The Chain Reaction: Successful Change Movements in Living Organisations

Our world is changing – and organisations must adapt 

Entire industries are being reshaped before our eyes. In just 15 years, Netflix didn’t just change how we watch TV and film – it rewrote the rules of production and distribution. What began with on-demand streaming soon made DVD rentals obsolete, and later transformed into a powerhouse of award-winning original content. Similarly, during the COVID-19 crisis, Moderna demonstrated the power of mRNA technology by creating vaccines in months rather than years. This was more than a scientific breakthrough; it created a new model for “platform-based biotech” capable of responding to global crises faster than ever before.

Work itself is shifting too. Hybrid models and the gig economy – enabled by platforms such as Upwork and TaskRabbit – are redefining employment. Artificial intelligence is augmenting and automating professional work, while mounting sustainability pressures demand that organisations rethink how they operate. These shifts are happening alongside geopolitical upheaval and new social movements, creating an environment in which both industries and everyday life are constantly being reinvented.

Why traditional change continues to fail 

And yet, despite this turbulence, many organisations still rely on traditional approaches to change – top-down, mechanistic programmes that rarely deliver. The evidence is sobering: around 70% of change initiatives fail to achieve their intended outcomes (McKinsey, 2015). Employees themselves confirm the disconnect: Gartner (2019) found that 39% resist change due to poor communication and lack of understanding. Transformation often falters not because of strategy, but because people feel excluded from shaping it.

A new way of seeing change 

What’s needed is a new mindset – one that recognises organisations as living systems made up of people, not machines made of parts. People form networks of relationships, and transformation takes place as groups think, act, and relate differently. In other words, change is a social, human process. Successful movements start small, grow through these networks, and sustain themselves as new ways of thinking and behaving take root.

Organisations as living beings 

We often hear the phrase “people are our greatest asset,” yet reality tells a different story. Gallup’s 2024 global survey found only 23% of employees were truly engaged (“thriving at work”), while the remaining 77% were either disengaged or actively resistant – the so-called “quiet quitters” and “loud quitters.”

At the heart of this problem is what we might call a “machine mindset” – the belief that people can be slotted into roles like interchangeable cogs. Biology offers a different lens. Life itself operates on core principles, and these can be applied to organisations. The “seven principles of life” can be mapped to seven characteristics of Living Organisations1:

1. Purpose Driven – Anchored in a unique, guiding reason for existence.
2. Embodied Purpose – Expressed cognitively (ideas), physically (structures), and emotionally (culture).
3. Capability Based – Skilled in solving relevant problems aligned with its purpose.
4. Living / Adaptive – Able to evolve in response to its environment.
5. Integrated / Balanced – Maintains harmony through cross-functional collaboration.
6. Lifelong Growth – Evolves through stages of maturity, like a person.
7. Networked – Part of wider ecosystems, not isolated entities.

When these traits are present, organisations are healthier, more sustainable, and more profitable – a pattern backed by research such as Collins and Porras’ *Built to Last*. Embracing this living systems perspective creates the conditions for successful, lasting change.

Change as a movement 

If organisations are living, then change is better understood as a movement. It doesn’t spread through mandates but through energy, connection, and conversation. It often begins with a small “cell” – a group of people experimenting with new behaviours – before rippling outward. When others see the results, they join in, until the change becomes embedded across teams and functions. Sometimes the movement even leaps outside the organisation.

Toyota’s Continuous Improvement (Lean) movement is a powerful example. Starting in the 1950s with incremental changes to production, Lean principles spread through worker involvement and a relentless focus on improvement. Over decades, the movement revolutionised efficiency and quality, spreading across industries and geographies.

Change as a chain reaction 

Successful transformation often unfolds like a chain reaction – three stages repeating and building momentum:

1. Critical Mass – A core team develops shared purpose, behaviours, and message.
2. React & Release – This core engages with others across locations and functions, spreading ideas.
3. Stabilise & Settle – New teams embed the change, forming part of a growing “team of teams.”

The cycle then repeats, with each new team sharing and sustaining the change, until the organisation – and even whole industries – are transformed.

The Obama campaign: change in action 

Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign offers a vivid case study. In early 2007, Obama assembled a small team of seasoned strategists who crafted the message of “Hope and Change” and built a digital infrastructure to support it. By mid-year, the campaign had spread into key states, opening field offices and training local leaders to run neighbourhood teams. This decentralised approach gave communities real ownership.

During the primaries, momentum accelerated. Through the MyBO platform and social media, volunteers weren’t just participants – they became organisers and advocates, spreading the message themselves. What began as a campaign became a genuine grassroots movement, drawing in people who had never before been politically active. By late 2008, the energy had become unstoppable. Grassroots organising and record-breaking turnout powered a historic victory and redefined how campaigns – and change – could be built in the digital age.

In summary 

Our struggles with transformation reflect a deeper misunderstanding of organisations themselves. They are not machines; they are living systems of people connected in networks. Transformation happens as these people think, act, and relate differently. Change succeeds when it grows as a movement – a chain reaction that starts small, gains momentum, and spreads across the system.

For leaders, the lesson is clear: stop trying to control change from the top down. Instead, create the conditions for it to spread – by sparking purpose, empowering people, and allowing the movement to take root and grow.

Written by Paul Lambert.