Developing Change Management Skills in Leaders

Change doesn't wait for permission. Any Organisation in Sydney or Perth that believes a bit of change can be shades drawn Gantt charted, then called quits on, is seriously misguided. Change is messy, human and recalcitrant, and leaders who mistake it for a project plan are the ones who discover that fact, frequently in public. In 15 years of working with executives and teams across Australia, it is these same stories I have been seeing: strong strategy, no adoption; great technology but going nowhere and all good intentions wasting away because we have weak leadership at the front line.

Here is the harsh reality: technical fixes fix technical problems. Cultural change? That's leadership work. If you are serious about developing change management skills in your leaders, you want a hands on, people focused strategy, one that combines strategy with forthright messaging and coaching that actually changes behaviour.

Why it matters, in 60 words

Studies show that major transformations usually fall short of their goals, somewhere around 70% is the oft repeated number (McKinsey). That's not a good feeling, but it is a useful one.

In Australia, businesses still spend a lot of money on training, and yet many will tell you that they wish they could do so differently. Training without follow through is not development; it's a cost.

This piece isn't a lecture. It's a field guide, the hard and painful bits that I wish more leaders knew before they started a change program.

Read the room: The reality on the ground and what it means

Change is two things at once: structure and psychology. Too many leaders fixate on the first, processes, systems, KPIs, and ignore the second. People make or break change. They'll interpret, resist, adapt or accelerate it in accordance with how leaders make them feel and whether they have a clear and credible reason to change.

Practical tip: Map stakeholders not only by influence, also by emotion. Who's quietly fearful? Who's loudly enthusiastic? Who's influential but cynical? Listen as much as you plan.

Please do avoid some common mistakes assuming strange linearness. Change is non linear. Expect setbacks. Plan contingencies. Maintain momentum:

• Underinvesting in middle management. Middle managers are the fulcrum. Give them a conversation, not just a slide deck.
• Over reliance of culture statement. Nice words don't change behaviour. Coaching does. Role modelling does.

Two that you may not agree with:

• Frameworks are useful, but rigidity thwarts progress. I'll take a nimble, flexible leader over a textbook framework every day of the week.
• Remote work actually made good change programs easier in many cases, not harder. It demanded clearer communication and better documentation.

Good, let some people strongly disagree. The proof is in the projects we have run recently.

Fundamental skills every leader needs, and why they matter

This is where the rubber hits the road. If you are developing a program designed to affect change, these are the competencies that we need to ensure that they are top of the priority list.

1. Vision casting and strategic alignment

More than a mission statement. Leaders must explain what success looks like in plain language and link the change to daily work. People want to know: what is going to be different for me next week? Next quarter?

2. Communication and transparency

Transparency is an engine of trust. Maintain regular, truthful touchpoints, even when the news is mixed. Where there is silence, rumours fester; where spin preponderates, people doubt.

3. Emotional intelligence and empathy

Change involves loss, of roles, routines, status. Leaders who can identify and navigate those losses get much better results. This isn't soft; it's strategic.

4. Stakeholder engagement and coalition building

Change doesn't happen in a vacuum. Create a visible coalition that includes people from various functions and locations. Include frontline champions, these are your early adopters and mini storytellers.

5. Decision making and prioritisation

When it all goes to shit, the people who can make decisions and priorities become anchors. Learn to distinguish between what needs to be fixed now from what can be iterated.

6. Coaching and capacity building

When managers are coached to coach their teams, it increases ownership. Best practices coaching beats more compliance training.

7. Measurement and feedback loops

KPIs are important, but only when they direct action. Establish quick feedback loops so leaders can iterate swiftly instead of being required to bow to quarterly reviews.

Tactical ways to develop these skills

Training is not enough. Here are practical, proven approaches we take, and I have seen work in finance, manufacturing, health care and government.

Scenario based simulations

Reality is messy. Develop role plays that replicate probable issues and make leaders practice communicating and negotiating with stakeholders. Do it often. Keep stakes real.

Action learning projects

Give leaders a small, live change initiative to run with coaching support. They need to 360, they learn by doing so, the organisation benefits.

360 degree feedback with real follow up

Regular 360s are just noise if they stop in a PDF. Integrate feedback with coaching and observable behaviour targets, then re measure.

Peer coaching pods

Peers meet fortnightly to work on real issues. Accountability is everything here. If a leader knows he or she will be held accountable by peers, they're more likely to make a go of it.

Embedded change agents

Integrate experienced practitioners into project teams to serve as coaches. They're not there to run the project but to develop capability in the team.

Creating effective training and development

Design programs in which no one thinks that participants will just sit through a day of slides, then go back to their desk understanding the new process or product. Learning needs to be spaced, applied and reinforced.

• Micro sessions (90 minutes) for skills like difficult conversations or decision making.
• Half day workshops for leadership alignment and role clarity.
• 3×2 hour virtual follow ups to practise and embed.
• Ongoing coaching for high potential leaders.

We've found blended approaches, or very short synchronous workshops followed up by coaching and role play, yield the most return on time. And yes, there are costs. But compare that with the cost of a hobbled transformation and the choice is clear.

KPIs that you should actually pay attention to

KPIs are incredible, when they make sense. I like a combination of leading and lagging indicators.

Leading Indicators:

• of frontline managers trained in coaching skills

• Frequency with which leadership communications are rated 'clear' in fortnightly pulse checks
• % adoption of new processes by pilot teams within month 1

Lagging indicators:

• Productivity or error rates six months after implemented
• Retention of key staff groups six months post change
• Realisation against project benefits (e.g. revenue, cost reduction, customer satisfaction)

Metrics disclaimer: do not get distracted by vanity metrics. They're good at dashboards and bad at leadership.

Feedback mechanisms

If you can't listen, you can't lead. Create several channels:

• Short, frequent anonymous pulse surveying.
• Structured focus groups that represent different parts of the Business.
• Manager one on ones viewed through a coaching lens.
• Open 'ask me anything' sessions where your CEO or program sponsor leads the discussion.

And crucially: close the loop. Report back what you heard and what you plan to do with it. Nothing distracts from trust like unacknowledged feedback.

Mentoring and coaching, the multiplier

Formal mentoring

In formal mentoring, less experienced leaders are matched with seasoned ones. Coaching is about changing behaviour. Both are indispensable. Mentoring assists in career and organisational navigation; coaching is aimed at specific leadership practices.

We have seen faster changes based on the way the coaching is embedded into leaders' roles, not whether it is an add on project you can do or decide not to do. Incorporate it into KPIs and performance conversations. Reward progress, not perfection.

Sustaining change, the most challenging part

Rolling out change is what's visible. Maintaining it is where most programs fall down. All too often, as soon as the next quarter comes around, the immediate implementation is complete and focus wanes, and those old habits start to creep back in.

Tips for how to sustain:

• Governance post go live. Hold a skeleton team to account for the first 6 to 12 months.
• Bake new behaviours in performance frameworks. It doesn't stick if it's not assessed.
• Celebrate small wins publicly. People like recognition.
• Keep polishing. Change is an iterative process, look for continuous improvement loops.

Culture matters, but don't fetishise it

Culture is the soil in which change can take root. But leaders can treat culture as though it is a magic pill. It's not. Do culture work, values, rituals, stories, but accompany it with visible leadership action. Employees will forgive slow results if leaders are consistently doing things the right way.

What success looks like

When change is taking root, you will see:

• Teams can articulate the 'why' in their own language, not in that of consultants.
• Decisions are made faster and with less politics involved.
• Middle managers coaching their teams through difficult times as a matter of course.
• Clear signs of better initial performance against KPIs.

A last thought, and two inconvenient truths

First: Leadership development is not discretionary. If you don't invest in the ability of leaders to manage change, then what you will inevitably have is an investment more toward decline than one toward adaptation.

Second: some change will fail. That's fine. What does matter is whether your leaders treat failure as learning data, and whether they learn quickly. Celebrate learning, not just success.

We partner with organisations across Australia, from Melbourne finance houses to Canberra public sector teams, to develop day to day change capability. We don't believe in flash in the pan, bolt on nonsense. We believe in the power of practice, progress and leadership with integrity.

Change doesn't ask for permission. But it does respond to leadership that listens, takes action and learns.

Sources & Notes

McKinsey & Company, "Why do most transformations fail?" (predictions used in most industry analysis that large transformation ruin and regularly realisation; myth conveyed: ~70% of transformations do not achieve their goals).

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Business indicators and workplace training data (this provides nation wide context regarding business investment in training and workforce development, useful for gaining an understanding of where the training landscape is at in Australia).