Mike Pelfini — 05 November 2025

In the AI age, constant change fuels change fatigue. What causes it, and how should leaders handle it? – Know the 4 sources, 4 cures, and an “Open Source” change management approach to involve the frontline workforce, per Mike Pelfini.

Change is paradoxically a constant, and organizations may have excellent reasons to develop change initiatives, like not wasting a good crisis to transform themselves. But poor change management can derail these efforts.

Almost three-quarters of employees experienced “disruptive” changes in 2024, according to a Gallup survey. Only 45% of those employees say they know what’s expected of them at work, while just 30% can connect the organization’s mission and purpose to their jobs. 

Employees are feeling change fatigue. Support for change initiatives among employees fell from 74% in 2016 to just 38% by 2022, according to a report by Cian Ó Móráin and Jordan Turner of the research firm Gartner. 

Change fatigue leads to disengagement, low morale, and attrition. Less than half of employees experiencing above-average change fatigue intend to stay with their organizations, the report states. Leaders and organizations can do better.

This article examines some of the causes of change fatigue, and steps leaders can take to improve the effectiveness and integration of the changes being managed.

Change Fatigue: 4 Causes and 4 Cures

Here are a four causes of change fatigue and four steps to reduce it:

Constant change and lack of stability. In the age of AI and other disruptions, change is becoming the norm. Even changes implemented in the last year may begin to feel out of date. “In this environment, the task of transformation is never truly ‘done,’” Korn Ferry reports.

There will always be a project to launch, a new process to adopt, or new metrics to be satisfied. A valuable lesson from “agile initiatives” is to build in periods of rest and stability to allow team members to adjust,recalibrate, and integrate. Change can lead to chaos without enough recovery time.

Too many changes at once. Another contributor to change fatigue is the sheer number of change initiatives that may be underway at the same time. Is the organization upgrading software at the same time it’s realigning team structures? Is it refocusing corporate culture while introducing new performance metrics? Is it doing all these things at once?

If so, the result can be overload, resistance, and change fatigue. A better approach is to set strategic priorities, and establish a manageable sequence of changes. Establish a logical order so that each change can build on the ones that came before.

Ignoring the human side of change. It is easier for organizations to track cost savings and efficiency gains than the human impact of change. Change can cause stress, drain energy, and overwhelm our ability to adapt, all of which contribute to burnout and attrition.

What makes change sustainable is to track employee sentiment, engagement, and workplace wellbeing while tracking business metrics. To avoid falling into a cycle of overwork and exhaustion, make work-life balance a priority.

Change for its own sake – “defensive organizing.” Many change initiatives are the product of leadership anxiety – not strategic needs – according to a 2024 study reported in the Harvard Business Review. The study’s authors refer to this type of change as “defensive organizing,” which can turn into a downward spiral unless checked.

Defensive organizing starts with leaders’ anxiety over a performance problem, followed by their uncritical adoption of a “silver bullet” change effort, which turns into exhaustion and, finally, widespread resentment as the effort fails to produce results. The cycle repeats as soon as anxiety reappears, the authors say.

Leaders need to take a hard look at the underlying reasons for any change initiative. An excellent way to begin is to ask whether a proposed change aligns with organizational purpose. 

Beyond supplying a short-term “fix,” does the change support the organization’s values and long-term goals? Does it benefit employees as well as the organization? Asking these broader questions can help avoid the trap of defensive organizing, or giving in to FOMO.

The Bigger Picture: “Open Source” Change Management

A more comprehensive solution is to involve employees throughout the change effort, a practice that has been called “open source” change management.  Organizations implementing an “open source” approach are 14 times more likely to achieve success, while reducing change fatigue by 29%, according to a Gartner study.

“Open source” change management has three main components:

Involve employees in decision making. Let the people affected by change have a voice in decision making. The goal is to create a meritocracy, where the best ideas can be heard, rather than a democracy, where everyone gets to vote on each change.

Broadening participation increases transparency and buy-in, while avoiding the top-down approach that can lead to “defensive organizing.” Depending on the change being considered, leaders can start with a few key employees or select groups from affected areas.

Shift implementation to employees: Once the decision to make a change has been made, “open source” change management shifts implementation to the employees who will have to make it work.

Leaders provide a template that outlines “what” needs to change and frames the desired outcome. They leave the “how” to the teams themselves. Frontline employees and team leaders are more in tune with the daily workflow. Additionally, their involvement solves the problem of people not knowing what’s expected on the job.

Maintain dialog with the workforce: The third part of the “open source” approach is to maintain a dialog between leadership and the workforce. Have conversations about changes being developed and their intended positive outcomes.

In a top-down approach, leadership focuses on “selling” the change. Leaders should instead focus on “getting to yes” by listening to employee concerns and working with frontline managers. They can connect the change effort both to employee goals and to the organization’s vision and purpose. Succeeding in this role calls for a multidimensional approach to leadership that combines vision, collaboration, and connection.

Managing change can be challenging. If you would like to learn more about how to avoid change fatigue, please contact us.

Copyright ©️ 2025 by Mike Pelfini. All rights reserved.