The Step Most Leaders Skip Before Executing Change

Have you ever planned a change thoroughly and still watched it miss?

A common miss I have seen in leaders navigating change is skipping the step that needs to come first. They have a comprehensive plan, they have thought through the process, they believe in the outcome, and they have a communication strategy ready to go. What gets missed is taking the time to truly understand what the change will elicit before any of it launches.

Leading change across acquisitions and multi-location growth taught me that the approach has to match that response. An organization where people are uncertain but trust their leadership needs something different than one where the change is landing on top of unspoken fear or distrust. The tricky part is that you cannot always see that from the top. Organizations present as healthy and connected right up until the moment the pressure hits.

So before you start planning your execution, two questions are worth taking the time to answer. What will this change surface in the people it affects? And how are you actually getting that information from the people closest to the work, not just the leaders who report to you?

Those answers will shape everything that comes after.