After a holiday filled with family adventures, including the magic of watching wild ponies cross the Devon Moors, I’m reminded how instinctively nature adapts.
Humans? We sometimes struggle to change even our playlist. And yet, adaptability is wired into our DNA: we are built to evolve and thrive in change.
September feels like a natural reset. Not just back to school, but back to strategy days, fresh goals and future focus. A time for leaders to look ahead.
And yet, while the seasons turn smoothly, organisational change often doesn’t. Research shows that up to 75% of change efforts fail, not because people resist, but because they were never truly brought in.
Right now, we’re in what researchers call a super cycle of transformation, with AI reshaping work, economies rewiring, climates shifting and cultural norms evolving, all at once. No wonder many teams feel depleted or disconnected.
The truth? Change doesn’t succeed through grand declarations. It grows by:
→ Creating space to hear how people really feel
→ Exploring challenges and possibilities together
→ Anchoring on strengths amidst uncertainty
→ Reaching across boundaries to build courageous connections
→ Taking meaningful, consistent steps toward the future
Stanford researcher BJ Fogg shows that small habits, repeated consistently, compound into transformation. (So yes, those small coffee breaks are officially serious business!)
So this autumn, my focus is less on big declarations and more on helping teams make those bold, bright, incremental shifts together.
Because thriving in change isn’t about survival, it’s about co-creating the connected future you want.
What’s the first small yet high-impact shift your team could take toward that future?
To support those first steps, we’ve pulled together our Navigating Change Playbook, a practical guide with simple frameworks and exercises to help teams take small, bold steps forward.
By Cass Coulston