How to Better Involve Employees During Organizational Change

Getting Organizational Change Right: How to Better Involve Employees During Organizational Change
Our challenge as leaders is to build organizations that can learn, adapt, and evolve continuously. Rising customer expectations, intensifying competition, and disruptive technologies mean that tomorrow’s most successful companies will be those that consistently engage and empower employees through every stage of change.

Why does this matter?

Because “business as usual” no longer works. Strategy design, action planning, change management, and execution can no longer operate in silos—they must be integrated to secure employee commitment, engagement, and follow-through. With change as the only constant, one might assume that leaders have mastered the art of navigating it. Unfortunately, the reality is often the opposite.

The Difficulty of Organizational Change
As many as 70% of organizational transformations fall short of expectations — an alarming reality. Change is inherently complex, challenging, and full of risk, yet continuous (and sometime dramatic) improvement is required to thrive. Employees, leaders, and organizations alike must evolve to stay competitive and keep pace with an ever-accelerating business environment.

What’s Going Wrong with Organizational Change Today
Change management consulting experts know that one of the primary reasons organizational change fails is a lack of support from those who must make it happen — frontline managers and employees. Why? Because people rarely commit to initiatives they don’t understand or that lack a clear, persuasive rationale.

The deeper issue is that employees are often excluded from the change process from the very beginning. Too many well-intentioned leaders rely on strategies that fail to engage those on the front lines. To succeed, leaders must actively involve employees at every stage of organizational change.

Based upon data from our change management simulation, here are the most common strategies for affecting change:

• Top-Down Change Strategies
  The most common approach to organizational change is for leaders to determine what needs to change and then communicate the changes to the rest of the organization. If change could succeed without passing through people or culture, this top-down approach would be both efficient and effective.

  In practice, however, while the approach feels fast and satisfying for leadership, it is rarely effective. A small group of leaders cannot genuinely convince a large organization to change simply through messages or directives.

  Relying on communication alone to win hearts and minds often leaves leaders frustrated, employees disengaged, and change results compromised. The problem is that those responsible for executing the change — frontline managers and employees — are not consulted or involved from the outset.  A common warning sign of this approach is the disproportionate time and energy spent “selling” the change, rather than co-creating, implementing, and refining it with the people who actually drive results.

  Top-down communication alone only works in rare, high-urgency change situations—when the burning platform is undeniable, the change is universally accepted as necessary, and there is truly no time to involve people. Outside of these extreme circumstances, meaningful engagement is essential.

• Bottom-Up Change Strategies
  The second most common approach to change is for leaders to let employees and frontline managers decide what to change and how to implement it. While the intentions behind this method are commendable — and it can be highly effective for solving pressing, isolated problems — it often results in independent, siloed workstreams that fail to address broader, systemic challenges.

  The upside is clear: employee commitment and engagement tend to be higher. The downside is that outcomes and resource investments can drift from overall and cross-functional strategic priorities.

  This approach works best for tackling short-term, localized issues, but it is rarely sufficient for driving organization-wide transformation.

• Cross-Functional Change Strategies
  Another common approach is to establish a cross-functional group of influential change catalysts to lead the initiative across the organization. When executed effectively, this method offers significant advantages: it engages experts and key stakeholders, builds commitment and visibility, and aligns closely with strategic priorities.

  Although more effective than purely top-down or bottom-up approaches, cross-functional task forces still risk excluding many of the people who are responsible for — or directly impacted by — the changes.

  This approach works best when deep, organization-wide involvement in the design, planning, and execution of change is not practical, but strategic alignment and stakeholder visibility remain critical.

What’s Needed for Effective Organizational Change
Beyond piloting and testing changes before full implementation, what can companies do to increase the likelihood of successful change?

In our view, leaders must embrace a new approach — one that actively and meaningfully engages all key stakeholders who are impacted by or invested in the desired changes. Without this involvement, organizations miss out on employees’ unique perspectives, practical insights, creativity, and on-the-job expertise.

We call this approach open-source change management.

Open-Source Change Management
It’s time to adopt a new model for driving change — an open-source approach that enables leaders to actively involve and engage all key stakeholders in designing, planning, and executing change initiatives. At its core, this approach empowers the entire organization to collaboratively and intentionally shape successful outcomes.

When executed effectively, open-source change transforms how companies manage change. It closes the natural gaps between leaders and frontline employees, bridges divisions across functions and departments, and aligns diverse perspectives and agendas toward a shared goal.

The Benefits of Open-Source Change Management
When all employees are involved and empowered in change from the very beginning, the quality of commitment, effort, adoption, engagement, and cross-functional collaboration rises dramatically. Frontline managers and employees feel heard and valued, while leaders who act on their input cultivate a shared sense of purpose.

The result is clear: more successful change initiatives and higher levels of employee engagement across the organization.

The Bottom Line
If your goal is to drive lasting, fast-moving, and meaningful change across the organization, bring everyone into the process to truly mobilize transformation. This approach creates the critical mass needed for people to understand, believe in, and commit to moving from the current state to the desired future. While it may require a larger upfront investment, it ultimately saves time, reduces frustration, and maximizes return on effort.

To learn more about how to better involve employees during organizational change, download 5 Science-Backed Lenses of Change Leadership