If you or your team are already working at stretched capacity, there’s no room left. People are keeping up with their work, likely pushing an extra hour or two, then going home to recover.

Now ask that same person to take a class, learn something new, and start using a tool that will slow them down before it helps. That’s a tough ask. (But the organization, the world, is asking for continuous improvement, and AI is accelerating that pressure.)

Promises of future gains don’t mean much when someone already feels behind. Especially if that payoff is further out than they can realistically focus on.

Change requires slack.

In the U.S., we’re hyper-focused on optimizing every moment of the workday for value. What we forget is that value also comes from learning, adapting, and preparing for what’s next.

Being ready means working more efficiently. Being overwhelmed means working slower.

Slack in the work week isn’t waste. It’s what allows people to grow, try new approaches, and actually adopt change.

If you’re leading a change effort and adoption is low, it’s worth stepping back and asking why.

It’s not the idea.

It’s how much oxygen remains for the fire you are trying to ignite.