Three Rules Worth Breaking When Your Organisation Is Changing

Change is rarely comfortable. Whether it’s scaling down, restructuring, or adapting to new priorities, organisational change disrupts routines and challenges assumptions. The systems and habits that worked in steady times can quickly become obstacles when the ground shifts beneath you.

In times of change, clinging to old rules can feel safe but it can also hold you back. What made sense yesterday might not serve you today. Navigating change isn’t just about survival; it’s about creating space for resilience, adaptability, and progress.

Here are three rules worth breaking (or bending) on shifting sands.

Rule 1: If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

In stable times, this advice makes sense. But during change, cracks can quickly become chasms. A process that limped along before can collapse under new pressures, whether that’s fewer resources, different priorities, or new compliance requirements. Suddenly, what was “good enough” in the past becomes unworkable.

Break the rule: Don’t wait for failure. Audit processes regularly and flag issues early. Fixing before things they break saves time, frustration, and morale.

Rule 2: Make Yourself Indispensable

Traditional wisdom says: find a niche, make yourself essential. But in organisations facing change, being indispensable can limit your options. When new opportunities or new responsibilities appear, you’ll struggle to take them if no one else can do what you do.

Break the rule: Make yourself dispensable. Document your work, teach others, and create space for flexibility. Knowing how to do something isn’t the same as knowing how to teach it but change gives you plenty of chances to practise.

Rule 3: Treat Others How You Want to Be Treated

This one isn’t about breaking. It’s about enhancing. Inclusion thrives when we consider what others need, not just what we’d want. Treat others how they want to be treated. You might hope for after-work drinks to bond with new colleagues, but someone juggling caring responsibilities might prefer a lunch that still let's them get home for bedtime.

Enhance the rule: Ask, don’t assume. Get conscious about the barriers others face and take steps to remove them. Belonging is built on many small gestures and these are what maintain community in times of turbulence.

Final Thought

Change can be challenging. It can also an opportunity to rethink how we work and connect. The rules that served you well in the past might not serve you now.

Thoughtfully breaking (or bending) them can shift your experience.