Change Fatigue Is Undermining Good Management

Many change efforts do not fail in a dramatic way. They wear people out.

A company launches a new reporting structure, then adjusts office expectations, then changes performance language, then installs a new tool, then resets priorities after a rough quarter. None of those moves is shocking on its own. Taken together, they can leave people feeling as though the ground never quite holds still. Work still gets done, but with more drag. Managers repeat themselves. Teams keep asking what matters now. Good employees begin to conserve energy instead of giving it freely. That is change fatigue.