Leading Through Change

What happens when you're responsible for leading a change you don't fully believe in? This question sits at the heart of modern leadership challenges, where changes arrive faster than ever and often from sources beyond our control.

For leaders navigating this landscape, the critical skill isn't avoiding change but transforming how we process it. The most effective approach starts with recognizing our emotional reactions—the fear, resistance, or uncertainty—and deliberately shifting to analytical thinking. By asking structured questions about benefits, concerns, and potential solutions, leaders regain a sense of agency that emotional reactions steal away. This shift doesn't just benefit the leader; it prevents the "infection" of negative reactions throughout the organization.

The timing of change acceptance follows predictable patterns. What takes an executive team months to decide will take directors a similar timeframe to accept, and staff members need equivalent time to process. Leaders often forget this "multiplier effect," expecting immediate buy-in from people who haven't participated in the decision-making conversations. People respond to change by freezing, fighting, fleeing, or appeasing—all natural reactions that require patient leadership to navigate successfully.

Whether change comes from internal decisions or external forces, the leader's responsibility remains the same: to process your own reactions first, help others through their emotional journey, and create space for everyone to find their place within the new reality. When you do this well, even the changes you didn't choose can become opportunities for organizational growth and cohesion rather than sources of division and resistance.