This is part of a series of 10 posts exploring the questions behind The Sticky Change Sense Check – a free tool for leaders navigating organisational change. If you’d like to read it from the beginning, When change energy goes unmanaged: the human cost is where we started. You only have to look at your diary or other people’s calendars to see that the organisation is really busy! It’s a problem that people often bring to coaching… How do they prioritise their time when there

There are moments in organisational life that reveal something true – about leadership, about people, about what actually matters when the pressure is on. The pandemic was one of them. Between 2020 and 2021, we ran a series of workshops and research sessions with leaders from across sectors and geographies – trying to make sense, in real time, of what was working and what wasn't. The three papers below capture what we found. They were written in the moment and they read that

Earlier this year we wrote about Fire Horse energy – and what 2026 is asking of leaders. This is what happens when that energy goes unmanaged. There’s a version of organisational change that looks, from the outside, like it’s working. Decisions are being made. Initiatives are launching. The slide decks are polished, the milestones are being hit, the communications are going out. Everyone is busy. And yet something is quietly wrong. The teams are tired in a way that doesn't q

After more years of working with organisations through change than we care to count, we've noticed something. The strategy is rarely the problem. The plan is often solid. The intentions are good. What gets in the way, almost every time, is the human side – the bit that most change programmes underinvest in or skip past altogether. Over the years we've distilled what we've learned – from battle scars as much as successes – into a set of overriding principles for making chang

Why 2026 feels different – and what to do about it. Something has shifted this year. You can feel it in meetings – a sharper edge to conversations, a restlessness that wasn’t there before. Decisions that used to queue politely are arriving all at once. People who are usually measured seem more reactive. The pace of change, already fast, has accelerated again. You’re not imagining it. And it’s not just your organisation. In Chinese zodiac tradition, 2026 is a Fire Horse year.

Transforming your company into a ‘one buttock company’. Want to know more? Watch this talk by Benjamin Zander.