# The Problem with Change by Ashley Goodall - Blinkist

What’s in it for me? Discover the hidden costs of constant change and how to overcome them.

It’s a scene that’s become all too familiar: the hastily arranged all-hands meeting, the vague platitudes about “exciting changes on the horizon,” the sinking feeling in your gut as you brace for yet another round of upheaval.

In this Blink, you’ll see that the traditional approach to change within organizations is flawed – and what you can do about it. Change, even when necessary, can undermine the foundation that supports engagement at work. 

But this isn’t just a lament; it’s a roadmap. You’ll encounter pragmatic strategies for leading through change in a way that cultivates resilience. Whether you’re a senior executive or an individual contributor, these insights will inform how you think about managing disruption.

Experiencing turbulence

Do you ever feel like your work life is constantly in flux? Are mergers, reorganizations, new strategies, new models, or new office spaces the norm in your company? For some, today’s business world is one where the ground beneath their feet is always shifting and they’re never quite sure what tomorrow will bring. Ashley Goodall, the author, likens this to “life in the blender.”

For many business leaders today, disruption is an article of faith. They have to disrupt to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced world. But what if all this change came at a price – a price that often goes unrecognized?

Consider Sarah who works in human resources. When her company was acquired, the HR departments of the two firms were consolidated. Although she kept her job, many of her colleagues were replaced or quit. She describes being deeply unsettled as she lost almost her entire network within the company.

Across companies and industries, the stories are consistent; stories of confusion, frustration, and fatigue. Constant flux makes it hard to get work done as reporting lines shift, processes change, and key people leave. Networks and relationships that took years to build are suddenly severed, leaving employees disoriented and distrustful.

Layoffs, which often follow on the heels of reorganizations, sow further disruption. Uncertainty breeds anxiety as everyone wonders when the next big shake-up will hit. Employees resort to reading the tea leaves in their boss’s behavior, bracing for impact when communication drops. Some leaders try to shield their teams from the onslaught, feeling more like human shields than coaches. Amongst it all, the “toxic positivity” of executives touting silver linings begins to ring hollow.

Over her 24-year career, Linda has been through so many changes – mergers, spin-offs, reorganizations, acquisitions, and so on – that she started a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. By her count, she’s weathered 44 major changes across 12 companies. Each entry is a reminder of the chaos she's endured: the time her division was sold and she had to re-interview for her own job; the time a layoff claimed half her team; the miserable year in which her company cycled through three CEOs. What struck Linda is how little all this change has ultimately accomplished. Despite the endless restructurings, her industry is still struggling. As she puts it, “It makes you wonder what it’s all for.”

Yet curiously, once a major change is set in motion, it often takes on a life of its own. No matter how much chaos it unleashes, course corrections are rare. It’s as if organizations become captive to their own change initiatives, seeing them through even as evidence mounts that things have gone off the rails.

Leaders aren’t disrupting for the thrill of inflicting pain. And most would agree that change is sometimes needed. All of this begs the question, then: If change is supposed to be so good and necessary, why, in practice, is it so often experienced as miserable and destructive on the ground?

The toll of disruption

Imagine arriving at work one day to an unexpected email announcing big changes. Your stomach drops and your mind races with questions. What will this mean for my role, my team, my future at the company?

Change in organizations, whether necessary or not, exacts a human toll. Change severs the connections that provide us with a sense of stability, control, and meaning. What kind of connections? Connections to our coworkers and familiar places and rhythms, but also connections to our imagined futures and even our agency. 

One of the most distressing byproducts of change is uncertainty. Not knowing what the future holds or how you’ll be impacted can result in chronic anxiety. Your mind desperately seeks to reestablish a sense of certainty, latching on to whatever information is available.

Compounding the stress of uncertainty is loss of control. When it comes to organizational change, employees are rarely given true agency in the process. Instead, new realities are dictated from above with little opportunity for input. As psychological research has demonstrated, being subjected to uncontrollable shocks from the outside leads to a state of “learned helplessness,” where you can become passive and depressed. You begin to internalize a sense of futility, resulting in an overall decrease in motivation.

This erosion of autonomy takes a physiological toll, elevating stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to levels that are unhealthy. Research has linked low job control to increased risk of heart disease and mortality, on par with or even exceeding the impacts of secondhand smoke.

Beyond control, change disrupts the social fabric of an organization, severing the connections you’ve forged with colleagues – relationships that fulfill your deep-seated need for belonging. Psychologists have found that having a best friend at work is one of the strongest predictors of engagement and performance.

While companies focus on abstractions like being part of a grand corporate “family,” what really sustains people day to day are the more intimate, localized social bonds with teammates. Laughter shared over lunch with work friends, the camaraderie of tackling a project together, the trusted confidante in the next cubicle – these are interactions that weave people into a social fabric and make them feel rooted and a part of something. When reorgs and personnel shifts break apart these crucial connections, scattering work friends to the winds, employees are left unmoored.

Attachments to places and routines are uprooted as well. Over time, everyone settles into a comforting rhythm as they move through the same spaces and motions each day, weaving an embodied relationship with their surroundings. Changes like office moves or work-from-home shake employees out of that physical rhythm, displacing them from their familiar environment and daily habits. It’s a disorientation that cuts much deeper than mere inconvenience; it disrupts the sense of being grounded and situated.

While these contexts, connections, and relationships can be rebuilt with time and effort, the psychological impacts of having them severed, even temporarily, are significant.

Anchoring your team

So is there a way to mitigate the human toll of organizational change? Luckily, there is. Here are three ways leaders can offer support: space, connection, and affirmation.

First, space. In times of uncertainty, it’s important to resist the temptation to micromanage. When the ground is shifting beneath your feet, it’s more important than ever to give people the autonomy to find their footing. Remember loss of control from the previous section? Trusting employees to navigate challenges in their own way can help bring this sense of control back. Of course, this autonomy has to occur within the well-defined guardrails of core values and standards. But these too can act as a steadying force when everything else is in flux.

Equally important is staying connected with your people. Frequent check-ins can be a lifeline of stability. They should focus primarily on understanding each person’s evolving needs and how best to support them, rather than merely assessing their performance. For Sarah, the HR manager you heard about earlier, weekly one-on-one conversations with her new boss became an essential anchor. Her lead didn’t try to dictate how she should navigate the transition. Instead, he offered an attentive ear and helped her tap into her own problem-solving skills. Knowing she had a consistent sounding board and source of support made all the difference.

Amidst change, people also need affirmation of their strengths and capacities. Organizational shake-ups can leave even the most accomplished employees questioning their ability to succeed. Leaders should counteract this by deliberately recognizing excellent work and specifically celebrating how each employee’s unique skills have helped buoy the team.

Take Priya, an account manager whose team underwent a major restructuring. Despite the upheaval, she managed to find creative ways not only to retain clients but also to expand the business. Her manager enthusiastically highlighted Priya’s tenacity and resourcefulness in a team meeting, describing exactly how her actions had made a difference. Priya felt a renewed sense of confidence and motivation. She realized she could adapt and contribute, no matter what changes came.

These three strategies – space, connection, and affirmation of competence – create teams and organizations that are more cohesive and resilient.

Leading resilience

What would your organization look like if you reimagined it as a place of groundedness, even in the face of change? The most forward-thinking leaders are doing just that – and unleashing new levels of creativity, resilience, and performance in the process.

When Aaliyah took the helm as CEO of a struggling software company, she knew a turnaround would require big changes. But rather than letting the upheaval erode morale and motivation, she saw an opportunity to build a culture of ownership. She started by articulating a clear vision and values, then gave her teams wide latitude to determine how to deliver on those core principles. 

Emboldened by this trust and support, employees started going above and beyond their job descriptions to find creative solutions. When a major product launch was delayed, threatening a key partnership, a group of engineers and marketers huddled up to devise an alternative offering. They worked around the clock to create a slimmed-down version that delivered the core functionality on time. At the launch event, Aaliyah made sure to credit the team’s ingenuity and dedication, reinforcing that this was the kind of initiative she wanted to see more of.

Over time, these stories of employee-driven success became folklore, weaving a new narrative about “the way things are done around here.” People no longer saw themselves as passive victims of change, but active stewards of the company’s future. The more autonomy and recognition they were given, the more they rose to the occasion with resourcefulness and drive.

What Aaliyah and other exceptional change leaders understand is that when people know their fundamental value is recognized, they show up differently. They’re more willing to take risks, to stretch beyond their comfort zones, and to rally together for the greater good. They stop asking, What’s the boss want me to do? and start asking, What does the situation demand?" In this environment, change becomes less of a threat and more of an opportunity – a chance to learn, grow, and make a meaningful impact.

Final summary

The main takeaway of this Blink to The Problem With Change by Ashley Goodall is that change and disruption within organizations come at a cost.

Change disrupts the crucial connections and context that provide a sense of stability, control, and meaning at work. But by providing space, staying connected, and affirming competence, you can help your team weather the storm. More than just mitigating harm, forward-thinking organizations are reimagining themselves as bastions of groundedness and resilience.

When people are given clear direction but also the latitude to creatively problem-solve, they rise to the occasion in remarkable ways. While nothing can entirely remove the sting of disruption, in the right environment, change can become an opportunity for learning, growth, and impact.

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