Throughout my career, whether working on large-scale Government transformation projects or helping businesses streamline their processes with Agile methodologies, I’ve seen one truth emerge time and again: that change is inevitable and coming, but how we approach it can make all the difference.
How about a Change approach with a human touch?
Too often, I’ve encountered organisations that treat change like a mechanical process—focusing on resistance, inertia, and control. I love this stuff from Physics A level- but not so much for organisational change. It’s rooted in outdated models that overlook the most powerful tool in any transformation: the people involved.
Our work @YourBigPic, and alongside Powered by BIG PICTURE®, it appears useful to shift away from seeing employees as static components that simply resist change (like the old immovable objects and inextenisible strings and frictionless pulleys!).
Instead, we need to embrace a human-first approach, one that recognises people's adaptability when prepared and empowered- so readying not resisting! It’s this people-first philosophy that I’ve applied across sectors, from finance to Public Services, and it’s what drives our work @YourBigPic. You will see this woven through our Change Workshops and Labs that you can click through below.
I’ve realised recently that much of traditional change management has been shaped by industrial revolution thinking, treating employees like interchangeable parts in a system. I’ve witnessed this mindset firsthand during large-scale transformation projects, where the focus was often on control and compliance, managing people as if they were resistant by nature. This way of thinking is based on the belief that people resist change because of inertia—something that can be “fixed” with the right processes and structures.
I remember a line 88 or so of a project plan that referred to something like ‘tell the teams’. Too little too late too simplistic.
In the modern, knowledge-driven workplace, creativity and collaboration are what gets the blood running! For instance, during a recent regulatory project, treating people as passive participants would have failed. Instead, we needed to actively engage them, making them part of the solution, not just a cog in the machine. With and without BIG PICTURE- our favoured collaboration tool.
One thing I’ve learned through leading initiatives across both public and private sectors is that people are naturally adaptable when they feel prepared and supported. This is the foundation of YourBigPic’s change readiness approach. Rather than focusing on managing resistance, we focus on fostering readiness—preparing people to embrace change proactively.
Take, for example, the Planning & Delivering Change Workshops @YourBigPic. We designed these workshops to equip teams with the tools and mindset they need to approach change not as something to fear, but as an opportunity to collaborate and innovate. This approach emphasises human adaptability, collaboration, and shared leadership.
When I led process mapping initiatives for a large-scale transport project, we didn’t wait for resistance to emerge. Instead, we engaged teams early, readiness by building processes collaboratively, ensuring everyone felt ownership. The result was a smoother, more successful transition with less friction and greater long-term commitment.
If there’s one thing my experience has taught me, it’s that organisations need to rethink how they approach change. Viewing people as resistant obstacles is an outdated mindset. Instead, we need to recognise the power of readiness—equipping and empowering teams to navigate transformation with confidence.
At YourBigPic, we’re fully into helping you make this shift. Our Planning & Delivering Change Workshop and Lab rally around readiness, reducing resistance, and promoting continuous improvement. To learn more about how we can support your transformation, visit our Planning & Delivering Change Workshops, and let’s work together to prepare your teams for the future.
