A practical review of Change Fatigue, what it is, its causes and its cures.

1. Prosci Community of
Practice Webinars
Change Fatigue:
Causes and Cures
Presented by
Catherine Smithson
November 2015

2. Introducing Being Human
• Founded in 1993
• Our mission: develop
change-capable
people and
organisations so they
achieve the benefits of
change.
• Prosci Affiliate
Australia and New
Zealand.
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3. Prosci by the numbers
• 1994 – Founded in Colorado,
USA
• 8 global Benchmarking
Reports
• 16 years of longitudinal
research
• 3,400+ research participants
• 63 countries
• 80% Fortune 500 companies
• 30,000+ Certified practitioners
worldwide
• 4,000+ Certified practitioners
Australia/New Zealand
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4. Agenda
• Definitions
• The causes
• The cures
• Your experiences?
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5. Quotable quotes
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“We’ve had wave after wave of
change for years now... our people
are asking when things will get
back to normal”.
“Our managers are saying
there are too many number
one priorities and they don’t
know what’s important”.
“Our project teams can’t get the
right SMEs to contribute, people
don’t want any more work on top
of their day job”.
“The volume of change
around here is always
mentioned in exit
interviews with staff who
have resigned”.
“On the one hand we invest heavily in building
employee engagement but on the other hand we
undo the good work with creating
change fatigue.”

6. Definitions
• Individual level: in a
change saturated
environment, employees
can become disengaged,
frustrated, fatigued,
resistant, confused and
more cynical and skeptical
of the current changes
underway and future
changes being introduced
because they are already
dealing with so much
change.
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Source: Prosci Tutorial “Change saturation and the importance of establishing
and managing the portfolio of change”
http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-saturation-white-paper.htm

7. Definitions
• Project level: in a change
saturated environment,
change projects do not
realize benefits, there is a
lack of resources to devote
to each project, changes
are not sustained, and
projects fail to gain
momentum because
priorities are ignored and
resources are scarce.
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Source: Prosci Tutorial “Change saturation and the importance of establishing
and managing the portfolio of change”
http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-saturation-white-paper.htm

8. Why we need to address Change Fatigue
1. Impact on results and
benefits
• Slow adoption – delays, people
going “under the radar”
• Problems with proficiency –
learning curve is slow, errors,
workarounds,
• Change not sustained – people
slip back to old ways
2. Negative impact on
engagement in current
changes
• “Usual suspects” involved as
SMEs
• Lack of buy in and input can
compromise solution design
• Apathy to active resistance can
emerge
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9. Why we need to address Change Fatigue
3. Lasting impact on
employee engagement
• “Poorly managed change” is a
major factor is low engagement
• A contributor to reduced
productivity, client service, staff
turnover.
4. A barrier to creating a
change ready, agile
organisation
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10. Research update
Prosci 2014 Best Practices in Change Management
Benchmarking Report
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77% of participants
said their organisation
was near or at the
point of change
saturation
About 33% of
participants said they
actively manage the
portfolio of change, but
about 50% do not
Industries above the global
average include:
• Retail trade
• Banking & Finance
• State Government
• Education
• Telecommunications
Canada (86%) and
Australia/New Zealand
(83%) were above the
global average for being
near or at the point of
change saturation
Only 20% of participants
said there was a high
level of interest in
managing the change
portfolio

11. Cause 1: Too much change
• The 101 Priorities Syndrome
• Lack of meaningful
prioritisation
• Changes not sequenced
effectively to balance the load
• Projects/activities not stopped
• Easy to say, hard to do:
• At the centre of how Executives
develop strategy and business
planning
• Only Executives can address it
• But they typically don’t
experience the effects
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12. Cause 2: Poorly managed change
• Inadequate Change
Management, ie “comms
and training and one size
fits all approach
• High risk, high impact
changes not identified or
managed pro-actively
• Impacted groups not identified
• Not assessed for impact and
readiness
• People challenges of the
change not adequately
understood or managed =
increased risk
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13. Cures: Top 5 tips
1. Influence executives to
prioritize and sequence
the change agenda
• Work with the group/s with
which you are most influential
• Executives – are you a trusted
advisor?
• PMO – Program Manager
• Project Manager/s and teams
• HR
• Managers
• Choose carefully and be clear
on your outcomes, messages
and timing
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14. Cures: Top 5 tips
• Get the facts that will influence Executives:
• Connect with strategy and their goals and concerns
• Number of changes underway/by time/type/level/function/location
• Impacted groups – VS End users. “Who needs to adopt and use the
change for the expected benefits to be achieved?”
• Risk Assessment for each group for each change
• Collect examples and stories
• Suggested tools:
• Prosci CMROI Calculator
• Heat Maps
• Prosci People Risk Assessment
• Use preferred senders – PMO, PMs, managers
• What is your recommendation? What’s the WIIFM for your audience?
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15. Cures: Top 5 tips
2. Move to managing the
change portfolio
• Build support
• Who will be the end user of
the outputs?
• Focus on the end goal and
the change in behaviour not
the technology solution
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16. Cures: Top 5 tips
3. Improve the effectiveness of Change Management
• Choose 1 or 2 key changes and let the results speak
4. Support managers to re-energise themselves and their
teams
• Clear priorities, constantly reiterated and demonstrated
• Recognition of good work, towards the change and in the past
• Feeling valued or treated respectfully
• Listen to and encourage team members
• Clarify when managers and teams can contribute to decisions
• Having pride in their organisation - even when the change is in response
to a difficult situation
• Clear, short communication, especially about progress
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17. Cures: Top 5 tips
5. Build resilience among
managers and teams
• Change is here to stay
• What can we do to become
more resilient and support
each other?
• Enlist HR/L&D/HR
professionals
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18. Resources
• Prosci CMROI
Calculator
• Prosci PCT Analyzer
• Prosci Change
Portfolio Toolkit
• ADKAR® Dashboard
(coming soon to the
Prosci Portal)
• Free Prosci Tutorials
www.change-management.com
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19. More info
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§ Join our free Webinars!
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management.com
§ Visit the Tutorials page
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§ Open your free account