Organizational Change is a Constant and Can Make or Break a Strategy
With rapid and wide-sweeping change a constant in today’s workplace, it’s a wonder that leaders are not better at managing it. They tell us that they need steps to better lead change. The research agrees with them — McKinsey reports that nearly three-quarters of organizational change efforts fail due to:
Our change management simulation participants learn that leaders and organizations need to more thoughtful and inclusive about managing organizational change if they want to keep pace. At some point, you and your team will be asked to do things differently. Are you prepared?
How to Better Lead Change
Our organizational alignment research found that the highest performing businesses have leaders and employees who are highly responsive to making the changes required to stay competitive. As a leader, you need to do your part.
5 Steps to Better Leader Change at Work
To better lead change:
- Be Crystal Clear About the Why
Perhaps the most important piece of effective change is persuading others why it matters. It’s not enough to articulate the strategy; leaders need to persuade employees that change is in the best interests not just of the business but also of the workforce.
From our perspective, the “Why” has three key components.
(1) There must be enough dissatisfaction with the status quo.
(2) Leaders must communicate the essential vision for change clearly and frequently.
(3) Leaders need to ensure that the business case for change is well understood and committed to by those affected by change.
Above all else, be open to questions, expect push back, and be transparent and honest about the why. This is how leaders gain employee trust and buy-in.
- Know that You Must Change
When leaders fail to model and reinforce the very shifts they demand from their teams, change efforts quickly stall. Project postmortem data tells us that change is nearly impossible when leaders expect others to evolve while standing still themselves. Organizational transformation doesn’t start with a memo, a change management training session, or a reorg chart. It starts with the mindset, behavior, and credibility of the leaders driving it.
Gallup’s research shows that only 29% of employees believe that their organization’s change initiatives are well managed. Most trace this back to unclear leadership signals or conflicting priorities. People don’t change because of directives — they change because they see the value in doing so and believe their leaders are walking the same path.
Perhaps novelist Ursula K. Le Guin said it best:
“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.”
- Actively Engage Key Stakeholders
Leaders rarely have all the answers; they must have the courage to ask better questions and the discipline to adjust and act on what they learn. Bain research found that the level of active involvement in the change strategy and process has twice the impact of any other approach to improve change success. The ability to engage, listen, and adapt cannot be overemphasized.
As Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline, notes: “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed.” When leaders involve those affected by change in the process, they shift that dynamic — from resistance to shared ownership, from compliance to commitment.
- Be Realistic
Acknowledge to yourself and others that the change will not be easy or linear. Set realistic expectations for how long it will take and how much coordination will be needed. Many successful change efforts are accomplished through launching small, easy-to-win prototype change projects that lead up to the final goal.
This may work for your change initiative too. Regardless, it’s important not to underestimate the time and effort needed for successful change efforts.
- Be Patient and Vigilant
One of the primary reasons organizational change is so difficult to achieve is that it must happen in parallel with everyone’s “day job.” Most businesses cannot pause for transformation. Too often, leaders underestimate this reality. They mistakenly design change initiatives as if they exist in a vacuum, separate from the daily pressures of delivering results.
Research from Prosci’s Best Practices in Change Management report found that one of the top obstacles to successful transformation is “competing priorities” between change efforts and the operational demands to keep the business running smoothly during the transition. High-performing change leaders recognize that sustainable change requires a dual mindset: maintaining business continuity and guiding transformation.
They actively help teams integrate new behaviors into existing workflows rather than layering change on top of already full plates. When leaders ignore this balance, change fatigue sets in, performance suffers, and the credibility of the transformation effort inevitably erodes.
The Bottom Line
The capacity to change is now a requirement for long-term organizational health. Leaders who expect others to adapt must first demonstrate what that looks like in practice. The question isn’t whether your organization can change — it’s whether your leadership is changing fast enough to lead the way.
To learn more about the steps to better lead change at work, download 5 Science-Backed Ways To Think Differently About Leading Change
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