Getting Unstuck: Thriving When Change Feels Uncomfortable By Samantha Kiani

Discover how the human ability to embrace curiosity amid rapid change still drives industry progress, even in an age dominated by AI and intelligent tools.

The future of this industry will not be decided by tools alone. It will be shaped by how people respond to change.

Periods of rapid change rarely feel energising when you are living through them. Uncertainty can be exhausting.

Fear of change leads our minds to start asking difficult questions:
Am I still relevant?
Do I know enough to keep up?
What if I get this wrong?

In many professions, these feelings show up as hesitation or resistance to new tools or new ways of working.

Beneath the surface, something more human is happening. Faced with too much uncertainty, our nervous system moves into protection mode.

Instead of exploring, we conserve. Instead of experimenting, we hold on to what we know. It can look like reluctance to change. Usually it is uncertainty fatigue.

In the research and survey technology profession, this tension is particularly visible. The industry is built on rigour, consistency and methodological integrity. Those instincts have safeguarded the credibility of insight for decades.

Yet today the landscape is shifting quickly. AI, automation and new platforms are transforming how work gets done.

The challenge is not simply learning new tools. The deeper challenge is how human beings respond to uncertainty and change.

This session explores this human dimension:
Why capable professionals sometimes freeze in moments of rapid change.
Why fear of getting it wrong can quietly slow progress.
How each of us can move from protection to curiosity again and help others do the same.

Through reflection and interactive discussion, participants will explore how their personal relationship with change shapes how teams and organisations respond to it.

Participants will leave with practical ways to:

• recognise the natural human responses to uncertainty
• shift from fear and fatigue toward curiosity and experimentation
• support colleagues navigating the emotional side of change
• create environments where people feel safe learning and adapting

Because while technologies will continue to evolve, the real driver of progress remains deeply human.

Sam Kiani

Sam’s career in Change has spanned more than 25 years leading
many different types of change initiatives within some of the
largest Investment Banks, FinTech start ups and her own business
ventures.
Over the last 10 or so years Sam has been helping Senior
Leadership, Teams and Organisations reap the benefits of radical
behavioural change.
Sam’s career took this pivotal turn after Samantha volunteered as
a mentor to support young asylum seekers in 2015.
Sam helps Banks, Businesses and Charities practically embrace
radical change, increase collaboration and evolve ways of
working, co-creating the kind of sustainable, connected culture
that enables everyone to access their highest potential.
Her approach combines Systems Thinking; Entrepreneurship &
Product Mastery; Organisational Relationship and Human
Potential Coaching; Mentoring & Training.
Sam says “Happy, engaged, purpose-driven people create truly
excellent products and services – it’s a no brainer! Industrial
revolution 4.0 is now.”