Don’t Push Change. Make SPACE for It.

In today’s volatile world, change is no longer a one-time initiative — it’s a continuous capability. Yet many organizations in Central and Eastern Europe still rely on top-down change management approaches that push people through pre-defined transformations. These efforts often fail, not because people resist change, but because the environment doesn’t support it.

What is a changeSPACE? 

At SEED, we believe the true job of a change leader is not to drive change, but to create the space where the right changes can emerge. Similarly to a makerspace, where people have the right tools, space, and freedom to create what they believe is needed, we call this type of organizational environment the changeSPACE — an ecosystem where strategy, people, processes, leadership, and systems work together to enable continuous adaptation and innovation.

‘SPACE’ is also an acronym for the five key elements of such environments:

(S) — In a changeSPACE, Strategy is not about planning and dreaming, but about winning through creating sustainable competitive advantage that evolves with the market. This is already a factor where many companies fail because they substitute strategy with long term financial plans and/or long term aspirational goals, but do not define their clear differentiation.

(P) — People who aren’t passive recipients of change; they are active agents, engaged through tools rooted in modern behavioral science that drive real motivation and commitment. “Leadership is applied psychology” – as we often say at SEED, and how could you work as an applied psychologist without the insights and techniques of state-of-the-art people science? If understood and applied well, these tools can help you understand and engage people with change much more effectively than traditional over-simplified change ‘models’.

(A) — Central to the changeSPACE is an Adaptive Process: a disciplined loop of hypotheses, iterations, and learning, turning assumptions into insight and action. Change becomes less about guessing and more about testing. Although often talked about, this type of truly systematic process is alien to many senior leaders.

(C) — And no change can thrive without Credible Leaders — those who are trusted, respected, and followed, not because of their title, but because of their authenticity, clarity, and consistency. “Be the change you want to see in the world” is a notion few change leaders truly embrace.

(E) — And finally, a changeSPACE can be created only in Empowered Organizations — structures, systems, and cultures that support autonomy, psychological safety, cross-functional collaboration, and rapid response to change. These are not accidental by-products; they must be intentionally designed and created.  The organizational forms that enable changeSPACEs are often very different from the traditional organizational forms and require new ways of thinking about how a company should be structured and operated.

Why is this so crucial for CEE companies?

Because our region is entering a new phase. Competitive advantages based on cost or location are eroding. Global players are moving faster, and the war for talent is intensifying. Organizations that don’t build adaptive capacity will fall behind — not because they lack ambition, but because they lack the environment for change.

CEE leaders often ask: “How do we make people change?” It’s the wrong question. The better one is: “How do we create the space where people want to change and know how to?” That is the heart of change leadership in the 21st century.

You can learn the leadership tools and skills for building your own changeSPACE at SEED’s Leading Change program.

The article was written by dr. László Eszes, CEO and Academic Director of SEED Executive School.