PurposeThis study explores the organisational dynamics in a change process across work units in a Swedish municipality. The purpose of this study is to understand how and why co-creation unfolds during efforts to bring different units into one united work unit.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative longitudinal study was designed using data triangulation for eight months, comprising written reflection texts, meeting protocols and interviews. This study is based on a back-and-forth inductive and abductive grounded theory analysis.FindingsThe main results of this study indicate that there was friction in the co-creation process between units, between the members of the change group and supervisors, as well as friction within the change group. Further, the results indicate that communications, relations, supervisor support and governing strategies clashed with work routines and methods, work cultures, roles and responsibilities and that the units had differing views of the needs of the intended target group. This thereby challenged the propensity for change which, in turn, may have limited developmental learning at a workplace and organisational level.Originality/valueWorking across units to find common and new paths and work methods for labour market inclusion proved to be challenging because of contextual circumstances. Crossing and merging organisational boundaries through co-creation processes was demanding because of new expectations from the organisation, as it shifted towards trust-based governance in conjunction with working during a pandemic when social interactions were restricted to digital communication channels.