You can’t force workplace change – but you can inspire it

Part of a Lego Rainbow Brick Balcony Garden. The brand has turned around since near-bankruptcy in the 1990s. Reuters

Change fatigue is the defining challenge of the post-pandemic workplace. Employees have faced a non-stop carousel of directives: “Work from home. Return to the office. Go hybrid. No, back to five days. Use Zoom – no, Teams.”

In response, many companies are defaulting to the old playbook – not because it works, but because it’s familiar.

Employees around the world are exhausted by constant shifts – and they’re showing signs of resistance. According to Gartner, the average employee went through 10 major workplace changes in 2022 – up from just two in 2016. No wonder burnout and disengagement are rising.

Between “quiet quitting” and “bare minimum Mondays”, a deep sense of disengagement has taken hold – just as organisations need agility most. And it’s not just policies or preferences that are shifting – it’s the tools of work itself.

AI is no longer emerging; it’s embedded. From intelligent recruiters and automated onboarding to generative design and real-time feedback systems, AI is rapidly transforming what jobs look like and how people perform them. It’s not an add-on. It’s foundational.

That’s because workplace transformation, whether welcomed or not, can no longer be avoided. AI recruiters, decentralised working environments and virtual offices are just a few examples. Think XR training, gamified workdays or even AI-driven wellness. These aren’t experiments – they’re now the new normal as we know it.

These are just a few of the trends that the future foresight team I lead identified in the recently published Emerging Trends Report in Talent Management (2024 to 2040), which was compiled following extensive research by the Department of Government Enablement – Abu Dhabi.

To make change stick, organisations need more than memos – they need emotional buy-in. That means showing, not just telling.

Be candid about challenges. Share real feedback. Show employees how their work connects to what matters, why it’s imperative for survival or why it benefits both them and the company. I’d argue that work should trigger an emotional response. It should feel relevant and real. It’s not about more dashboards and KPIs. It’s about having purpose and meaning.

Take Lego, for example. After competitors such as Tamagotchi, PlayStation and Game Boy dominated the market in the 1990s, the toymaker faced near-bankruptcy. Reducing costs and improving margins were initial priorities for their chief executive. But they were only one part of the turnaround story.

Designer Gary Kirwan in his Rainbow Brick Balcony Garden made of Lego, at the Bloom festival in Dublin, Ireland. Reuters

It rebuilt its reputation brick by brick by rolling out the now-famed Ideas platform, which crowdsourced design suggestions from fans. Its creative teams – reeling from layoffs – were handed real customer ideas and challenged to bring them to life, not just to innovate, but to help save the company. Within a decade, Lego went from near collapse to being named the world’s most powerful brand.

By “showing” employees what customers wanted, Lego provided a tangible example of how change could benefit its entire operation. This was complemented with logical reasoning and open invitations for staff to provide feedback and input, successfully instilling a more inclusive mindset instead of a “do as we say” approach.

Another example can be found in Timpson, a family-run retail chain in the UK. In the late 1990s, chairman John Timpson sought to fend off an aggressive takeover plot by, in his own words, doubling down on what made them unique: their people.

The shoe repair and key-cutting store adopted an “upside-down management” style. Timpson flipped its organisational chart, putting frontline workers at the top – with management serving to support them, not command them. They don’t tell staff what to do, he said, they empower them to make decisions and support their journey.

At the summit sit the thousands of customer-facing employees, who are given full autonomy of running each retail outlet with only two rules: they must present themselves and the shop properly and they must “get money in the till”. They can set their own prices and opening hours, try new services and products, and they can resolve problems as they see fit.

Why does it matter? During a spot visit at one store in 2003, Mr Timpson and his son James found one staff member doing something he thought he shouldn’t be. When the pair asked what he was doing behind the till, the staff member, slightly embarrassed, apologised and admitted he was fixing the watch of a paying customer. However, instead of challenging him, giving him a warning or worse, they agreed it aligned with their only two rules and sent the employee on a watch repair course. Rather than punishing him, they trained him. That one action eventually became Timpson’s most profitable service offering in its stores.

Companies must nurture a culture of lifelong learning, equipping employees with the skills and tools to adapt or break out of a stagnant routine

Employees will respond to change differently – some resist, some embrace it, but most wait and see. The key is to win over the persuadables. Positive communicators are powerful, and they can influence their colleagues in much more effective ways than a team leader or boss.

Build trust by involving employees early. Share the challenge, ask for input and act on it. Spell out the problem the company is facing – costs, staffing resources, communication inefficiencies, newer and cheaper technologies, face time with clients – and invite employees to address the issues and provide solutions themselves. This isn’t a token gesture – it’s a shift rooted in shared ownership.

And when those solutions are identified and agreed upon, we should all expect adoption and implementation to take time – expecting instant results is unrealistic. At Lego and Timpson, progress came year by year through trust and trial.

Take change step by step. That’s how confidence grows – not from pressure, but from progress. Along the way, companies must nurture a culture of lifelong learning, pushing employees to venture beyond their comfort zones and equipping them with the skills and tools to adapt or break out of a stagnant routine. Most importantly, they help them to prepare for what’s next.

Because the next wave of transformation is already here: AI is reshaping how we operate, collaborate and deliver value. When used thoughtfully, these technologies don’t need to pose a threat – they don’t replace people, they amplify their potential.

I’ll leave you with a closing thought: the question isn’t if change happens. It’s how we lead through it. Lead with trust. Lead with purpose. Connect through meaning. That’s how real change takes root.