From Unfreeze to Always-On: Evolving Change Management for Today’s Workforce

kristian8120
6 hours ago
2 min read

If you’re still trying to “freeze” your organization after a big change, good luck, because it’ll melt in a week.

For decades, leaders leaned on Kurt Lewin’s famous three-step model: Unfreeze → Change → Refreeze. The logic was neat. Loosen up old ways, implement the new, then lock it in. Job done.

Except… today’s business world doesn’t stay still long enough to refreeze anything. By the time you “stabilize,” another disruption, AI, regulation, market shifts, is already at your door. Lewin’s model was brilliant for its time, but the workplace has outgrown the ice metaphor.

Why change keeps failing?

It’s not that Lewin is wrong. In fact, they still offer a great approach to initiate change. But here’s the thing: many leaders still treat change as an event, a project with a finish line.

That’s why so many initiatives stall. Leaders declare victory after rollout, only to find old or new bad habits creeping back in. Or they underestimate how much emotional energy change demands, leaving employees drained and disengaged. The result? The famous “70% of change efforts fail” statistic keeps haunting boardrooms (McKinsey, 2021; WTW, 2023).

The shift to always-on change

In today’s environment, change isn’t linear, it’s perpetual. Leaders can’t afford to “manage” change like a seasonal campaign. Instead, they need to cultivate change readiness, an “always-on” mindset as an ongoing capability.

Think of it this way:

Unfreeze becomes always flexible: Leaders encourage curiosity, openness, and questioning of the status quo.
Change becomes continuous adaptation: Micro-shifts, pilots, and agile experiments instead of one massive rollout.
Refreeze becomes recalibrate: Constantly adjusting, reinforcing, and learning, without assuming stability will last.

In short: stop trying to freeze, and start learning to flow.

What leaders can do differently

Moving to an always-on approach doesn’t mean abandoning structure; it means rethinking your role as a leader. Change leadership today is less about pushing through resistance and more about creating conditions where people can thrive in uncertainty.

That starts with telling the story of change—not just once at a town hall, but repeatedly and consistently, so that the “why” stays clear even when the “what” shifts. It also means investing in resilience rather than trying to “fix” resistance, equipping teams with the mindset and tools to adapt and bounce back.

Perhaps most importantly, leaders must model adaptability themselves; if you cling to the old ways, so will your team. And as progress unfolds, remember to celebrate the micro-wins. Small, consistent steps forward generate momentum far more reliably than a single grand launch.

The real future of change

Here’s the reality: the idea of “refreezing” belongs to another era. Today, organizations that thrive are the ones that treat change as a muscle, not a milestone. They train it, stretch it, and build endurance.

The question isn’t “How do we manage change?” anymore. It’s “How do we lead in a world where change never stops?”

At ALVIGOR, we help organizations build this muscle. Whether general employees, HRBPs, M-level, or C-level, our programs equip your people to not just survive change but to thrive in it. Collaborate with us NOW!