Avoid Change Fatigue

This week’s blog post marks the last in a four-part series – Breaking Barriers (In) Real-Time. Each week in May I will be exploring popular examples of emergent issues in business and popular culture. These issues will be analyzed through my Breaking Barriers system of professional development. I hope that the insights gleaned from these everyday examples will provide accessible, constructive support for you as you navigate similar challenges.

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One of the most common barriers I see in today’s organization is Change Fatigue. Government is not immune either and nowhere is this barrier more prevalent than in the Administration of President Obama. With an onslaught of complex issues, including both domestic and international crises, each day the challenges for the Administration grow and I would argue the capacity to deliver diminishes accordingly.

In essence, change fatigue occurs when an individual or team experiences too many convergent changes over a short period of time. These often tumultuous times can lead to a number of debilitating issues. Three of the most prominent outcomes from change fatigue include: 1) information overload; 2) decrease in quality of work and overall performance; and 3) resistance to future changes that may be necessary. In less elegant terms, change fatigue can be summed up like this: when everything happens at once, nothing works well.

I have no inside view of the inner workings of the White House, however, I see the adverse impacts and the onset of change fatigue occurring as we speak. The messages and promises from the campaign are eroding, priorities seem to be jumbled as goals and initiatives are convoluted and key staffers seem to be making more uncharacteristic mistakes (See the first post in this series for more on this).

If you or your team is in the midst of rapid change, the following tips could help to alleviate the burden and avoid change fatigue:

- Make sure the change is essential. Optional changes should be put on hold in order to avoid adding unnecessary elements to the mix.

- When implementing change, provide your people with full context for why the changes are needed. This will create association with the mandate for change, as well as personal connection with the need for and upside of the expected results.

- Always provide follow-up and on-going support to key team members so that the change effort remains vital, connected and achievable.

Following these three tips will help the team embrace change and keep morale at optimal levels.