It is often said that the only constant in today’s frenetic world is change. Nothing is today as it was yesterday, and tomorrow will be different yet. We humans naturally resist change. It is hard wired into our brains. We prefer comfort and familiarity over ambiguity and the unknown.

Every company on the planet is experiencing change to some degree. A majority of companies have gone through multiple, major changes in the past few years. Many of those efforts have failed, with most employees reporting increasing levels of stress and change fatigue. That stress can have a strong negative impact on employee behavior, disrupting people’s ability to do their jobs. A loss of focus created by anxiety and frustration lead to poor decision making and the tendency for employees to entrench themselves in old habits and behaviors, further impacting the chance of success. It may take a year or more for the effects of even one major change to wear off. And since the number and pace of changes are increasing, the cumulative effects continue to drive engagement and performance downward.

So how can companies help their employees to not just survive change, but to drive it? A strong partnership with executive management, key functions and communication leadership is critical. With the right approach, strategic communications can help to build an organization that is more nimble and ready for ongoing change.

The traditional approach to change management typically “cascades” messages downward from senior leadership to employees in order to build buy-in. In building agility, however, companies can shift from a culture where employees are the objects of change to one where employees are the drivers of change.

To make the paradigm shift from a mindset that change is an event to be survived, to a culture that embraces change as a way of doing business, communications must focus on strategies and tools that help employees personally connect their day-to-day work with the market realities driving change. As business partners, communicators should help leaders become comfortable empowering employees to make decisions, and create communication platforms to enable peers to learn from one another and to develop solutions on their own.

The journey is not a short one. There will be bumps in the road, detours, and times when repairs are needed. But for the company willing to make the commitment, the destination is well worth the effort.