Change needs changing

Things are shifting and accelerating!

Last month I watched a program stall while smart people argued “Agile vs. hybrid.” Meanwhile, adoption was sliding. In another room, a CEO’s eye-roll killed candor, then we scheduled another “psychological safety” workshop.

And the neuroscience deck? Brilliant. Also, parked in a folder while teams waited for real practices that make their day easier tomorrow.

Change leadership and adoption have shifted. The old playbook of linear plans, communications, and training, along with methodology debates, can’t carry the speed, scale, and messiness that organisations are already facing. Here’s what I’m seeing, and what actually helps.

The world moved. Expectations are higher. Time is tighter. People are tired.

So rather than another model or “top 10,” here’s a straight conversation about what I’m seeing that actually helps.

What’s gone stale (and doesn’t serve)

• Methodology wars as the headline. Do we go Agile, waterfall, or hybrid? These methodologies organise work; they don’t guarantee adoption. I honestly don't care what methodology you use until there is clear evidence of outcome clarity, change adoption intervention and its reverse-engineered plan, culture and behaviour design are part of the work, there is a clear definition of what success looks like in a 360 integrated way and a clear plan for elevating business and people capability (not as an afterthought). Chunking change into parts that follow the delivery schedule and milestones is hardly agile or value-adding. It is just execution.
• Slogans without on the ground change. “Psychological safety” matters, but it collapses if everyday actions, especially at the top, don’t match the words. Same geos for the conceptually agreeable behavioural and neuroscience insights that remain aspirational or siloed, but if they don’t reach planning, budget, governance, and incentives, the day-to-day experience won’t shift enough to stick.
• The excessive focus on Delivery and execution without creating enough context for what is actually changing, what we are transforming into, and what we need to do differently, as a result, to BE different for the future to happen. Gone are the days when delivery merely adds to an already complex and fragmented landscape. A holistic, integrated, and on-point approach is needed, and it is certainly multi-disciplinary, not just projects and PMOs

What needs to change in change - The 5 Shifts

1. Hyper-personalise adoption

Move from “stakeholders” to specific humans in specific jobs. Map the few critical behaviours by role and moment. Measure usable adoption (is the new way used in the flow of work? If not, why?)

2. Fewer concepts, more practice + AI where it helps.

Turn concepts into micro-practices people can try today. Use AI for the unglamorous heavy lifting: segment communications by role, draft job-specific “first-run” guides, summarise feedback channels, and surface friction signals in real-time. AI is not the change; it’s the amplifier.

3. No change without culture, no culture without change.

Make three non-negotiable cultural behaviours explicit. Tie them to decisions, rituals, and consequences. No change will ever be adopted if the culture hasn't shifted. And no culture will ever evolve if there are no intentional change interventions that address culture.

4. Start change on day one, not close to “go-live”

Embed adoption design in discovery. Co-create ways of working with the people who will live them. Replace long-form training with in-flow enablement and micro-learnings: pilots, shadowing, checklists at the moment of need, and quick feedback loops. Note: If you have read the title of this point, #4, and you already know you are doing this (engaging change early), I invite you to look deeper into the distinction between having a change professional/team on the program from day 1 and having change adoption and change experience design embedded in the program from day 1. This distinction is like night and day

5. Build capability, not just awareness

Upskill people's capabilities. This is not just technical training, but also behavioural, navigating complex environments and situations, protecting their boundaries and well-being, etc. Grow organisational capabilities that remove friction (data literacy, decision rights, customer journey view) so the change doesn’t grind against the system.

In my work, programs that embed these five moves significantly increase adoption, often by around 40%, and reduce transformation friction. It is not magic; it is internal program design that matches reality.

Practical Application: Try this out

Try this now (10-minute audit)

• Who must do what differently by when? One sentence per role.
• Where does the old habit still win? Circle those moments.
• What tolerated behaviour makes candour unsafe? Name it.
• Which two micro-practices will help this week?
• How will you see adoption in the wild (three signals)?

Tiny checklist

✓ Before/after behaviour by role.

✓ Practice in the flow. Paint the picture like a movie storyboard.

✓ One real friction removed by a leader.

Where AI helps

• Role-specific guides from SOPs, reviewed by a practitioner.
• Feedback synthesis into weekly friction themes or enabling moments.
• Nudge libraries as knowledge bases tied to workflows and business rules.

Insights: What I’m noticing

1. Hiring = resource musical chairs

Change and transformation roles keep rotating bank → bank, telco → telco. Organisations are deriving themselves from a much-needed fresh perspective and diverse thinking. If you want to elevate, innovate and reach new heights, be open to diverse thinking and cross-industry know-how. If not, all you are doing is copying and pasting what others have done, without question.

2. Shift from doubling down on delivery to opportunity scanning

When timelines tighten, most programs intensify their focus on the same plan. Do the opposite for a week: map “ignored opportunities”. Prioritise one that shifts adoption or economics fast. This changes your trajectory and usually earns you extra budget and air cover.

3. Wellbeing talk stays at meetings; make it a transformation.

Conversations about well-being and psychological hazards frequently occur in meetings, workshops, and training sessions. Wellbeing must cascade into how work is done: workload shaping, role clarity, guardrails on after-hours work, manager capability, and measurable lead indicators in governance. I’m writing a deeper piece on “wellbeing transformation” from a Canadian program I was lucky to help architect, where the ‘fluffy’ talk of well-being finally translated into hard data and real operating model changes.

What’s Happening Inside TLI(Transformation Leadership Institute)

• TLI welcomed 11 new members last week into our free Change Makers Corner (CMC) Community. TLI's CMC is a global community focused on Change leadership, Transformation, strategy execution, and building organisational and people talent in the change and transformation space. If you want a taste of what we are about, join us. Visit www.TL-Institute.com and click 'Join the free community'. Please ensure that you complete your profile to finalise your registration.
• Doubling down on Career AI tools. I am working hard behind the scenes, creating proprietary AI agents to help those focused on building a thriving career. AI agents that assess your CV, develop your LinkedIn posts and presence, help you better understand your experience and articulate in a way that makes more sense to hiring managers and recruiters, suggest career paths, and so much more. The attempt to create those has been challenging, but I have learnt so much along the way and am getting great results so far. AI can hallucinate, lose access to its memory, and risk being generic.. I made sure that this doesn't happen or kept it to a minimum. Watch your space for updates. Want to be a beta-tester? Reply to this article to express your interest
• AI Readiness. Something that I am asked about again and again is what it means to be AI-ready. With the number of AI transformation programs I am involved in and have completed, I can now confidently discuss from experience what that looks like. The AI Readiness series is being developed and will be shared inside the free CMC community and other venues.

P.S. ➡➡ Want to know what your Career Future Proof Score is? Visit the link below to obtain your score; it takes 10 minutes or less. You will get your career detailed score across four areas. Designed for Change & Transformation Practitioners & Leaders

👉 https://www.futurefitleader.com/career2025

Thanks for your time. Till next time,

Jess Tayel

Founder of the Transformation Leadership Institute and People of Transformation membership & community.

Enable organisations to become future-fit through their Transformations & Change efforts.

Elevate Change & Transformation high-performing leaders to soar above the sea of sameness and achieve new heights in mastery, influence, & impact without the drag of going solo or slow progression.

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