Navigating Change

All-staff session

Practical ways to handle change well — for the change around us (Site 360), and any other change on your plate.

All staff · Lunch and learn · 60 minutes

Activity2 minutes · together, then in pairs

You have done this before

1Think back over the last two years, at work and outside it. When I read out how much change you've experienced, put your hand up: a little, a fair bit, a lot, or almost constant.
2Turn to the person next to you and share one change from the last two years that you are at least a little proud of how you got through.

The point: this room is full of people who have already got through hard changes.

Our time today

Where we're heading

Why change feels difficultWhat's going on when change is hard~8 min

What's in your hands — and what isn'tSorting what you can and can't affect~12 min

Things you can act onDoing something about it~10 min

A balanced viewFor what you can't change~13 min

One thing to tryMaking it stick~5 min

Part one

Why change sometimes feels difficult

You've handled change before — and it can still be demanding. Here's what's going on when it is.

What change asks of us

Stress is a gap

Change asks more of us, and that can feel stressful.

It's not the change itself — it's the gap between what it asks and what you have to meet it with.

Say the office moves across town: a new commute, a new setup — but the same hours in your day. The demands go up; your resources don't.

The wider that gap — and the less of it feels in your hands — the heavier it sits.

Stress-and-appraisal model (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

Demands

more to learn · more to do · more decisions · less certainty

the gap

Resources

your time · skills · support · energy

Why it's tiring

What keeps the gap open

Demands

the gap

Resources

During change, your resources can reduce faster than they refill for two reasons:

Some is unavoidable — your mind doing more, and being on edge. That's just what uncertainty does.

Some is avoidable — energy spent worrying about what you can't change. That's the leak you can plug.

You can't stop all of it — but the avoidable part, you can.

Uncertainty and anticipation (Grupe & Nitschke, 2013; de Berker et al., 2016); attention under stress (Eysenck et al., 2007).

This is normal

It builds up — and it's different for everyone

When changes stack up or drag on, they keep drawing on the same limited energy.
It doesn't get a chance to recover — that's change fatigue.
There's nothing wrong with you for feeling it.
It's different for everyone: draining for some, energising in parts for others.

Change as resource depletion (Conservation of Resources, Hobfoll, 1989; Job Demands–Resources, Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Individual differences (Carleton, 2016).

So, what can we do?

Three ways to close the gap

Reduce the demands

Act on the change

Do something about the parts you can affect. The demands come down.

Build your resources

Top up your side

An earlier night, a walk, time with people, asking for help. Things you can act on.

Plug the leak

A balanced view

Ease the worry about what you can't change, so it stops draining you.

The first two are things you can do something about. A balanced view is for what you can't.

Part two

What's in your hands — and what isn't

You've seen the three ways. Which you can use depends on what you can affect, so we start by sorting the change into what you can and can't.

The circle of control

Sort it into three circles

This helps you tell apart what you can change and what you can't — so you can choose where your energy actually helps.

Control — you decide it.

Influence — you have a say; someone else makes the call.

Concern — someone else decides; you have no control or influence.

One worked through

An office move, sorted

The same change has parts in every circle. Here's one before you try your own.

Control: your desk setup, your commute, speaking up about what you need.

Influence: which team you sit near, how the space gets used.

Concern: the decision to move, the location, the date.

Activity8 minutes · on your own

Sort your own change

1Pick one change at work you can use — Site 360, or another. Or one in your personal life that you're comfortable thinking about. You won't have to share it.
2On your handout, write the different parts of that change into the three circles: control, influence, concern.
3Underline the one thing in your concern circle that's weighing on you most — we come back to it near the end.

As you go: most people find their influence circle is bigger than it first looked.

Part three

Things you can act on

For the parts inside your control or influence — the change itself, and your own resources — doing something about them is the productive move.

A step for each of the inner two circles

Act where you can

One move for each — both are things you can do something about.

Control

Change what you do

Your habits, your approach, your next step. For example: sort out your commute for the new location.

Influence

Work on how you have your say

How and when you raise it, who you talk to, what you offer. For example: put your hand up for where your team sits.

The third circle — concern — we come to next.

For the things you can act on

A simple problem-solving path

Name it

What exactly is the problem, in one plain sentence?

Options

List a few things you could do, without judging them yet.

Choose

Pick the one that's realistic and actually yours to do.

Do it

Pick the smallest next step, and decide when you'll take it.

On your handout: write one thing you'll do about something you control, and one about something you can influence.

Problem-solving therapy (D'Zurilla & Nezu, 2007; efficacy meta-analysis, Malouff et al., 2007).

When something's wrong, not just hard

Pathways, and what to expect

If something is unsafe or unfair

Your leader
The People team — [contact]
The speak-up / grievance channel — [link]
Support (EAP) — [provider + number]

What you can expect from your leaders

To be kept informed
A genuine say in what you can influence
To hear back about what you raise

A balanced view is for what's hard. These pathways are for what's wrong.

[Placeholders — Indara to confirm the real channels and contacts before delivery.]

Part four

A balanced view

For the parts you genuinely can't change. Easing the worry here isn't giving up — it plugs the leak, and frees up your energy for the things you can change.

Does this actually work?

A balanced view, not positive thinking

Reconsidering how you see a situation is one of the most effective ways of handling stress. It is used to counter our automatic and often negative interpretations of events and involves looking at the situation from a different perspective than what comes automatically to mind. It works much better than bottling it up or forcing a positive spin and is especially useful for things outside our control.

Reappraisal vs bottling up (Gross & John, 2003); realistic positive reappraisal (Riepenhausen et al., 2022).

A method you can use

Story → Check → Choose

The same three steps your leaders are learning.

Story

Write the first version of the story you're telling yourself about this change.

Check

Is it accurate — what you know vs what you're assuming? What is it costing you? What could it offer you, if anything?

Choose

Decide on a more balanced story — one that fits the facts and takes in the costs and any real upside — and write it down.

Two examples

With an upside, and without

Example 1 · An office move — a genuine upside

Story

They're moving us across town and I liked where we were.

Check

I know the location and date; I'm assuming it'll be worse, and haven't really looked.

It's costing me a spot I liked.

It could mean a nicer building and somewhere new at lunch.

Choose

I'll miss the old place, and the new one has real upsides — worth going in open to it.

Example 2 · A team merge — no upside I can find

Story

The team's merged and the part I liked has gone. There's nothing good in this for me.

Check

I've seen the new structure — the tasks I enjoyed have moved to another team. I've checked, not assumed.

It's costing me work I valued.

I've looked for an upside, and there isn't one I'd believe.

Choose

This is a real loss, and dressing it up won't help. I'll put my energy into what I can still control or influence.

Both fit the facts and keep the real cost in. A balanced view doesn't depend on finding a silver lining.

Activity7 minutes · on your own

Try it on your own

1Take the part you underlined in your concern circle.
2Work through the three steps: write your Story; Check it — what you know vs assume, what it's costing you, and what it could offer, if anything; then Choose a more balanced story and write it down.
3Read your balanced story back to yourself and ask: does it fit what I actually know? If you're comfortable, check it with the person next to you.

Debrief: what changed once you separated what you know from what you were assuming?

Part five

One thing to try

One small action, tied to something that already happens, written where you'll see it.

Activity3 minutes · on your own

One thing that sticks

When [something that already happens], I will [one specific thing].

1Pick a trigger that genuinely recurs — your Monday meeting, your next one-to-one, your Friday wrap-up.
2Write it somewhere you'll see it before you leave.

For example: "When I notice I'm having a strong reaction to a change, I will sort it into my three circles before I react."

To take away

Four things

You have done this before.

Sort what's yours — control, influence, concern.

Act on what you can — the change, and your own resources.

Take a balanced view of what you can't change, to free up your energy for what you can.

Your leaders are working from the same map.

Thank you

Steady through change, one step at a time

Opposite for Indara