Embracing Change: How to Manage Organisational Shifts Without Losing Productivity

For over a decade, I have helped organisations navigate change successfully, ensuring that transformation happens without disrupting productivity or disengaging employees. As a behaviourist, I understand that change is one of the few experiences that makes people deeply uncomfortable, insecure, and, in some cases, even resistant or disengaged. When change is imposed rather than chosen, it can trigger fear, uncertainty, and a drop in efficiency—ultimately affecting business performance.

Why Do People Resist Change?

You might be reading this and thinking, “But I thrive on change!” That may be true—but only when you are in control. When change is self-initiated, where you determine the pace, intensity, and direction, it feels energising and empowering. However, in organisational change, most employees do not feel the need for change, nor do they have control over it. This lack of ownership often leads to resistance, uncertainty, and a decline in productivity.

Instead of focusing on the bigger picture, people become fixated on how change will affect them personally. This shift in focus causes productivity to drop as employees struggle to adjust, question, or even reject the change altogether. The key to successful change management is ensuring that employees remain engaged and focused on their goals, rather than being consumed by fear of the unknown.

The Psychology of Change: Lewin’s Model

Renowned psychologist Kurt Lewin developed the Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze model, which explains why organisations resist change and how to transition effectively:

1️⃣ Unfreeze – Organisations exist in a frozen state, where habits, routines, and mindsets are deeply ingrained. The first step in change management is to make people uncomfortable with the status quo—helping them see that what once worked is no longer effective.

2️⃣ Change (Liquid State) – Once employees recognise the need for change, they enter a liquid state—exploring new ways of working, adapting, and innovating. This is where real growth, learning, and transformation take place.

3️⃣ Refreeze – Once the new way of working is established, organisations need to reinforce and stabilise the change. However, in today’s fast-moving business world, the challenge is that as soon as we refreeze, we must prepare to unfreeze again.

The Future of Business: A Constant State of Adaptation

The only constant in business today is change. With rapid decision-making, evolving technology, and an increasingly competitive landscape, organisations can no longer afford to freeze for too long. By the time a company stabilises after one change, a new transformation is already on the horizon.

The future of business is fluid—a state of constant movement, adaptability, and innovation. Companies that succeed will be those that can adjust quickly, embrace uncertainty, and continuously evolve.

As Charles Darwin stated in The Origin of Species:"It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to and to adjust best to the changing environment in which it finds itself."

The same principle applies to business and leadership—the organisations that embrace change, rather than resist it, will lead the future.