Thriving through Organisational Change
by Alex Tillman, Principal Consultant
Organisational change can fuel innovation, but without careful management it also heightens psychosocial risks to those affected. In Australia, WHS laws in all states now require organisations to identify and control psychosocial hazards reasonably and practicably, including those arising from restructures, shifting workloads, and new ways of working.
Regulators are on the look out for how organisations are dealing with change amplifying uncertainty, low job control, values conflict, and ineffective communication, and the impacts ongoing stress responses such as anxiety, disengagement, and team fractures. Embedding psychosocial risk management into change management processes—rather than treating it as a parallel track—is essential to safeguard wellbeing and a psychologically safe change program.
Effective practice starts early and stays dynamic. A multidisciplinary approach—bringing together HR, WHS, legal, risk, data, project leads, and senior sponsors—enables robust change impact assessments, consultation plans, and iterative risk reviews. Leaders should use multiple data lenses (leave patterns, EAP utilisation trends, pulse surveys, exit and focus-group insights) to detect early warning signs like heightened emotion, disengagement or withdrawal. Crucially, consultation must be genuine and two-way: begin before all details are final, involve affected workers, keep records, and adapt based on feedback. Fear of “bad news” often delays engagement, yet predictable, honest updates (“communicate early and often”) build trust and reduce worst-case assumptions.
Leaders sit at the centre of mitigation. Equip them with training, language, scripts, and communication frameworks; clarify decision rights, create a cadence of brief, regular touchpoints—even when there’s little new to report, and priorities to reduce cognitive load.
A practical anchor is a “strategy on a page” that defines team purpose, pillars, initiatives, and measures of success. From this blueprint flows good work design: clearer role boundaries, autonomy, and alignment, which are top-tier controls for psychosocial risk.
Tertiary supports like EAP help once harm is present; they should complement, not substitute, upstream controls such as workload planning, capability building, and leader coaching are a must.
The headline takeaways are to start early, consult widely, and reassess often. Psychosocial hazards evolve as change unfolds, so your controls must evolve too. Prioritise the four Cs—create clarity, communicate consistently, connect intentionally (especially in hybrid teams), and collaborate with people on how change impacts them. Do these well, and you’ll reduce distress, strengthen compliance, and enable the very outcome change is meant to deliver: a healthier, higher-performing organisation that’s ready to build the new.
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