How Change Saturation Holds You and Your Business Back
Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash
The volume of change from the pandemic has pushed us into a state of change saturation. Whether you are a solo entrepreneur or a large company, getting momentum and moving forward can feel like a slog.
It can feel like projects have stalled. You struggle to get any genuine enthusiasm and momentum going. Fresh ideas and input are at an all-time low, and even the optimists are working hard to engage in productive collaboration.
Sound familiar?
Change saturation is a reality. If the conditions that precipitate it are not adjusted, saturation continues.
As defined by Prosci - Change saturation occurs when the number of changes you're implementing exceeds the capacity of individuals in your organization to adopt and use those changes effectively.
As change expert Tim Creasy reports in his recent article on the topic, the most recent Prosci Best Practices for Change Management study showed 73% of respondents (organizations) reported being near or past the saturation point.
He describes the symptoms of saturation as follows:
Individual Symptoms
Particular behaviors and traits in an organization's employees when faced with too much change, including:
disengagement, apathy, indifference
burnout and fatigue;
anxiety and stress; confusion
cynicism and skepticism.
Project Symptoms
Project performance can suffer the following symptoms:
lack of resources, inadequate or failed delivery of results
delays, and schedule implications, missed deadlines
insufficient buy-in and support from senior leaders
Organizational Symptoms
These symptoms are costly and long-lasting, directly affecting operational quality and creating a poor working environment:
They often display automatic resistance, lack of focus on operations
attrition and turnover
low morale
changes are often seen as insignificant and worthwhile
Change saturation isn't reserved only for the work environment.
All change experienced in our lives uses our energy and resources to accomplish.
Imagine a bucket full of water as your energy. Using rocks to represent change, drop one in for each change you are undergoing, using a giant rock for more considerable change and vice versa. With each rock you add, water spills out of the bucket. You can't remove a stone until you complete the change.
For some people, their rocks spill all of the water out of their bucket. Even if they get a hose and try to fill it up around the stones, the water has no room to stay in the bucket.
When you have an excessive amount of change in your life, your ability to keep your energy and engagement up becomes increasingly difficult and, in some cases, almost impossible.
Unique times for change
The pandemic has created a unique layer to change saturation. Since the onset, we've traversed change after change. And depending on where you live in the world, you're still navigating these cycles.
We can't opt out of these changes. Things like lockdowns are total and out of our control. They affect our communities, work, and daily lives and are often unpredictable not only when they might occur but for how long they will last.
Now you might be thinking, "it's been 18 months; surely people are used to it by now", and many are. But that doesn't change the energy requirement needed each time to adjust behavior and routine.
Recently there have been a lot of articles and commentary on how people are feeling flat. Unable to get motivated to do anything they used to like to do, often stopping themselves, overwhelmed by apathy. These are coping mechanisms for system overload.
Rather than go through another cycle of being prevented from doing something we want to do, we stop ourselves from even initiating our desire to do it, so we're not disappointed again. For some of us, it's having a knock-on effect. We've shut down our desire and positive anticipation emotions so well, we can't even fire them for the simple pleasures we once enjoyed.
Now add the coping layers of figuring out the school cycle if you have kids or navigating a return to the office as many employers require, and energetically you're maxed out.
And you haven't even got to your desk yet!
It's no wonder that projects are struggling to gain momentum, transformations stall, and even simple change is struggling to get started in our work environments.
Ever tried to race someone up a flight of stairs after a heavy leg workout? Bet you couldn't move too fast!
With saturation, we need to manage things differently to maintain our energy and productivity along the way.
What you can do.
Understand your current state.
Honestly assess the overall level of energy and engagement you currently hold for the activities in your day-to-day life. Are you struggling to maintain focus? Do you dread going to work? Are you struggling to be positive and contribute in a meaningful way in conversations or activities?
If you are doing this as a business: Does your team seem engaged and focussed? Are they reluctant to collaborate? Do they seem tired and disinterested? Is morale low?
Itemize all the changes you have in your life or business, identify work in one column and personal in the other. Are any of the ones in your control able to be put off? If you can't find a way to take rocks out of your bucket, are you able to prioritize the smaller or easier ones to get them done sooner? If there is no room anywhere, are you able to take a pause and rest for a week from one or all of them?
Create space within the change conditions.
If you have no way of moving or changing your rocks, you need to slow down the higher stress change momentum. Assess the level of stress and effort of each of your stones. Once you have a clear idea of which ones draw more than others, work to create pockets of time within those timelines. You will only be able to do this with the ones you have control over. If the high-stress ones are out of your control, take the time to speak with the person in authority and see if you can come to some arrangement that will allow for a bit more space.
Control the controllable. And yes, I'm going to say it again, but only because it's true and proven – get regular exercise, eat well, and get enough sleep. It keeps your essential energy stores going. In addition, be deliberate about your thought processes around your stressors. Stay out of negative thoughts as much as possible and get answers and information when you need it. You may not control the changes, but you can control how you think and feel about them, boosting mental energy and giving you space to think.
At work
If you are an entrepreneur, a business, or leading others, use the assessment above. Prioritize or reschedule projects to allow your team to recover some breathing space and recharge.
I know this can be tricky with project budgets and timelines. But pushing a change initiative into a group of people who cannot adapt and efficiently adopt the new behavior requires places the whole endeavor at risk, which can be much more costly.
Stay curious and regularly check in with your teams to assess the level of engagement and see what works to adjust your level of change in the organization. Be creative.
Many large companies have experienced a benefit from creating company wide shutdown breaks to let their teams regroup.
Finally, be creative, be flexible, and most importantly - stay aware and have compassion for the time it will take people to recover emotionally and psychologically from the change levels we've been experiencing.
Remember, getting your initiatives going again might be a slow roll, small steps are better than no steps. Manage the energy levels as well as the task lists, be patient and compassionate as recovery levels improve.
If you would like to learn more about how to explore saturation in your organization - click here.
