Leading Effective Change: The Role of Leaders in Change Management

Leadership is essential to the success of any change project, whether it’s an enterprise-wide initiative or a small change that impacts a few teams. Employees are more likely to buy into change when their leaders demonstrate active, vocal, and enthusiastic support. But it can be difficult to engage leaders and managers in change management. They’re busy. They may be skeptical of new initiatives, especially when they can’t immediately see how the initiative will translate to the bottom line or their day-to-day responsibilities. When leaders are negative and stubborn about change, their reports are likely to follow suit. 

Organizations must apply a structured, mature approach to engage leaders in change management. In this article, you will learn how leaders can positively impact change by:

• Being executive sponsors
• Leading, coaching, and mentoring
• Rewarding employees for their role in change efforts