Your leadership team just rolled out the third major initiative this quarter. Your managers are implementing AI tools while navigating return-to-office policies and budget constraints. You’re constantly hearing about change agility and staying competitive. But there’s also an important truth that no one is saying out loud: Your people are exhausted.
This is something all organizations need to be talking about. More than half of HR leaders say employees at their organization are suffering from change fatigue. In another survey, almost three-quarters of respondents said their organizations were maxed out on change, or close to it.
It’s easy to see why. In just the past five years, we’ve been through a pandemic, seismic political and social changes, the rise of AI and the shift to hybrid work. This level of transformation is not something employees can just shake off and power through. And there’s no end in sight.
When companies contact us about our New Lens® learning platform, building capability in the midst of change fatigue is often one of their biggest concerns. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at change fatigue and how you can help your employees weather it.
What Does Change Fatigue Look Like?
The Center for Creative Leadership sums it up well: Change fatigue is “a state of exhaustion that occurs when individuals or organizations experience continuous, rapid, or overwhelming changes.”
Change fatigue hits leaders and managers especially hard. After all, they’re not only managing change themselves; they’re also helping their employees through all the disruption. Managers often deliver challenging news about things like layoffs, budget cuts and reorganizations. They also communicate with their teams about what comes next and what things will be like going forward—all while dealing with their own stress and anxiety.
Reduced drive, motivation and engagement are all signs of change fatigue. You may also notice that employees who used to be advocates of change are now resisting it. Don’t ignore these signals: Left unaddressed, change fatigue can lead to burnout and even physical illness.
Why Is Change Fatigue So Extreme Right Now?
We all have “surge capacity”—mental and physical systems we draw on to get through short-term stress. The problem, though, is that long-term changes keep piling up:
At larger companies, leaders manage an average of nine major change initiatives per year. And many of them are ready to throw in the towel: Almost 40% said they would consider walking away rather than lead through another big change.
New technologies are emerging at an unprecedented rate, making existing systems and strategies obsolete almost overnight. This constant cycle of innovation creates a perpetual sense of urgency for organizations to keep pace with the latest trends and advancements, leaving little time to reflect and recharge.
More than 70% of organizations are dealing with too many changes at once. This overload leads to confusion about where to focus on and makes it harder to implement those changes effectively.
We just don’t have the reserve capacity to carry us through years of ongoing, intense transformation. So there’s a good reason that we all feel like we’re running on empty—we are!
Equip Your People to Handle Change
Change isn’t going to stop. So how can you help your people “refill their tanks”?
Anchor on purpose. Korn Ferry identifies “anchoring on purpose” as one of the key principles for building change-ready organizations. Give every employee a clear line of sight into how their work contributes to meaningful goals. When employees understand the “why” behind change, they’re more likely to stay engaged. Learning and growth also contribute to a sense of purpose.
Build organizational resilience, not just individual resilience. When organizations actively work to build resilience—connecting individual work to organizational goals, fostering psychological safety, and providing coaching through transitions—they create cultures that can adapt without breaking.
Make development more accessible. Traditional approaches to leadership development have focused on a select few high performers. But technology now makes it possible to expand development opportunities so that more of your people can become effective change leaders.
Make learning part of every day. Continuous change requires continuous learning, not just one-time trainings. Your people need ways to learn in the flow of work with content that supports strategic outcomes.
Clearly communicate. Leaders have to be skilled and emotionally intelligent communicators to enroll others in change. A lack of communication about why a change is happening and what its effects will be leaves people feeling overwhelmed and disengaged.
Simplify and prioritize. When handling multiple changes, prioritize the most important changes first, connect the dots to show how different changes work together and pace changes so the organization isn’t trying to do everything at once
Build connection into development. Successful transformation requires people who are engaged, motivated and willing to go above and beyond. If your people are feeling checked out, building connections between employees can help. For example, mentoring, coaching and cohort learning can help people connect across levels and departments.
Provide genuine support. Amid constant change, employees can feel overwhelmed or unsure of how to perform their roles, which in turn can affect confidence and morale. To address these feelings, foster a culture that celebrates successes, encourages open communication and provides opportunities to take breaks and recharge to avoid burnout.
The Platform That Builds Change-Ready Leaders
As you think about your priorities for 2026, I encourage you to put transformation fatigue on the agenda as a strategic imperative.
New Lens is built for this era of nonstop change. It focuses on the Core Strategies that build essential leadership capabilities like emotional intelligence, resilience, and strong communication. It’s also designed to be scalable, so you can give more employees the tools to manage continuous transformation without burning out. To see New Lens in action, request a demo. And if you have other questions about developing change-ready leaders, just drop me a note.
Don’t wait for performance to drop before taking action. Discover how the New Lens® platform helps organizations support managers with bite-sized, actionable learning—built for today’s fast-paced, high-stress environments.