Is Your Change Too Big?
The Change Signal with Jana Werner
Listen or Watch on:
In this episode, I talk with Jana Werner about why so much change management still feels like something done to people, rather than with them.
Jana argues that large organizations often hire smart, capable people — and then design transformation in ways that sideline their judgment, curiosity, and ownership. We explore why top-down change may feel faster at first, but often becomes slower because it doesn’t stick.
We also get into one of the trickier questions in change leadership: how do you build genuine agency? Jana’s view is that ownership has to be both given and taken — and many organizations have quietly trained people out of taking it.
This conversation is practical, thoughtful, and nicely skeptical of the giant transformation program. If you lead change in a large organization, Jana offers a more human and more usable alternative: clarify purpose, remove friction, start smaller, and let change become a habit woven into the work.
Here are three questions that arise from this Change Signal conversation:
What intelligence are you wasting?
Who really owns the change?
What needs to go first?
ABOUT JANA:
Jana Werner is the author of The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation. She has a PhD in complexity and uncertainty, works as an executive at Amazon Web Services, and brings together academic depth, practical leadership experience, and a clear point of view on how organizations can change without turning people into exhausted Tin Men.
Music Credits: Rest in the Garden - SackJo22 ft Duckett & The Stubble Field Break (Mana Mixed) - Mana Junkie ft Apoxode
