In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, change is not a one-off project, it’s a continuous requirement. Yet, despite clear plans and significant investment, many change initiatives still underperform or fail entirely. The reason often lies not in the strategy or systems, but in the psychology of the people expected to change.

The Power of Routine in the Workplace

One of the biggest obstacles to change is the human tendency to rely on habits. People naturally repeat familiar behaviours because these routines become automatic over time. Habits form through repetition and learning. Once a behaviour becomes automatic, it’s difficult to unlearn even when we consciously want to (All About Psychology). In the workplace, this means even when employees intellectually understand the benefits of change, their default behaviours can pull them back to the way things have always been done. Successful transformation depends on more than a well-structured rollout; it requires designing change that helps people replace old habits with new ones through familiarity, repetition, reinforcement, and time.

Understanding Unconscious Resistance

Change also activates a more primal response. The oldest part of the brain, often called the reptilian or “lizard” brain, is focused on survival and security. It governs instinctive reactions such as aggression, territoriality, and avoidance of perceived threats. This part of the brain drives automatic behaviours, without thinking about them (Psychology Today). When faced with disruption – whether it’s a new technology, role, or process, this part of the brain instinctively resists. It interprets change as a threat, triggering fear, defensiveness, or disengagement. Business leaders often misinterpret this reaction as stubbornness or negativity, when in fact it’s a natural, unconscious attempt to maintain psychological safety.

Driving Adoption Across the Organisation

This resistance helps explain why many business innovations struggle to reach broad adoption. While early adopters may embrace new ways of working enthusiastically, most employees tend to be more cautious. This reflects a well-known pattern in innovation adoption, where the transition from early adopters to the early majority, often referred to as crossing the chasm – is the most difficult phase of change (The Marketing Student). The early majority need to see clear evidence that the change is safe, beneficial, and supported by peers. If this emotional and behavioural gap isn’t addressed, even well-intentioned initiatives can stall. Change leaders must therefore build trust, offer proof points, and create social momentum to help the wider organisation follow.

Making Change Stick

For change to succeed, leaders must go beyond communication and project plans. They need to design change experiences that reflect how people think, feel, and behave. This starts with empathy and understanding that resistance is a natural human response. It continues with designing environments that reinforce the desired behaviours consistently over time, are built with those affected by change to establish a sense of ownership and make the new way of working the path of least resistance.

Ultimately, the success of any transformation depends not just on what is changing, but on how change is experienced. Businesses that embrace the psychology of change, rather than fight against it stand the best chance of creating change that lasts.

Want to explore how to make change stick in your organisation? Reach out to our team; we’d love to help you design change that works with human behaviour, not against it.

Connect with Allison Ford-Langstaff, or Andy Hemsley .