In fast-changing environments, learning cannot be confined to occasional training programmes. Antifragile teams build learning into their weekly rhythm. PHOTO | COURTESY
We are living through an unprecedented pace of change. Each day brings new technologies, new expectations, new competitors, new social pressures, and new anxieties.
The familiar rhythm of strategy, execution, stability has been replaced by something far less predictable: disruption, adaptation, and disruption again.
It is not that leaders are facing more change than before. It is that change has become continuous — like weather that never quite clears. And this raises a different kind of leadership question. Not: How do I manage change?
But: How do I lead when change is the permanent condition? Learning Agility: The new leadership advantage In times of disruption, the most reliable leadership signal is not expertise or certainty. It is learning agility — the ability to stay fluid without becoming frantic.
Learning-agile leaders:
• Hold their expertise lightly
• Update faster than their ego prefers
• Are willing to be beginners in public
• Experiment without declaring every experiment a major “transformation programme” The leaders who thrive are not those who never feel tired, fearful, or uncertain. They are those who can acknowledge reality honestly and adapt without losing themselves. Across organisations and teams today, three patterns stand out.
1. Change fatigue is real — and it is not laziness
Change fatigue is often misunderstood. It is not resistance or lack of motivation. It is unprocessed loss.
Every wave of change quietly asks people to let go of something they built their identity around: skills, routines, status, certainty, or belonging. When this loss is not acknowledged, fatigue accumulates. The response is not more slogans or motivational speeches. It is what might be called leadership hygiene. First, leaders must name what is being lost.
Saying, “This change isn’t small. I see what it costs you,” creates trust. Instead of rushing everyone into the future, pause long enough to acknowledge what people are being asked to release.
Second, leaders must build a “meaning bridge.”
People can tolerate almost any disruption if they understand why it matters. But that “why” must be real, not corporate wallpaper. Not simply, “We must stay competitive,”
But, “We must adapt so we can protect livelihoods, create new opportunities, and continue serving our communities well.”
Meaning turns disruption from threat into shared purpose.
2. From resilience to antifragility
Resilient teams survive shocks and return to what they were. Antifragile teams go further — they grow stronger because of stress.
In unstable environments, resilience helps you endure. Antifragility helps you thrive. Antifragile teams share key habits. They prefer small experiments over big bets.
Instead of waiting for perfect clarity, they run safe-to-fail pilots, learn in public, and adjust calmly rather than react in panic. In uncertainty, the priority is not more planning, but more learning.
They also distribute decision-making. When every decision must travel up a hierarchy, organisations slow down and lose momentum.
Antifragile teams clarify decision rights, build trust, shorten feedback loops, and encourage leaders to coach rather than control.
Resilience helps you bounce back. Antifragility helps you move forward stronger.
3. Learning as a daily habit, not an annual event
In fast-changing environments, learning cannot be confined to occasional training programmes. Antifragile teams build learning into their weekly rhythm.
This includes:
• Short retrospectives
• Peer coaching
• Brief skill-sharing sessions
• Quick debriefs after meetings or client interactions
• Simple check-ins asking, “What are we noticing?”
They do not just do work. They do work and learn from the work.
Disruption through the SPARK leadership lens
Disruption is not only operational. It is deeply human. The SPARK leadership framework helps leaders navigate change without losing their humanity.
Service asks: Who are we serving now? Needs evolve, customers change, and relevance depends on staying anchored in service rather than ego. Purpose acts as a compass. In uncertain terrain, a compass is more valuable than a detailed map.
Attraction emerges when service and purpose translate into real progress. People follow leaders who make change feel meaningful, not random. Resilience is not toughness alone.
It is the ability to recover, re-centre, and re-engage without bitterness. Knowing is the modern leader’s core skill: seeing reality clearly, suspending ego, and learning fast. SPARK does not eliminate disruption. It gives leaders a way to walk through it with clarity, compassion, and courage.
The question is no longer whether disruption will continue. It will. The real question is this: where is change fatigue showing up in your team — and what small leadership ritual could you introduce this week to help people regain energy, meaning, and momentum?
