If you’ve ever felt frustrated by the slow pace of change inside your organisation—you’re not alone.

This week on Joy at Work, I’m joined by Luke Murphy, Product & Transformation Coach, who has walked this path himself. Together, we dive into the mindset shifts and small actions that can empower anyone—yes, even without a big job title—to become a true trailblazer for change.

We cover:

• Why waiting for permission holds us back
• The four common traps that sabotage grassroots change efforts
• Luke’s personal story of transformation and what he learned
• Practical first steps to take today if you want to drive meaningful change in your team

This conversation is a powerful reminder that real change often happens from within, not from above.

If today’s episode sparks ideas for you, I’d love to invite you to start your own redesign journey with my Derailed Life Satisfaction Assessment → https://www.midlifeunstuck.com/derailed

And to learn more about becoming a Trailblazer, sign up for Luke’s newsletter Disrupt From Within → https://disrupt-from-within.kit.com

Here’s to building workplaces—and work lives—that bring more joy.

If you've ever worked in a big organization,

I bet you a million pounds.

You've felt the kind of soul sinking frustration that comes when change

projects move at a snail's pace.

At one end, you've got the parade of glossy PowerPoint decks from high

price transformation consultants On the other, a shed load of meetings,

all talk and zero follow through.

Well, today's guest, Luke Murphy, is here to flip this script on

those old fashioned change ideas.

He believes real change doesn't need to come from the top down.

It can and should start anywhere.

Luke's on a mission to inspire professionals at every level to reimagine

how change happens in their role, in their team, and in their company with more

impact, more ownership, and more speed.

Let's dive in.

Luke, what stops people who are frustrated by a lack of change within

their organization from actually initiating change themselves?

A lot of people are frustrated with the way work gets

done in their teams and organizations, and they know deep down that there is

a better way, but either they don't believe they can make a difference.

They don't wanna rock the boat, or they feel overwhelmed by

the scale of change needed.

And I see this a lot.

People tend to fall into four main traps.

The biggest one is waiting for permission.

They look to leadership for a top down mandate or wait for the

transformation program that was promised and never seems to materialize.

You know, the one with the fancy code name.

But by waiting, nothing changes.

We maintain the status quo.

ways of work in continuum and frustration grows.

And honestly, most top down transformations fail anyway.

Another trap is chasing perfection thinking we have all the answers, big

upfront design, beautiful Gantt charts, every risk mapped out, and the perfect

plan in place before taking action.

But perfection doesn't exist, and transformation

is a journey, not a rollout.

And we learn by doing and adapting along the way.

And the last two traps are either trying to force change onto colleagues,

doing it to people, or trying to do it in secret, hoping to fly

under the radar skunkwork style.

But transformation should be a co-creation.

It should be done with people, not to them.

And we can share openly and invite feedback and collaborate

so that we can get buy-in and take people on that journey with us.

I love that with rather than to really like that.

So, so if those are the traps, what can people do instead?

Instead of waiting for permission, they should

become what I call a trailblazer.

So someone who challenges the status quo and drives change from the ground up.

A trailblazer is someone who is curious enough to see that there's a better

way, courageous enough to go out and find it and collaborative enough to

bring everyone along on the journey.

And trailblazers inspire through action, not authority or job titles.

No one gets a job title of Trailblazer.

They build support organically, not through executive mandates.

And actually, I. We are closer to the coalface.

We know how things really work.

We're familiar with the day-to-day challenges.

So instead of waiting for the answers to come from above, we should actually

look to ourselves and our colleagues to drive the change that we want to see.

Love it.

Because when, change is driven from within by people who

are embedded in the organization, it's got a much better chance of

success and real change happens at the grassroots level anyway.

And we get to enjoy a better way of working that we create for ourselves.

And even though terrain in the trailblazers could be quite

challenging, it's often feels like swimming against the tide.

It can also be incredibly empowering.

When we start to embrace our inner rebel and we break a few rules and we see real

change, it can be deeply fulfilling.

Ooh.

So it's flipping that old fashioned model on its head totally from that

change mandate comes from the top, but actually we trailblaze through change.

Okay?

So make it real for me.

Gimme a success story.

The best example I can give is my own story because I've lived it.

I've been a trailblazer.

I've got all the scars to prove it.

I was the first product person in a new experimental way of working.

At first I was excited to make a difference, but then I quickly realized

that leadership weren't taking action.

The big consultants came and went without much impact, and that's when I realized

that if real change was gonna happen, it needed people like me, trailblazers.

And early on I referred to myself as a Guinea pig.

But it was an agile coach who told me to be kinder to myself

and called me a trailblazer.

And it's the first time I heard the word, but it really resonated with me.

It shifted my mindset and gave me a new identity.

I decided I needed to step up to take action instead of waiting, I

became someone who was going to make things happen, not just a passive

participant in an experiment.

And that mindset shift led to some real success.

We were working very differently from some of the other teams.

We were driving faster results and improving the customer experience,

and our approach set the stage for a much bigger transformation, one that

resulted in an international award for transformation of the year, but that

recognition was just cherry on the top.

The best part for me was the impact it had on employee engagement and retention.

People were happier because they were working in a better way, and they

saw the impact that they were having.

Brilliant.

Brilliant.

Okay, so, so if someone is listening to today and they're currently

feeling frustrated by the lack of change within their team or their

organization, what might they do to make a start on becoming a trailblazer?

Good question.

It doesn't have to be huge at first.

I always say think big, start small.

But start.

Yeah.

Even small steps can create a big impact.

So something simple that you can start today.

And I've got four things really.

So number one is we start with why.

We create a clear vision of the kind of change that we want to see.

What would a better way of working look and feel like for you?

Love it.

We paint a vivid picture in the present tense as if it's already

happening and make it something exciting that people still want to be a part of.

Okay.

Step two is then to share it with others.

It doesn't have to be a big fancy presentation.

Just have an informal coffee with people.

People that see the same frustrations as you and can buy into your

vision and get their feedback.

You can start to build a small group of allies and together

you can start a movement.

And then number three is then start to challenge the team's habits.

So if something isn't working, ask yourself and your teammates, well,

if we were starting from scratch, what would we do differently?

And then we could start to turn those ideas into small but visible

experiments that you can run quickly to spark conversations and drive action.

And the last thing, which I think is the most important

then, is to share your stories.

So turn those experiments and results into stories that leadership and

and your colleagues can't ignore.

So share your wins.

Share your failures, share your learnings.

That transparency creates curiosity and it can create a bit of a snowball effect.

'cause when we share openly,

Yeah,

could create that gravity that pulls people in and creates

that momentum for lasting change.

We are giant fans of experimentation at

the Joy At Work podcast.

Thank you

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy my life satisfaction assessment.

It's a 30 minute program where I guide you through a deep dive into 10 areas

of your life to assess what's bringing you joy and what's bringing you die.

I call it D-railed.

It's a fabulous place to begin at joy at work redesign.