Where Do We Turn When Everything is Changing?

Climate change, disruption in all levels of the United States government, COVID-19’s unexpected ripple effect — if anything is constant about the last few years in our world’s history, it’s change. Many large-scale shifts are out of our immediate control, but the smaller changes we experience daily can add to this overwhelm. Change jump-starts our innate fear of the unknown by turning what we know on its head and confronting us with the concepts of loss and uncertainty. But change can also be the catalyst to finding hidden opportunities for growth and success, and getting comfortable with leaning into the discomfort they bring can be the key to rising above it all. 

As we navigate our ever-changing landscape, our team at KSV has steadied our foundation by tackling each of these changes head-on. With ideas in our heads and solutions in our back pockets, we want to share our insights and challenge others in this space to lean into change. In this article, we’ll discuss how personal resilience strengthens your team, design thinking repels inertia, and research-backed processes can implement positive change for your organization as a whole. Digging into any one of these has the potential to reveal hidden opportunities and strengthen your team in ways you may not have anticipated.

Personal Resilience Leads to Success Navigating Disruption

To lean into the discomfort that change brings and move through it effectively, it’s crucial to take a step back and look at the team around you. Nonstop change affects not only your organization, but the people within, in many different, individual ways. Recognizing this challenge and providing your team members with various stress-management strategies can be the first step in moving through cyclical change together. In our own experience, bolstering resilience in our employees and proactively empowering our teams in order to avoid burnout and change-fatigue ensures that we are able to best deliver for our clients.

In the midst of cyclical change, experts say that focusing on individual needs while tackling a problem can result in insight-driven solutions that effectively serve the end user. From hosting external speakers to discuss burnout and resilience to establishing internal non-work related Slack channels to strengthen connections and commonalities across teams, KSV has utilized different strategies to improve stress management and a sense of belonging among our employees. For your organization, this could take shape as organizing monthly community-boosting activities or yearly off-site retreats. 

At the end of the day, supporting your employees on a holistic level equips them to manage stress and navigate everyday changes from an empowered perspective. This, in turn, lines up your organization to do the same and face large-scale change with a prepared and enthusiastic team at your back. 

Design Flexibility into Your Work and Reject Stagnation 

Change can mean many things: what’s happening in the world at large, in the industry, in our own bubbles. Tackling them all at once is likely impossible, and yet, avoiding change paralysis to ensure that stagnation is stopped in its tracks is crucial. Intentionally directing your efforts toward one change at a time can facilitate the development of useful and strategic solutions that work. 

Nick Bruskewitz, KSV’s chief creative officer, spoke to the potential stagnation that mass change can bring on — as it relates to the world of marketing and advertising specifically — and KSV’s philosophy guiding against the resulting inertia:

The industry is in a precarious and interesting state of flux. Either you embrace change optimistically or you’re a stick-in-the-mud; you have to be able to take advantage of new platforms, technologies, cultural trends, upheaval, and the diversity of perspective to cultivate positive tension and communication. 

KSV’s creative problem-solving process is all about compiling, distilling, and trialing; we throw ideas at the wall until something sticks, refine and iterate upon the blossoming idea until it’s just right, then start audience testing and finally implementation. This comes from the concept of design thinking, introduced in the 1960s. As one of the “most useful [strategies] to tackle ill-defined or unknown problems” and adapt to changes on the fly, design thinking allows us to engage our team members in thoughtful discussions with many-pronged perspectives, ensuring the best possible solution for the larger community.

Successful leaders don’t only change with the wind; they approach every challenge with a forward-looking mentality that leans into each change along the way. Leaders that design intentional flexibility into their workflows in 2025 will cultivate teams that are better prepared to withstand change. 

Implement Change Using a Steady Process

Fostering creativity, resilience, and stability are all powerful tools to help any organization thrive amidst our changing landscape. Dr. John Kotter, in his 8-step process for leading change, notes that inspiring your team with an engaging goal, allowing space for diverse ideas, and building a supportive network lays the groundwork for implementing change that lasts. 

“Be relentless with initiating change after change until the vision is a reality.” Being dedicated to your goal not only inspires others to participate, it can also shine a light on why the proposed change is effective and worth the investment. Setting and achieving small-scale goals can foster inspiration and boost forward momentum, giving your team the lift it may need to overcome any final hurdles in the implementation of your goals. 

Finding Opportunity in Uncertainty

If we are to deftly maneuver through each incoming change, leaders need to understand what these forces mean for their organization, and be open to exploring the possibilities that come from adapting with the change in a way that makes the most sense for their people and their business. Whether you look at change through a science fiction novel or a Harvard researcher’s multistep process, the only crux is to find what sticks for you and your team — be curious, explore what the experts have to say, experiment with various perspectives and philosophies, and lean on your organization — and networks — to find a way to thrive.

As Octavia E. Butler writes in her 1993 novel, Parable of the Sower, “change is part of life, of existence, of the common wisdom”; it’s up to us to face it. Let’s connect to discuss how KSV can be your strategic partner in overcoming change and developing smart solutions that can drive your business through any obstacle.