and interest
It’s tempting to want to roll out a change initiative on a grand scale. Often, with a big announcement, major event, and lots of buzz. But that approach has its downsides.
For one, real change happens when people adopt new behaviors and actions consistently over time and a one-time splashy event is hard to sustain. Even more importantly, a big launch might energize those who are already on board, but it can also trigger resistance or backlash from those who are skeptical or opposed to the change.
Research on how social movements spread shows that it typically takes just 20–25% of a group adopting a new behavior before it starts to tip and spread more broadly. But you don’t have to reach that threshold right away. In fact, trying to go big too soon can be counterproductive.
Instead, start small and build momentum. Begin with the people who are already excited, or at least open to the change. Why? Because it’s a lot easier to swim with the current than against it. If you’ve mapped your stakeholders, look for the early adopters or champions. Bring them together, support their efforts, and let their energy and progress become a foundation for broader adoption.
Starting small doesn’t mean thinking small, it means being strategic, intentional, and setting yourself up for sustainable success.
2)Value Contributions Over Compliance
Turns out that we as humans do not always like being told what to do. Reactance Theory tells us that when people feel like they’re being forced to do something or told they can’t do something, they often want to do the exact opposite just to feel like they’re in control.
Case in point: when you were a child, did your parents ever tell you not to touch the hot stove! After that, what was the first thing that you did? 🙂
The same thing goes for providing directives when leading change. When your employees are told to do something or that they need to change the way they are doing something, people often resist, not necessarily because the change is bad, but because it feels like they don’t have a say.
The change you are asking for could be incredibly reasonable or rational, but when we feel like we aren’t being included, that our voice or ideas don’t matter, or that our survival is being threatened, we put up our guard and resist.
There will be moments where change requires compliance. But if your entire approach depends on compliance, you’ll always be fighting human nature. But even in those moments, there are things you can say and approaches you can take in the way you communicate and/or engage with your people to make sure that they feel heard, seen, and understood.
On the other hand, psychology also tells us about the Ikea effect, which shows us that we
place more value on things they help build or create, even if the end product isn’t perfect.
In change efforts, people are more likely to support change when they feel they had a hand in shaping it. When you involve people in the change process by asking them to contribute, giving them a role in designing the change, and empowering them to take ownership, they feel ownership in the process.
#3 Be Clear (and Consistent) About What’s Staying The Same
Change can feel threatening because it disrupts our brain’s need for predictability. We’re wired for survival, which means we naturally seek stability, clarity, and control. Without it, our stress rises and we can feel unsettled.
While change can be challenging, the reality is that not everything is changing, and focusing on that can help provide stability. Naming what’s staying the same can calm the nervous system, rebuild confidence, and restore a sense of control.
During periods of uncertainty, as a leader, identify moments in your communication and interactions to reinforce stability. Don’t try to hide it, this is not meant to sugarcoat the changes that are happening, but rather, remind people of what remains steady, because that foundation is often enough to help them take the next step forward.
To help with this, here is a simple activity that you can do, or even do with your team.
Here’s a simple activity: Make a two-column list. On the left, write “What’s Changing.” On the right, write “What’s Staying the Same.” Fill in both columns.
That small act can remind you and your team that even when the landscape is shifting, there are still solid anchors beneath your feet. And that makes it easier to move forward with the change ahead.
Leading Change Starts With Leaders
The truth is, if you’re trying to get people to work differently, think differently, or do something new, you’re in the business of leading change. And while strategy decks, communication plans, and frameworks can help create direction, they don’t create commitment. People do.
Leading change is fundamentally human work. It runs on relationships, trust, emotion, and motivation. It requires the ability to listen before you lead, to meet people where they are instead of where you wish they were, and to recognize that progress isn’t just about alignment, it’s about belief.
If you’d like to get a complimentary copy of the Leading Change report, please click here.
And if this topic of change is something that you, your leadership team or your leaders are wrestling with and you’d like to chat about how we can take some of these concepts and work together on please reach out – I’d love to support you and your goals.
About The Author
Al Dea is a speaker, facilitator and adviser. He’s the founder of The Edge of Work, a leadership consulting practice. Al works with organizations and leaders to help them navigate uncertainty and move forward in a constantly changing world of work. Al frequently speaks and advises organizations on how to lead change, navigate through uncertainty, and transform organizations during periods of change and uncertainty.
Al previously worked previously at Deloitte Consulting and Salesforce, where he helped organizations navigate rapid change and transformation. Al holds an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree from Boston College.
