Leading change: 11 principles with impact

Understanding organizational change management

Leading change is an essential aspect of being a leader today.

Later research in social psychology supports this: uncertainty is often more stressful than difficulty. People prefer facing a hard fact over living with a vague possibility.

Lewin’s model is best applied in moments of profound disruption, not in everyday improvement work. But in those moments it reminds us: lead boldly, communicate clearly, and land the plane.

This logic can be further expanded by the “whirlwind” metaphor from The 4 Disciplines of Execution (McChesney, Covey & Huling). Everyday organizational life is precisely that — a whirlwind of urgent and less urgent matters, absorbing most energy and attention. The task for leaders is to juggle this constant flow while still ensuring progress on the truly important goals. Once such goals are achieved, their practices become part of the everyday whirlwind, creating room for new ones.

Like Lewin, this model helps us separate what is changing from what is constant. It encourages prioritization, but also endurance: the ability to keep tending to ordinary work while still carving out space for what matters most.

Most of the change work I have been responsible for as a communications- and marketing executive has had its basis in target group insights and brand repositioning. That means attempting to be your best, most relevant self as an organization for the people you serve. I can see no better starting point – or goal for that matter – to realign the forces as an organization.

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Eleven principles to succeed with change initiatives

During my professional life I’ve lead a number of broader organizational change projects in large organizations, often on the basis of target group insights and as a part of brand repositioning. From practice and reflection, a set of principles has emerged for when leading change (big or small) in a Swedish context:

1. Avoid the word ‘change’. Many associate it with worsening conditions, since it’s overly used to frame such. Speak instead of what is new. This also helps people to visualize the positive, better future rather than the way there.
2. Be clear about what’s decided elsewhere. Clarity about constraints is better than the illusion of influence. If something is already decided as a starting point, just say it plainly.
3. Don’t hide problems. Let people understand why change is necessary. Shared difficulties can release energy. If there are some catastrophic facts, the more reason to share them.
4. Listen and push forward. Criticism often contains a kernel of truth, even if you don’t agree with what’s being said. Critics often find weak spots that should be addressed.
5. Fewer initiatives are better than many. A long list of actions or goals often signals unclear priorities and lack of boldness. More than one or two overall goals is equal to having no goals.
6. Be specific. Show the ‘before and after’. Vague messages create no resistance — but no engagement either. If your strategy cannot be summarized this way it is a sign that it lacks clarity and rather is a documentation of what already is.
7. Aim for direction, not perfection. Build feedback loops where important stake holders can leave opinions along the way. Correct quickly aspects that aren’t workings as predicted.
8. Challenge assumptions. If a goal seems unreachable, perhaps the premises should be re-examined. If resources and actions are much smaller in magnitude than the challenges or goals, say so.
9. Take concerns seriously. Doubt is not resistance — it is an attempt to understand. An opportunity to get allies and clarify. Whispered rumors are much worse than openly asked questions.
10. Don’t stretch out the process. Lewin reminds us: prolonged uncertainty exhausts.
11. Afterwards, rebuild stability. Development needs solid ground and psychological safety.

Leading change is not about pretending things are easy. It is about helping people navigate complexity — together.

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Communicating change

Communication is often the decisive factor in whether change succeeds or fails. Changing how an organization of any kind (NGO, corporation, government) operates, meaning changing how the people that forms these organizations operate. Even if the goal – often growth – is desired by all, change is challenging. From experience, several lessons stand out. They are true for large change initiatives, but also on the smaller scale such as changing direction in a project or a team. And also, they are great principles for the ultimate change – managing a major crisis proactively:

• Start with the problem. If people cannot see it, they will not follow the logic of proposed solutions. If people have the same information they tend to come to the same conclusions, if they have different or no information conclusions will be disparate.
• Do not shy away from difficult facts. Avoidance makes them heavier later. Also, communicating about them openly defuses them as potential public relations problems in many cases.
• Listen — but only where input can matter. People sense when opportunity for feedback is ritualistic rather than genuine. That also means to just ask questions that you really are interested in getting input on.
• Consistency matters. Say the same thing the same way. Do not follow the general communications rule to say repackage the same message in different ways to maintain interest in change processes. That invites confusion and different interpretations. Repetition builds clarity.
• Communicate the process. Even ‘you’ll be asked for input during phase X’ is meaningful information.
• Communicate regularly — even when nothing is new. ‘No updates right now’ is still better than silence.

In my experience, people almost always feel under-informed during transitions. Repetition is not a flaw but a necessity.

In the end, communication is not an accessory to change. It is the engine that makes change possible. And maybe one of the most important roles of any communications department.