The SteadyChange approach

Change without weakening. Evolve without losing oneself.

This approach is intended for all types of organizations and human collectives — businesses, associations, institutions, NGOs, communities — regardless of their size or sector, who want to make change safer, calm the fears and protective reflexes it can trigger, and create the conditions for a more fluid, conscious, and aligned evolution.

We acknowledge that:

In a rapidly transforming world, change has become a necessity.

It can be a source of remarkable progress but also carries profound risks.

The rapid growth of our activities, technological advances, economic upheavals, and societal transformations constantly compel organizations to adapt ever faster.

Yet, while our environment evolves exponentially, our human, cultural, and organizational structures change at a much slower pace.

This gap confronts us with a major dilemma:

Refuse change and risk disappearing or becoming obsolete,

OR

Embrace change rapidly, but risk weakening what once was our strength, our identity, and our mastery.

It is this false dilemma — and the fear it generates — that fuels fears and protective reflexes.

Faced with this dilemma, we choose a third way:

The 5 SteadyChange compasses offer a simple approach, applicable across a wide range of contexts, to accompany change.
By clarifying what we choose to preserve and by turning them into shared Watchpoints,
we build trust and help teams overcome their natural fears of change.
This unlocks a dynamic of aligned and steady action.

We therefore recognize the need:

To define together the Invariants we want to preserve,
rather than reacting impulsively to urgency or the fear of missing out (FOMO).
To translate them into simple, visible Watchpoints,
rather than seeking false security in rigid and complex procedures.
To foster leadership that embodies them, keeps them alive, and frees initiative,
rather than relying on hierarchical control or systematic validation of every decision.
To act and learn from the field with discernment,
rather than executing rigid directives disconnected from the field.
To regulate at the right pace what must evolve — and what must remain,
rather than preserving everything blindly as untouchable dogmas.

We accept that:

Human behaviors in the face of change are often driven by reflexes of protection or fear.
We believe that adopting these principles of vigilance and clarity creates psychological safety and enables us to integrate necessary evolutions without losing what truly matters.

This approach is an invitation:

To change with clarity,
To evolve collectively for the better,
To build resilient organizations,

Not because they resist the world,
But because they know precisely what they choose to preserve — and why.

By adopting this approach, you actively contribute to strengthening it and keeping it alive, in alignment with its original intent:

To facilitate change without sacrificing what makes us human.

I warmly invite you to join this journey with integrity and enthusiasm, to preserve its meaning and respect its original intention, so that together we can evolve sustainably, without ever losing sight of what truly matters.

Complementarity with your existing practices

It is not meant to replace your existing approaches, methods, or strategic governance tools, but to enrich them — helping you lead change while preserving what makes you strong, unique, and human.

SteadyChange Principles

Patrice Fornalik

Created on 05- 23-2025

License:

The compasses and principles of SteadyChange are released under the Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivatives license (CC BY-NC-ND).

You are free to share them and use them as-is, including internally within your organizations, provided that:

you explicitly credit the author and the source of the approach;
you do not use them for commercial purposes without prior agreement;
you do not modify them (no derivative, reworked, or rewritten versions).

If you wish to translate, adapt, or integrate all or part of SteadyChange into a medium, a training program, a product, or any commercial initiative, please go through the “contact” page on the website: together, we will determine the form that best respects the intent and the framework.

To go further, a few inspiring case studies

→ See case studies in action

→ Explore our key principles