Spiralling Change: How To Lead Through Constant Flux

Welcome to the second edition of The Leadership Lens, a monthly newsletter from Mary Langan and Chris Kerwin. We know being a leader can be exciting and rewarding but also challenging and frustrating. We want to help you navigate those highs and lows with ideas and practical tools to help you lead with confidence.

Change used to be the exception. Now it’s constant. Here’s how to lead through spiralling change — with clarity, humanity and resilience.

Change Is Spiralling

When we started our careers (Mary in 1987, Chris in 1997), change at work felt rare and deliberate. Leaders had time to think, consult and plan. Of course, big things still happened — like when my (Chris’s) first employer, NatWest Consultancy, made itself redundant in 2000 as part of the bank’s battle for survival — or when a large part of Mary’s second employer was sold to the BBC.

Today, the leaders we coach describe a different world. Across every sector — from VC-backed start-ups to public bodies — change is no longer an event. It’s a permanent condition. Technology, AI, global markets, workforce shifts — the pace is relentless.

We call it spiralling change — change upon change upon change. It shows up as:

• Ongoing restructures and reorganisations
• Business models evolving before the last one is embedded
• New tech transforming how work gets done (often before the last system has been mastered)
• Constant shifts in working practices
• Redundancies and new reporting lines as routine (When I – Chris – was first made redundant in 2000, my dad said with genuine foreboding that this was the new way of the world. How right he was 25 years ago!)

In this new normal, stability is fleeting — and leaders must learn to lead through all the uncertainty.

The Top 10 Skills Leaders Need Now

To lead in spiralling change, leaders need much more than a clear strategy. They need adaptability, empathy and a whole new toolkit. Here are the top 10 skills we believe every leader needs today:

1. Understand why change is hard for some — including yourself
2. Tell inspiring change stories — over and over
3. Tell multiple stories at once — tailored to different audiences
4. Spot and support change advocates — and let them lead (and support you)
5. Distinguish between change and transition — the change vs. the people
6. Develop resilience — to stay steady in the spiral
7. Accept uncertainty — and make progress without all the answers
8. Foster curiosity — create teams that lean into the unknown and see that leaning as learning
9. Inspire adaptability — help people let go of the old, which is often much harder than embracing the new
10. Be brave — change comes with tough decisions and decisiveness

Before we dive into some practical tips to develop these skills, we’d like to share a couple of stories about change we’ve led or witnessed.

When the Strategic Change Goes Smoothly… but the Operational One Hurts

When I (Chris) led the sale of BBC Good Food from the BBC to Immediate Media, it was a major, high-profile shift. We had the comms, the strategy, the support. People were involved. The transition felt purposeful. I’d argue the change was successful.

The bottom line grew 2.5x in three years. We kept the team together. Audiences grew massively. That brand is now worth three or four times what it was under BBC Studios.

But the changes that stuck with me — often because they didn’t go so well — were the more operational ones.

Like moving e-commerce from brand control to a central function. On paper: logical. In practice: it drained energy and ownership. Decisions slowed. Frustration grew. People fell out.

Or switching from a bespoke (but open-source) tech platform at the BBC to a company-wide solution. Again, logical. But it felt like a backwards step to some. It took a long time. Frustration grew. People fell out — again. In the end, audiences grew, but we finished the project bruised. The retrospective was brutal.

The logic made sense in both cases. But the cultural cost was real — and damaging. Talented people left. Their experience of change — led by me — was poor.

I hadn’t clocked that these “behind-the-scenes” changes needed the same care as the headline ones. I didn’t tell the story well enough. I assumed people understood.

Lesson: The high-profile changes get the airtime, focus and comms. But it can be the operational ones — often felt most keenly by teams — that need just as much care. They shape culture, daily experience and trust.

What Can Slow Down Change

Last year, Mary supported a CEO leading a major transformation of the UK arm of a global communications firm. Once renowned for its creativity and sharp thinking, the company had struggled to adapt to the digital age. The newly appointed CEO had a clear vision, but two years into the change programme, progress was slow.

A deep divide had formed between long-standing employees and new leadership, driven by fear of losing the company’s legacy and scepticism about the need for change.

Through a series of offsites, Mary helped the leadership team create space for honest conversations — about their fears, hopes for the future, and the roles they wanted to play. This inclusive approach shifted mindsets and rebuilt trust, significantly boosting the team’s effectiveness and alignment around the transformation.

The strategy was right, but more attention to the human side of change made all the difference in moving things forward.

Lesson: Even the clearest strategy will stall if you don’t bring people with you. The emotional undercurrents — identity, trust, fear — can be the biggest barriers. Lead the hearts as well as the minds.

A Practical Guide: Leading Through Spiralling Change

Managing spiralling change isn’t just about implementing new systems or structures — it’s about helping people live through disruption, repeatedly. The most effective leaders know that tools alone don’t create change. Mindset, meaning and momentum do. Here’s how to build some of the ten skills and make the change you’re leading much more impactful.

Understand the Change Curve

In times of rapid transformation, people experience emotional reactions that affect how they show up at work. This isn’t weakness — it’s human. If you can map where your team is on the curve, you can support them better and move them forward faster.

Kubler Ross Change Curve

• Shock & Denial → “This isn’t really happening.”
• Frustration & Depression → “This is hard and unclear.”
• Experimentation & Acceptance → “Let’s try this…”
• Commitment & Integration → “This is the new normal.”

👉 Map where your people are emotionally — and support accordingly.

Spot and Empower Change Advocates

In every organisation, there are people who lean into change rather than resist it. These informal leaders are invaluable — they influence culture, bring energy and can accelerate buy-in. But they’re often overlooked.

Find them early. Give them purpose. Listen to their feedback. Help them influence others. Allow them to lead.

Mary’s story: “I didn’t realise I was a change agent until someone named it. A former MD asked me to lead the cultural integration post-acquisition — because I had credibility, energy and belief in the future.”

👉 Not everyone resists change. Some lead it. Empower them and let them lead…

Understand Change vs Transition

Many change efforts stall because leaders focus on the change — “the what” — and ignore the internal journey — “the who”. William Bridges describes the change journey as transition is the emotional and psychological process people go through. You can’t skip it.

• Change = external → new tech, org chart, strategy
• Transition = internal → letting go, adapting, finding meaning

👉 Lead the people journey, not just the outer shift.

Use the 4Ps Change Story Framework

Spiralling change creates confusion. A clear, repeated story (or stories) helps anchor people in meaning. It’s not about having all the answers — it’s about giving people direction and purpose. William Bridges story framework the 4Ps (Purpose, Picture, Plan, & Part) help teams to clarify where they are going, why they are going forward with this change, how they will get there, and which part each person will play in the process. Here is a link to a worksheet to help you create your story. 

• Picture – What does the future look like?
• Purpose – Why are we doing this?
• Plan – How will we get there?
• Part – What role do you play?

👉 Test your story: ask people what they think the vision is. If they’re unclear, you need to tell it again (and again).

Build a Growth Mindset Culture

In fast-changing environments, the ability to learn beats the need to know everything. Leaders need to model and nurture a culture where experimentation, success and failure, and adaptability are safe — even encouraged.

• Normalise setbacks as part of learning
• Recognise effort, not just outcomes
• Reinforce that skills and behaviours can grow

👉 People who believe they can grow will adapt more quickly — and recover better.

“Move fast and break things is for people who don’t mind breaking things. But some things — trust, reputation, relationships — break irreversibly.” — Reid Hoffman

Strengthen Personal Resilience

Change leadership is demanding. You’re trying to help others through the fog — while navigating your own uncertainty. You can’t support your team if your own tank is empty.

• Manage energy, not just time
• Build support networks (peer learning, coaching, mentors)
• Reframe setbacks as temporary and solvable

👉 Resilient leaders create resilient teams. Start with yourself.

Final Thoughts

Leading through spiralling change requires more than a plan — it requires emotional intelligence, relentless communication and belief in your people. Lean on the tools above and they should make it easier to manage.

So where will you start?

• A better change story?
• More time listening to where people are?
• Supporting your own resilience?

Pick one — and spiral up from there.

About the Authors

Mary Langan and Chris Kerwin bring decades of experience developing leaders and teams.

Mary is an executive coach and experienced facilitator who helps leaders build confidence, lead through change and strengthen team connection.

Chris is a former Group Managing Director, now a coach and strategy and leadership expert with deep digital and commercial expertise, having led large teams through transformation in media.

Together, they blend strategic insight and coaching know-how to help leaders grow, align teams and turn ideas into impact.

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Arrange a free consultation: 📧 mary@nuatraining.com or with📧 chris@nuatraining.co.uk