“People don’t change until they are ready to” (Arloski, 2014, p. 267). Therefore, it is important to develop one’s trust in own, team, and leadership capacities to allow for open communication and vulnerability with oneself and others in working through the difficulty in changes. 

Change can be initiated or experienced at an individual, societal, or organizational level. Understanding readiness for change can make the journey easier for those involved. Change (anticipated or unexpected) [for individuals, or] within any organization can unsettle [individuals] and should be planned and handled with care. While it is not always possible to predict what is ahead, it is vital to be ready for different possible futures. “The time to prepare for change is not when it hits. It’s before it hits” (Rinne, 2021, para. 4). 

Helpful may be understanding that the dimensions of load and power, meaning where resources come from, are comprised of both external and internal factors (Merriam & Caffarella, 1999). For example, external load may include normal life responsibilities, for example family, work, and community, while internal load consists of “life expectancies developed by people” understood as aspirations, desires, and future expectations (Merriam & Caffarella, 1999, p. 280). The external resources needed for power may include family support, social and physical abilities or skills, economic abilities, and work and community (Stevenson, 1982). Internal power resources may come from acquired or accumulated skills and experiences such as “physiological functioning, intellectual development, education, self-concept, spiritual/religious strengths, goals, and expectations which have been achieved” (Stevenson, 1982, p. 222).

Holt et al. (2010), on the other hand, argue that readiness to change is a multilayered concept with two main components; psychological and structural going hand in hand. An organisation with highly motivated individuals for a change will probably fail at the change implementation if the structure does not support the technical aspect of the path to change (Holt et al., 2010).

Holt et al. (2010) identified 4 factors that influence psychological readiness to change for individuals that are non-sequential in nature and can influence change them in different ways appropriateness, principal support, change efficacy and valence.

• As per Holt et al., (2010), appropriateness factor entails the belief that change recipients hold for the conditions and regulated arrangement of a change at a given point in time.
• Principal Support factor is how confident change recipients are in the change management abilities of change leaders and if they perceive the change leaders are fit for the role.
• Change Efficacy is an inward reflecting self-belief on how change recipients perceive themselves to be skilled enough to make the change process successful. 
• Valence factor is the psychological building block of how beneficial change recipients perceive the change initiative to be. 

Furthermore, for the structural dimension of change, Holt et al. (2010) identified four factors that can impact an organisations’ readiness to change:

• Organisational structure – The hierarchy, division of tasks and responsibilities that exist before a change process is undertaken. The structure regulates how change leaders perform their task of communicating and implementing the change process. It is of paramount importance to note that organisational structures not flexible enough will fail to benefit from change initiatives;
• Knowledge – the pre-existing information that change recipients have at their disposal;
• Skill – the existing set of personal tools that change recipients possess that can be used to implement change;
• Ability – the capability of change recipients to go through the change process by using knowledge and skills they have gained over time.

Both Holt et al. (2010) and Bouckenooghe et al. (2009) are emphasising a lot on the psychological and emotional aspect of readiness to change. This is where the mindset of change recipients is of paramount importance.