Summary: Change is hard, but leading it doesn’t have to be. If you’re feeling the pressure to drive change alone, it’s time to bring your managers into the process. At LifeLabs Learning, we teach the CAMPSTM Method to help you do just that. It’s a simple, science-backed tool to identify where people may resist change and what they need to feel engaged. Equip your leaders with tools like CAMPS to turn resistance into momentum.
Ever feel like you’re carrying the weight of the world, or at least the entire change process, on your shoulders? We feel you. Juggling the expectations of senior leaders and execs while ensuring your team sails smoothly through change is no small feat.
If you find yourself the lone captain of change at your org, it’s time to enlist your managers and elevate them to change leaders. A great place to start is the CAMPSTM Method, a handy framework for predicting where people might resist change and where they’re all in.
Lead change at work with the CAMPS Method
When it comes to leading change, all managers need the CAMPS tool in their toolkit. It tunes you into your team’s feelings about change and equips you to meet everyone’s needs.
Think of it this way: during change, employees fall into one of two ‘camps’—engaged or disengaged. Of course, the goal is for them to be firmly in the engaged camp, especially since only 32% of employees currently feel engaged at work.
Engaging your team in the change process is crucial if you want them to embrace it with open arms. At LifeLabs Learning, we teach how to keep folks engaged by drawing from research by psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci. They identified five specific brain cravings that fuel engagement: Certainty, Autonomy, Meaning, Progress, and Social inclusion… or simply, CAMPS.
How to reduce resistance to change and increase adoption
Research shows 39% of employees struggle with adaptability to change. Let’s look at each brain craving and how you can feed it to curb resistance and get people on board.
Certainty: Reduce anxiety when the future is unclear
Our brains have a serious thing for certainty. In fact, too much uncertainty can kick stress levels into high gear, triggering the fight or flight mode instead of curiosity and connection. What’s more, it can create a bottleneck of confusion when employees are left in the dark about expectations, priorities, or how success is defined.
Especially in times of change, your team counts on you to bring some certainty to the table. As a leader, your role is to identify any gaps in certainty and then collaborate on closing as many as you can.
How to satisfy certainty:
- Acknowledge shared feelings of uncertainty
- Be consistent and share what is remaining the same
- Communicate on a predictable cadence
- Focus on what is in your scope of control
Autonomy: Involve employees in the change process
Finding the perfect mix of employee autonomy and engagement in change is crucial. Tossing someone into a new situation without guidance or help? That’s autonomy overload, stirring up uncertainty and anxiety. Not involving them in the change process? Not enough autonomy. The sweet spot of choice and control is where the magic happens: more engagement and commitment all around.
Involving folks in the change process is essential to foster autonomy, especially considering only 27% of employees feel their leaders are equipped to guide teams through change. To strike the right balance, consider and talk about how a change affects each person personally. Communicate what folks will have a say in and provide opportunities for them to engage in the change process. Additionally, be sure to proactively address concerns people may have around disempowerment as a result of the change.
How to satisfy autonomy:
- Provide a choice of responsibilities
- Ask if more or less guidance is needed
- Invite people to co-create solutions
- Invite contributions through listening tours
Meaning: Help your team stay motivated during change
Research shows when folks understand how their work ties into their values, they’re way more engaged, satisfied, and productive. The same goes for understanding change. People want to know how change efforts connect to bigger-picture goals and objectives. When this link is fuzzy, they tend to disengage pretty quickly.
To cultivate a deeper sense of meaning, link-up, or connect, changes to your team, company, or even individual missions. This approach, which we teach in our Rapid Trust workshop, reinforces purpose and revs up motivation, especially important when things are new or in transition. Studies indicate that even small efforts to infuse work with meaning lead to higher engagement and performance.
How to satisfy meaning:
- Link changes to your team or company mission, or specific goals/objectives
- Craft a change vision statement and communicate it often
- Communicate how the change aligns with individual/team needs/work/values
- Highlight small wins as evidence the change is having the targeted impact
Progress: Track and celebrate small wins during change
To keep team members engaged during change, think about how it might impact their sense of progress. Encourage them to aim for small, continuous progress over big wins. Here’s the brainy reason why: when we hit our goals, our brains dish out dopamine, the feel-good chemical that signals reward. This process sets off a positive loop where progress triggers dopamine, boosting engagement, which fuels more progress, resulting in even more dopamine and engagement.
So, how can you ensure your team meets their needs for progress and gets that dopamine hit throughout a change initiative? Use your one-on-one time effectively to collaborate on setting and tracking adaptive goals, recognize wins, and check in on individual development.
How to satisfy progress:
- Acknowledge the grief of lost hope or plans
- Reset a small number of top priorities
- Focus on results vs. hours worked
- Shorten milestones to celebrate small wins
Ready to make change that sticks? Download our free paper today!
Social Inclusion (Fairness): Make sure everyone feels included in the change process
Exclusion hurts, like, really hurts. Research even suggests taking Tylenol can help ease the emotional pain. Feeling undervalued or sidelined at work can seriously drag down engagement and productivity. But, on the flip side, promoting social inclusion and fairness can increase commitment, performance, and change resilience in the workplace.
You can help people feel included and treated fairly by ensuring your change coalition, the people leading the change, has a good mix of team members from different departments and levels within your company. Additionally, don’t overlook the importance of recognizing and rewarding employees for their contributions to driving change.
How to satisfy inclusion:
- Ask about feelings and individual needs
- Gauge a sense of fairness across teams
- Communicate how equity and inclusion planning were incorporated into the change design process
- Consider what inclusion might look like in your change communication plan
Engage your team during change with a CAMPS check
Now that you know the five brain cravings, let’s talk CAMPS checks. They’re critical to getting everyone on board with change. You want your team to feel engaged and part of the process, right? A CAMPS check is like a quick pulse check to see where people stand.
CAMPS checks assess how change might hit each CAMPS factor for every person or group impacted. You give stakeholders a score, on a scale of 1-10, for each brain craving (certainty, autonomy, meaning, progress, and social inclusion) to reveal any gaps you need to bridge and fine-tune your approach. (Bonus tip: Consider what might move each score up by one point to make your change effort more effective.)
There are two specific moments where a CAMPS check really shines:
1. Listening Tours
In our Leading Change workshop, we teach a great starting point for leading change: the listening tour. These are structured conversations where leaders engage key stakeholders to gather insights, concerns, and perspectives before advocating for a proposed change. You’ll likely need to circle back to it repeatedly to make sure everyone’s voice is heard and keep that feedback flowing.
Before jumping in, do a quick CAMPS check to get you ready for your convos. It’ll help you tune in to what people really need. Knowing how your team views and copes with change is crucial, especially in virtual settings with limited opportunities for casual chats.
2. One-on-Ones
One-on-one meetings are a powerful tool for diagnosing and boosting engagement, as well as an excellent opportunity to lead change. Approach each session with the goal of understanding your team member’s mindset by conducting a CAMPS check.
Check out these practical tips for satisfying each brain craving in one-on-ones:
- Certainty – Commit to consistent meetings. Aim for the same time and day of the week.
- Autonomy – Ask where they’d like more direction or freedom to do things their own way.
- Meaning – Ask what they find most meaningful and link their work to a mission.
- Progress – Ask them to share small wins, or what went well in the past week.
- Social inclusion – Ask how satisfied they are with their work relationships and help them network!
Leading Change Together with CAMPS
Don’t go it alone when it comes to change! Give your managers the CAMPS tool to help them lead the way. This easy-to-follow framework gives you a shared vocabulary to talk about what matters most during change, ensuring everyone stays engaged. And as all leaders feed employees’ CAMPS cravings, the whole team will feel valued, assured, and integral to the change process.
Guide your entire team through the change process with our comprehensive Leading Change in Uncertain Times Playbook! Download it now
FAQs:
What is the CAMPSTM Method?
CAMPS is a simple, science-backed tool that helps leaders guide people through change. It stands for Certainty, Autonomy, Meaning, Progress, and Social inclusion: five core psychological needs that drive engagement during times of change.
Why is CAMPS helpful for change management?
When people’s core needs aren’t met during change, they resist or disengage. CAMPS provides leaders with a way to identify potential resistance early and take action to increase buy-in, clarity, and commitment.
When should I use a CAMPS check?
Use CAMPS during any change initiative, especially in early planning stages, before rollouts, and during 1-1s. It helps you proactively identify gaps in support and tailor your communication and strategy.
How do I run a CAMPS check?
Rate each CAMPS factor (Certainty, Autonomy, Meaning, Progress, and Social inclusion) on a scale of 1–10 for each person or group affected by change. Then ask: what could move that score up one point?
How is CAMPS different from other change models?
Most change models focus on process. CAMPS focuses on people. It’s a fast, practical way to understand how your team is experiencing change and what they need to stay engaged.
Can I train my managers to use CAMPS?
Yes! That’s exactly what we do at LifeLabs Learning. We teach managers how to use CAMPS in real conversations to lead change with empathy, clarity, and effectiveness.
How can I make change feel more inclusive and equitable?
The Social Inclusion part of CAMPS is your guide here. Include diverse voices in your change planning process, communicate how input is being used, and check in regularly to ensure people feel seen, heard, and valued.
How do I create a culture where people are open to change?
A change-ready culture starts with everyday habits. When managers consistently feed people’s CAMPS cravings, especially Meaning, Progress, and Autonomy, they create a foundation of trust and engagement that makes future changes easier to navigate.
How do I lead change without overwhelming my team?
It’s common for change to feel like “just one more thing” on an already full plate. Use the Progress and Certainty parts of CAMPS to reset expectations, focus on a few key priorities, and celebrate small wins along the way.
