
GABRIELLE PIMSTONE
THE CHALLENGE
Most organisations going through change will recognise at least one of these:
People must deliver BAU and transformation simultaneously and can't do both without something giving
The organisation reacts once problems are already impacting the business instead of catching them early
People can tell you what the change is about, but their behaviour doesn't fundamentally change
The same problems that derailed the last change initiative are starting to surface in this one
This isn't a change management problem. It's an Adaptive Capacity problem.
WHAT ADAPTIVE CAPACITY IS
Adaptive Capacity refers to eight conditions inside an organisation that enable it to absorb, respond to, and keep moving through continuous change and uncertainty. When these conditions are present, an organisation can:
notice and respond to what is happening in the system before it escalates
hold uncertainty without destabilising
stay engaged with both delivery and change at the same time
sustain engagement and effort through prolonged disruption
