From Sprint to Strategy: Navigating Change Fatigue After the Aged Care Reform Deferral
After months of intense preparation, the government’s decision to defer the new Aged Care Act to 1 November 2025 has sent ripples through the sector.
While many providers breathed a sigh of relief, some were left disheartened after racing to meet the original 1 July deadline. Thousands of aged care leaders, staff, older people, and families are now navigating an extended transition between regulatory frameworks.
In this Insight, we explore how providers can make the most of the delay by resetting the tempo of change, supporting fatigued teams, and maintaining momentum toward long-term reform.
A Sector in a Holding Pattern
Deferral was always an imperfect solution. Providers who were ready - or nearly ready - to launch new models of care, billing systems, agreements, and governance frameworks must now pause without losing momentum. Those still finalising their readiness must balance relief with renewed focus and avoid a similar scramble in November.
Meanwhile, thousands of staff, residents, and families are caught navigating a complex, shifting regulatory landscape. Providers must now operate longer under a dual compliance regime, maintaining the status quo while preparing for November’s changes. This extended limbo creates risks of:
- Policy duplication and version control errors.
- Staff confusion about processes or entitlements.
- Resident frustration over mixed messages or changing documents.
- Change fatigue across all levels of the organisation.
- Regulatory challenges, as the Commission transitions its processes and terminology to the new framework.
Understanding the Emotional Toll
For many aged care professionals, the lead up to the 1 July deadline has been exhausting. Project sprints, board scrutiny, last-minute system testing, and rushed training blurred the line between readiness and burnout. While the pause offers breathing space, it also demands a careful reset of energy and expectations for the road ahead.
From Sprint to Five-Month Strategy: A Practical Reset
“When a change window is extended without warning, people often feel deflated - like the finish line moved just as they were about to reach it. Managing that emotional dip can be just as challenging as the work itself.”
Providers who make the most of the delay will maintain focus and protect their teams from burnout by reframing the new timeline as a structured medium-term transition, rather than a “delayed sprint, to be resumed in October”.
At Pride Aged Living, we have deep expertise in leading aged care organisations through change. The first priority is ensuring executives and management teams have practical frameworks and enough resources to meaningfully engage with their teams.
Change models like ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement) and Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model remind us that change isn’t just about task completion - it’s about people adjusting to new ways of thinking and working. When staff feel overrun or undervalued, resistance grows - and progress stalls.
Combining practical elements of these frameworks leads to a simple framework for managing the adjustment process, “Stabilise – Sustain – Strengthen”.
1. STABILISE (June–July)
“Catch your breath. Secure the ground beneath you.”
- Acknowledge staff fatigue and express gratitude.
- Conduct a quick “change audit” - what is complete, what needs adjusting, and what must be paused.
- Avoid discarding work that remains valid for November.
- Share a simple one-page action tracker with staff.
2. SUSTAIN (August–September)
“Turn the sprint into a steady stride.”
- Reset project pacing with monthly targets.
- Continue team briefings, but shift focus from compliance panic to change confidence.
- Introduce low-burden education (e.g., short refreshers on dignity, rights, or incident response).
- Nominate change champions or buddies on the floor.
“Successful change management in aged care is about people. As our Additional Services - and now HELF - implementation programs demonstrate, successful long-term change for our clients starts and ends with ensuring the workforce and the customer are informed and supported throughout the process.”
3. STRENGTHEN (October–November)
“Prepare for confident go-live.”
- Test new policies and documents through dry-runs.
- Run simulations (e.g., a new resident admission under the November model).
- Reinforce leadership visibility - daily walk-arounds, quick check-ins, reassurance.
- Start November communications for families and residents in early October.
Resisting the Urge to Delay Strategic Work
One of the greatest hidden risks in this deferral is the temptation to pause long-term strategic reform. Boards and CEOs may defer service innovation, workforce redesign, and governance renewal in favour of short-term compliance.
But in Australia’s aged care landscape, shifting timelines and regulatory updates are now the norm, not the exception. The most successful providers will use the next five months to pursue both: balance regulatory readiness with long-range transformation.
Ask yourself:
- How will our care model look different under the new Act?
- What workforce and capital management strategies must evolve to deliver that model?
- How do our values show up in day-to-day operations?
The Opportunity within the Delay
Yes, the deferral complicates change. But it also allows leaders to pause, re-engage with their teams, and prepare for more than just compliance.
“Under the previous timeline, many providers pushed back their other strategic goals and improvement projects until after 1 July 2025, focusing all their resources on compliance outcomes.
Given the challenges facing many providers, the next four months cannot be another opportunity for postponement of leadership and governance; they will be a test of it.”
We have the luxury of extra time to put in place more support for the organisation, our team, and our customers. Ultimately, the greatest contribution we can make to delivering a rights-based, person-centred, and sustainable aged care service will be using this time wisely to ensure our workforce stays engaged, clear-headed about their purpose, and ready to launch successfully on day 1.
Need help reframing your reform response?
Reach out to our team for on-site briefings, leadership resets, or care model redesign.