Making Sense of Change: Two Lenses Individuals and Organisations Need

Dilek Süzal
3 hours ago
2 min read

When the topic comes to ‘Change Management’, it is often the moment the room goes quiet. I see this repeatedly in my leadership coaching and training work.

The conversation starts engaged. Then this term is mentioned. Something shifts.

People don’t disengage, but they become careful.

This reaction is not surprising.

Problem: Change is announced late, and lived early

In many organisations, change is not communicated when it starts forming. It is communicated once decisions are final, timelines are tight, and expectations are already in motion.

For the majority of people, this means spending weeks or months in uncertainty. Knowing that something is coming. Not knowing how it will affect their role, status, or future.

Uncertainty has a tolerance limit. When that limit is exceeded, people become protective.

Solution: Two frameworks that make change work

1) Individual level: Sensemaking before alignment

Research by Karl E. Weick shows that people do not engage with change by receiving information alone. They engage by making meaning while acting inside unfolding situations.

Weick explains that when familiar structures dissolve, individuals instinctively try to understand:

What is actually happening here?
What does this mean for my role and professional identity?
How do I/we act competently inside this new context?

When communication is delayed or incomplete, people still make sense of the situation. This is where rumours and assumptions replace clarity and dialogue.

2) Relational & organisational level: The SCARF lens

The SCARF model helps explain why prolonged uncertainty drains energy so quickly.

Change often challenges:

Certainty: Nothing feels reliable
Status: People don’t know where they stand
Autonomy: Influence feels reduced
Relatedness: Trust decreases
Fairness: Silence invites speculation

David Rock shows that when these needs remain unmet, the brain prioritises self-protection over learning and collaboration.

Practical ways to work with change

Individual Level

💎 Create personal sensemaking moments before reacting

💎 Separate role-related change from personal identity

Organisational Level

💎 Communicate as early as possible, even when answers are incomplete

💎 Name what is known, what is unknown, and when updates will follow

Humans are not finished structures. Neither are organisations.

Both evolve through learning and time. Change is the medium through which this growth happens.

Consistently.

When we understand how individuals make sense of uncertainty, and how organisations shape that uncertainty through communication and design, we stop treating change as an interruption.

There is skill in navigating it.

There is intelligence in pacing it.

There is care in designing it well.

If we play our part thoughtfully, change becomes a shared responsibility and a collective accomplishment.

Warmly,

Dilek

Official Collaboration Partners:

★ Lead Coach at the global coaching platform BetterUp based in USA.

★ Executive Coach and Trainer at SparkUs based in Turkey and Netherlands.

★ Impact Partner for coaching, training & facilitation projects at leadership experts Think Beyond Group based in Austria.

★ Leadership Coach at Percoms AG, based in Switzerland.

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