7 steps to lead employees through workplace change

Organisational change is often unintentionally set up to fail. In fact, Gartner finds that only 32% of leaders globally actually get employees to adopt changes healthily. This is rarely due to the change plan, but rather an unawareness of the people skills required of leaders to bring their teams along on a change journey.

You could have the best intentions for change and a brilliant strategy, yet people will still resist it. This could be for several reasons (which we explore in more detail in ‘’) – and this is usually because your people's needs haven’t been identified or met.

In this blog, we’ll dive into the steps you should add to your change roadmap to ensure you bring your employees on the change journey to set it up for success.

Steps to lead employees through workplace change

1. Preparing the ground

A common leadership misconception is that change is something to ‘roll out’. However, an organisation often holds heritage and context that may breed resistance to change if ignored (e.g. recent restructures, leadership shifts, unspoken fatigue, or previous promises that didn’t quite materialise).

Preparing the ground means taking time to understand the emotional and cultural soil leaders are working with. It means asking:

• What have people already been through?

• What assumptions or fears might they be carrying?

• Where is trust in leadership strong, and where is it fragile?

  
  

So, before attempting to communicate and roll out any change, it’s important to create the conditions where change actually has something to take root in.

2.  Identify & embrace resistance

One of the worst things you can do in a change programme is ignore resistance. However small the change you’re making, you’ll naturally always encounter resistance, and it’s a sign your employees are protecting something. More importantly, it’s usually a sign they care.

When leaders make space for grief, survivor's guilt, uncertainty, and acknowledge the emotions, employees feel heard – and with this insight, leaders can put steps in place to reassure and support employees during and post-transition.

Making space for emotion doesn’t mean therapy sessions or over-sharing, but leaders being able to say, openly:

“We know this will feel unsettling.”

“It’s okay if you don’t have clarity yet.”

“We’re not expecting everyone to feel positive straight away.”

When emotions are acknowledged, people are far more able to move forward. When they’re dismissed or rushed, they tend to resurface later through disengagement or further resistance.

3. Prepare leadership for bumps

It’s very unlikely that change will be smooth sailing, and for change to be successful, leaders and middle management must be prepared for this. Most leaders are briefed on what the change is and why it matters. Fewer are prepared for the emotional and relational impact they’ll have to navigate day-to-day.

Change is bumpy. There will be pushback, confusion, dips in energy, and moments when leaders themselves feel uncertain. If leaders aren’t equipped for this, they may default to:

• Over-explaining

• Minimising concerns

• Becoming distant or overly directive

  
  

Preparing leaders means helping them expect the messiness and giving them permission not to have all the answers. Often, the most empowering leadership behaviour during change is simple presence: staying available, listening well, and resisting the urge to rush people to resolution.

For example, a classic scenario that leaders need to be prepared for is when an organisation reaches ‘no man's land’– a critical point at which people no longer identify with how the organisation was pre-change, but they’ve not yet transitioned to the desired behaviours, skills, and ways of working for the change process to be complete.

This is a make-or-break moment, where employees will naturally want to leap back to the comfort blanket of what they know, what is easy, and what is safe – and if left unchallenged, they’ll do so, undermining any progress the organisation has made.

Without preparation, leaders often notice this has happened when it’s already too late. But, with timelines and an awareness to look out for people resubmitting to old patterns of working, leaders can get ahead of the problem, empowering resilience and reminding employees of why change is worth the perseverance.

4. Setting out a vision people can see themselves in

For change to be successful, you need buy-in – and the most effective way to gain buy-in from employees is through clarity and storytelling.

Why is change needed? What will success look like? How will people benefit from the transition? Answering these questions clearly is critical, but the difference between an average change programme and an effective one is how well the answers to these questions are delivered.

By telling a story of the change journey you’re about to go on, what achievement will feel like, and giving employees a sense of how their work, values, and contribution will matter in what’s coming next, leaders will drive emotional connection and investment.

5. Leading by example consistently

Embed trust and sincerity by walking the walk. At times of change, actions speak louder than words.  By intentionally modelling the patterns of behaviour that are needed in a ‘post-change’ organisation, leaders are not only giving employees a blueprint to follow, but they’re signalling that they mean business (this is happening, and we’re following through).

·       Do leaders live the values being promoted?

·       Are old behaviours quietly rewarded?

·       Is it safe to question, experiment, or admit uncertainty?

Leading by example doesn’t require perfection. In fact, showing vulnerability, learning in real time, and acknowledging missteps often builds far more trust than polished certainty.

6. Recognising and rewarding what good change really looks like

During periods of change, recognition systems often continue to reward signals from the past, reinforcing behaviours that once made sense but no longer support the organisation’s direction. Old measures of success can linger quietly, sending mixed messages about what truly matters now.

Thoughtful recognition during change tends to show up in smaller, more human ways: noticing the manager who pauses to listen rather than rushing towards certainty, the team that experiments instead of retreating to familiar patterns, or the individual who steadies others through uncertainty while progress is still taking shape.

When organisations take the time to acknowledge these moments publicly, consistently, and with genuine intent, they reinforce the behaviours that help change take hold. Over time, recognition shifts from celebrating outcomes alone to strengthening the ways people show up for one another, creating the conditions for change to endure long after the initial transition has passed.

7. Letting employees be heard after the transition

Many organisations talk about listening during change. Fewer stay curious once the “go-live” moment has passed.

But transition doesn’t end when the structure or system changes. That’s when people start adapting, testing boundaries, and learning what the change means in practice.

Being heard at this stage is critical - not just through surveys or formal channels, but through everyday moments of listening:

·       Leaders asking genuine questions, without defensiveness

·       Space for people to name what’s harder than expected

·       Feedback being taken seriously, even when it’s uncomfortable

·       Feeling heard isn’t about agreement. It’s about knowing that your voice still matters, even when the direction has been set. 

Change that sticks starts with your people

Empowering employees through workplace change is about creating enough safety, clarity, and respect for people to move forward together, even when things feel uncertain. When organisations take the time to prepare the ground, acknowledge emotion, listen deeply, and support leaders to show up well, change becomes something people participate in, not something that is done to them.

If you're planning - or currently going through - a change transition and would like support, we have a team of specialists and facilitators that can work with you to ensure change sticks. Get in touch with us today for a free consultation.