Many organisations within the NHS have been / are undergoing a number of significant changes, these include regulatory, compliance, operational and financial changes. At the same time many of these organisations are facing everyday problems caused by what seems like ever increasing demand for services from patients with a growing complexity of needs.
Delivering change is challenging at the best of times, add in the pressures of increased demand and tight financial constraints and there is little wonder that we now hear the words change fatigue in ever increasing use. When an organisation or more importantly the people within an organisation are experiencing change fatigue it does not mean that they wish change to stop, most people accept that change is inevitable and an ongoing process. Moreover, it is a cry for help and organisational support. Failure to address the issues faced by staff and to support them will inevitably result in an increased risk of failure for the change programme and could result in an increase in sickness levels resulting in delivery problems not only for the change programme but also everyday activity. As such organisations need to take steps to minimise the risks associated with change fatigue. These steps could be as simple as ensuring that there is a reasonable allocation of work so as not to overwhelm individuals, (how often do we see the same people given more and more projects/initiatives to lead and the wonder why a once brilliant individual starts not to deliver?), or a series of planned interventions for example ensuring that your managers, who not only have to support their staff in times of change but face all the same uncertainties as their staff, have regular support meetings where they can talk openly and honestly about how change is impacting them and their teams. Occasionally leadership teams may need to re-appraise the volume change that is under way within their organisations and re-evaluate the timing of certain activities in order to give the organisation a chance of delivering successfully.
In summary organisations need to consider the impact of change fatigue on staff when designing change programmes and develop strategies to alleviate issues early if they are to navigate from the current state to the desired future state taking staff with them.