The Human Side of Change: Leadership, Culture, and Buy-In

Every leader eventually faces the same tension: we have to change… but we also don’t want to lose what makes this place us.

Sometimes the change is exciting: new strategy, new initiatives, a fresh structure, a stronger way of operating. Other times, change is necessary but painful: budget constraints, layoffs, reorganization, a pivot in direction, or an urgent response to an external crisis.

But regardless of the reason, the question isn’t whether you can “roll out” change.

The real question is: Can you lead change in a way that strengthens trust, reinforces culture, and brings people with you instead of dragging them behind you?

That’s where many well-intentioned leaders miss the mark.

They focus on the plan, the timeline, and the deliverables and forget the human experience of disruption. They execute change like a project, when what they’re actually doing is asking people to let go of something familiar and risk believing in something new.

Change always costs something. It costs comfort. It costs certainty. Sometimes it costs identity.

And leaders who understand that don’t just manage change, they shepherd people through it.

Kotter Was Right: Change Is More Than a Memo

John Kotter’s work on organizational change remains foundational for a reason. His research underscored what many leaders learn the hard way: most change efforts fail, not because leaders lack a plan, but because they lack the conditions required for real change to stick.

Kotter’s well-known 8-Step Process for Leading Change includes establishing urgency, building a guiding coalition, developing and communicating a vision, removing barriers, creating short-term wins, and anchoring the change in culture.

Even without listing every step, the big takeaway is clear:

Change isn’t primarily technical, it’s relational and cultural.

A leader can announce change in a meeting, but they cannot announce belief, trust, or buy-in. Those must be built.

Kotter also made a powerful point that’s easy to overlook: if the change doesn’t get anchored in culture, it won’t last. It may survive a quarter or two, but when pressure comes—or when the leader moves on—the organization will drift back to old norms.

Which raises an important truth: The greatest threat to your change initiative isn’t resistance.

It’s the silent, slow erosion that happens when the culture never truly embraces it.

The Culture Factor: Change Is Always Interpreted Through Trust

Culture isn’t your values on a wall. Culture is the shared expectations that tell people:

• What gets rewarded here
• What gets ignored here
• What’s safe to say out loud
• What happens when you make a mistake
• Who has power and how they use it

When change is introduced, people don’t simply evaluate the change. They evaluate:

• The leader
• The motives
• The history
• The credibility
• The cost
• And whether the organization has earned the right to ask for this

So if you’re leading change, you have to ask yourself:

“What does our culture cause people to assume when leadership asks them to change?”

Because people interpret change through their past experiences, not your PowerPoint slides.

If the culture has been healthy, honest, consistent, and relational, then people may respond with curiosity, even if they’re hesitant. But if the culture has been reactive, unclear, or politically complicated, even a well-designed change can feel like a threat.

What Change Feels Like from the Other Side of the Table

Most leaders spend a lot of time thinking about “How do we implement this?” but most employees are asking a different set of questions:

• What does this mean for me?
• Will I still be valued?
• Will I be able to succeed?
• Is this about improving the organization—or controlling it?
• Do leaders understand what they’re asking us to carry?
• Is this going to change again in six months?

Even if the change is positive, it often introduces:

1) Ambiguity

People don’t just fear change; they fear uncertainty. Ambiguity creates stress because it increases the mental load of daily work.

2) Loss

Change always brings loss. Even if something better is coming, people are still losing something familiar—a workflow, a leader, a role, a rhythm, a team, a sense of competence.

3) Threat to identity

People aren’t just doing a job—they’re attaching meaning to that job. When roles shift, people can feel like they’re being shifted.

4) Fear of being left behind

Not everyone adapts at the same pace. Some people feel behind immediately and begin hiding, resisting, or disengaging.

If you want to lead change with wisdom, you have to grow your empathy muscles:

Before you expect someone to commit to the future, acknowledge what they’re leaving behind.

Reflection Questions for Leaders

Here are a few questions leaders can ask to evaluate the way they approach change and to step into the experience of those receiving it.

Questions about your approach to leading change

1. Are we solving the right problem, or just reacting to pressure?
2. Have we clearly articulated the “why” behind the change in a way people can repeat?
3. What are we assuming that frontline team members will experience differently than we will?
4. What would it look like to “remove obstacles” (Kotter) instead of simply adding expectations?
5. Are we trying to move too fast for trust to keep up?
6. What would success look like in 30 days, not just 12 months?
7. How will we know if the culture is absorbing the change or merely complying with it?

Questions to consider from the perspective of employees receiving the change

1. If I were them, what would I be afraid of losing?
2. What would I need to feel safe enough to try this new way of operating?
3. What parts of this change feel exciting to leaders but exhausting to staff?
4. Where is the change creating ambiguity that I need to reduce?
5. What does this change require people to stop doing—and have we given them permission to stop?
6. What would make me believe leadership will stay committed to this direction?
7. Have we acknowledged the emotional and relational cost of the change—or only the strategic benefits?

Leading Change Is Pastoral Work

Whether you lead in business, ministry, education, or nonprofit work, change leadership is ultimately about people.

You’re not only moving an organization toward a new destination, you’re stewarding a culture, protecting trust, and honoring human beings who are trying to do meaningful work.

Kotter gave leaders a framework for change. But the heart beneath the framework is what matters most:

• Urgency without anxiety
• Vision without manipulation
• Accountability without fear
• And momentum without burnout

If you can lead change with clarity, empathy, and consistency, you won’t just implement a new initiative.

You’ll build a culture that can handle the next one.

And that may be the greatest leadership gift you can give an organization: not change that happens to people,  but change that happens with them.