Move from Change Fatigue to Change Fitness – Insights from Leading Practitioners
Peer Lessons from the Front Line
Change is a constant in organisations today, and with it comes both opportunity and strain. The pace, complexity and sheer volume of initiatives can leave employees exhausted, disengaged and struggling to adapt. This phenomenon, known as change fatigue, threatens not only individual wellbeing but also organisational performance.
The challenge for Change Managers is clear: how can organisations build the strength and resilience needed to shift from fatigue into what the panel described as change fitness? Change fitness is about developing “change muscle”, where employees and leaders can respond with confidence and adaptability to the ongoing flow of transformation.
In a panel discussion facilitated by Jane Judd, three experienced practitioners shared their insights:
- Rachel Vallely, Change Manager, Burges-Salmon (United Kingdom)
- Lincoln Sayers, OCM Practice Lead, Bendigo Bank (Australia)
- Sharon Paine, Head of Change, FMG Insurance (New Zealand)
Their perspectives highlight both the challenges and the practical actions that can strengthen organisational capacity for change.
Understanding Change Fatigue
Jane opened the conversation by framing change fatigue as more than tiredness. It manifests when employees feel overwhelmed, confused or bombarded by competing initiatives. Common causes include:
- A high volume of projects running simultaneously
- Conflicting priorities across business units
- Pace of change being too fast for people to absorb
- Lack of integration across initiatives
- Insufficient time for employees to internalise new ways of working
The panel focused on how to move from this reactive state towards change fitness, where change becomes part of everyday work, is better sequenced, and feels purposeful rather than overwhelming.
Rachel Vallely: Managing Change Load with Portfolio-Level Visibility
At Burges-Salmon, Rachel Vallely encountered a turning point when multiple projects, including finance systems, office relocations and AI rollouts, all converged in the same month. Employees were stretched and frustration was rising.
Drawing on concepts from Change Portfolio Management (CPM), Rachel and her colleagues created an integrated communications plan and introduced a change load heat map. These tools allowed the business to:
- Collate communications across projects into a single view
- Categorise the load being placed on departments, from minor tasks such as reading an email to more significant demands such as multi-hour training sessions
- Identify departments carrying unsustainable burdens
- Sequence and reschedule activities to spread demand more evenly
Rachel noted that project managers often focus solely on their own deliverables and may not see the wider picture. Having a consolidated view sparked conversations that enabled projects to adjust timelines and avoid overwhelming staff.
Her experience illustrates how portfolio-level practices from CPM can translate theory into practical value, reducing tension and creating breathing space for employees.
Lincoln Sayers: Reducing Cognitive Overload and Building Leadership Capability
At Bendigo Bank, Lincoln Sayers described how a period of sustained, complex transformation left staff struggling with cognitive overload. Frequent changes required constant context switching, eroding employees’ sense of mastery and confidence.
Lincoln outlined three approaches that have helped the bank strengthen change fitness:
- Developing Change Leadership
- Building leaders’ ability to support their teams through constant change
- Helping leaders balance operational performance with adoption of new initiatives
- Encouraging leaders to create purpose and meaning for their teams
- Harnessing Actionable Insights
- Capturing change sentiment and cumulative impacts
- Creating an enterprise-wide view of initiatives and their combined effects
- Working with communications and HR teams to integrate change data with organisational cycles such as reviews or embargo periods
- Facilitating Informed Decision-Making
- Running change advisory forums at divisional level
- Using data to support decisions on workforce planning and sequencing
- Consolidating communications across projects to reduce duplication and noise
Lincoln emphasised that analytics alone are not enough. The capability to use data to spark the right conversations and guide leaders towards better decisions is critical.
Sharon Paine: Building Capability and Weaving Change into Culture
At FMG Insurance, Sharon Paine described both the opportunities and the challenges of working in a smaller, mutually owned organisation with many long-tenured staff. Subject matter experts are often stretched across multiple projects, and legislation-driven changes reduce flexibility in timing.
Sharon explained how Change Portfolio Management training inspired her team to begin with simple heat maps to visualise impacts. The value, she observed, comes not only from the tool itself but from the conversations it provokes about capacity and priorities.
Her strategy combines two streams:
- Creating a Manageable Flow of Change
- Building visibility of initiatives across business units
- Encouraging units to take ownership of their own change view, which can then be consolidated at enterprise level
- Shifting focus from projects as “headliners” to projects as enablers of long-term success
- Increasing Capability and Capacity
- Moving from ad hoc training to a change capability framework integrated with organisational learning
- Embedding “leading change” as one of the organisation’s ten core leadership competencies
- Partnering with organisational development to influence culture and weave change into the fabric of the business
Sharon highlighted that progress requires patience and a willingness to experiment. Mistakes become valuable lessons when leaders are willing to learn and adapt.
Capabilities for the Shift to Change Fitness
The panel were asked which capabilities are most important for enabling the move from fatigue to fitness. Their answers reveal complementary priorities:
- Change analytics and insight (Lincoln)
- Capturing, interpreting and sharing data to inform decisions
- Using analytics to support prioritisation and workforce planning
- Learning mindset and shared ownership (Sharon)
- Willingness to start small and aim for progress rather than perfection
- Ensuring leadership sponsorship and distributing ownership beyond the change team
- Treating the building of change capability as a change initiative in its own right
- Adaptability and multi-level working (Rachel)
- Moving fluidly between strategic oversight and hands-on delivery
- Engaging leaders who understand the value of change management
- Flexing approaches to meet both immediate project needs and enterprise-level goals
Together these capabilities point towards a more integrated, people-centred and data-informed model for change.
Tackling Communications and Individual Needs
Audience questions prompted the panel to address two practical challenges.
Balancing too much and too little communication
Rachel advised using multiple, familiar channels and focusing on clarity. Lincoln described how analysis of communication volume helped leaders understand when they were exceeding thresholds, leading to better coordination. Sharon added that employees often need to know only what is changing for them, not the names of every project.
Considering different personalities
Lincoln noted the importance of human-centric, brain-friendly approaches that account for diversity. Rachel suggested using familiar faces and voices in communication to increase comfort and connection. Jane reminded the group that fatigue is often systemic, and reducing overload at the organisational level is key.
The Role of Change Portfolio Management
Throughout the discussion, Change Portfolio Management was referenced as a vital framework for addressing fatigue. Rachel and Sharon both described how CPM training inspired practical tools such as heat maps and integrated communications. Jane underlined how CPM offers methods for understanding when initiatives will collide, what analytics are needed, and how to take an enterprise-wide view of change.
For Change Managers, CPM provides a structured approach to building organisational fitness, moving from reactive responses to proactive, data-informed decision-making.
Moving Towards Change Fitness
The experiences shared by Rachel, Lincoln and Sharon highlight a common theme: change fatigue is real, but it can be managed. By creating visibility, building leadership capability, and developing a culture of adaptability, organisations can strengthen their resilience and confidence.
Key takeaways include:
- Use CPM frameworks to gain enterprise-wide visibility and sequence initiatives effectively
- Support leaders to balance performance expectations with the adoption of change
- Build data and analytics capability to turn insight into better decisions
- Embed change leadership and capability building into organisational culture
- Keep communication focused, relevant and consolidated across initiatives
Explore the Full Conversation
These perspectives demonstrate the value of applying both theory and practice to the real-world challenges of change fatigue. They also show how Change Portfolio Management can provide a foundation for practical tools that make a difference.
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