Stop Managing Change. Start Leading a Journey.
- Nick Leach
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Most organisations claim they are going through change. Very few are actually on a journey.
The problem is not execution. It is a mindset. We continue to manage change as if it were a project, when in reality, change is a human experience that unfolds over time.
Until leaders shift from managing change to leading a journey, most change efforts will continue to stall, fade, or quietly fail.
Managing Change Misses the Human Reality
Traditional change management focuses on plans, timelines, communications, and milestones. It assumes that clarity automatically leads to commitment.
But people do not experience change through documents or project plans. They experience it emotionally. Uncertainty, loss, hope, fear, and opportunity all show up long before behaviour changes.
When leaders manage change, they focus on what is changing. When leaders lead a journey, they focus on how people are experiencing that change.
That difference matters.
People Are Not Resisting Change. They Are Resisting Meaninglessness
People are often labelled as resistant to change, but that label misses the point. Most people are open to change when it makes sense to them.
What they resist is change that feels imposed, disconnected, or constantly shifting without explanation. Another restructure. Another system. Another priority.
Without meaning, change feels exhausting. With meaning, change feels purposeful.
This is where many organisations go wrong. They communicate the mechanics of change, but never anchor it to a deeper reason.
Purpose Turns Change Into a Journey
It's striving to achieve the organisation's purpose that transforms change into a journey.
When people understand why the organisation exists, who it serves, and what it is trying to become, change stops feeling like disruption and starts feeling like progress.
A journey has direction. It has context. It has meaning.
When teams are clear on purpose, change is no longer something that has to be sold to them. It becomes something they expect and even contribute to.
Change Does Not Happen in Organisations. It Happens in Teams
Another flaw in traditional change management is that it treats the organisation as the unit of change.
But organisations do not change. Teams do.
Strategy becomes reality inside teams. Trust, commitment, and execution live there too. That is why sustainable change depends on building high-performing teams.
Models such as the Drexler Sibbet Team Performance Model help leaders guide teams through the natural stages of a journey. From orientation and trust, through clarity and commitment, into implementation, performance, and renewal.
When leaders understand this, change stops being forced. It becomes guided.
Leading a Journey Requires a Different Kind of Leadership
Leading a journey is not about control. It is about direction.
It requires leaders to stay anchored to purpose, even when the path is unclear. To listen more than they broadcast. To trust teams rather than manage compliance.
The organisations that do this well stop talking about managing change altogether. They talk about progress, learning, and momentum.
Change becomes normal. Renewal becomes expected. Adaptability becomes a strength.
Final Thought
If your organisation is struggling with change, the solution is not another framework or rollout plan.
Stop managing change. Start leading a journey.
Because when people know where they are going and why it matters, change stops being something they endure and becomes something they move through together.
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