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Growth brings more customers, employees, locations, revenue, products, markets, decisions, and relationships. It also brings more risk. The leadership practices that worked when the organization was smaller may no longer work when more people, functions, and consequences depend on them. A founder who once accelerated organizational decisions by being involved in everything can become the person through whom too many decisions must pass. A CEO who protected quality through personal oversight can unintentionally discourage ownership. An executive who built the organization by solving difficult problems can create a team that relies on bringing difficult problems to them. The leader's strength has not disappeared. The organization has become too dependent on it. This is scaling risk inside the Risk Zone. The period between a consequential leadership decision and the performance that decision is intended to create. As organizations grow, they can outgrow their leadership systems before they outgrow their markets. Good decisions do not automatically produce good performance. The Bottleneck Paradox Leadership bottlenecks are hard to recognize because they often stem from strengths. When leadership teams start missing goals, they often look for new causes. But a leadership bottleneck can emerge from the very behaviors that helped the organization succeed. Exhibit 1: What accelerates decisions at small scale becomes a queue at large scale. Imagine a founder with exceptional instincts about customers. When the company is small, involving the founder in important customer decisions is the right move. The founder likely knows the market best, and their judgment helps to avoid costly mistakes. Then the organization grows. Five people need the founder's input. Then fifteen. Then fifty. The founder may still make excellent decisions. But should all of these decisions still require the founder? The same pattern occurs with highly capable executives throughout an organization: The leader with exceptionally high standards reviews everything. The great problem solver becomes the person everyone turns to when something becomes difficult. The relational executive becomes the connection point across functions. The decisive CEO becomes the final stop for decisions that could be made elsewhere. Each behavior may have contributed to the organization's success. At scale, each creates dependency and can be misdiagnosed as an accountability problem with the team. Research shows that organizations move through stages in which the practices that enable one phase eventually create tensions that require a different form of leadership and management. As organizations grow, they often need greater delegation, autonomy, and communication. Growth does not simply require more leaders. It requires a different way of leading. Growth Changes the Job As an organization expands, more people make decisions, more customers have different needs, more functions must coordinate, more information moves through the organization, and more priorities compete. The challenge is when an executive's capacity does not expand at the same rate. Leaders need to develop at the rate of change or risk falling behind. However, there are still only so many hours in the day. Early in an organization's growth, a leader may reasonably ask: How can I make sure this gets done right? As complexity increases, a more valuable question becomes: How do I create the conditions for other people to get this right without depending on me? That is a significant shift. The leader's job is no longer simply to produce good decisions. It is increasingly to build an organization capable of producing good decisions. But simply pushing decisions downward is not enough. Transferring authority works best when leaders help people use that authority effectively. The objective is not merely to distribute decisions. It is to distribute the capability to make them well. When Helping Creates Dependency Dependency often quietly develops through a series of reasonable leader-follower interactions. A senior leader's direct report brings a difficult problem. The executive knows exactly what to do and provides the answer. The problem gets resolved. The employee feels relieved. The executive feels useful. The next time the employee encounters a difficult problem, they are more likely to come back. The employee learns that when the problem becomes difficult, they should take it upward. The executive develops the habit that when someone brings me a problem, solving it produces an immediate positive result. Knowing what effective leadership requires and doing it consistently are not the same. Habits matter because repeated behavior becomes easier to repeat. But that same principle creates a scale challenge. A leadership habit can continue long after the conditions that made it effective have changed. The problem is that the immediate consequences of stepping in are often positive: The decision gets made. The customer receives an answer. The quality issue gets corrected. The conflict is temporarily resolved. The executive feels productive. The negative consequences of learned dependency develop much more slowly than the immediate positive benefits. By the time it is recognized as a bad decision, the executive is likely overwhelmed and overworked. If people have repeatedly been reinforced to escalate decisions, they have had fewer opportunities to develop judgment. Where Leadership Dependency Appears A useful way to diagnose scaling risk is to ask where the organization has become unnecessarily dependent on a leader. That dependency usually appears in several forms. Exhibit 2: A diagnostic frame for locating where the organization has become dependent on one leader. Decision dependency - Important decisions repeatedly move upward, even when people lower in the organization have the information and experience to make them. Meetings end with people saying, Let's check with our leader. Problem-solving dependency - People become good at identifying problems but less often skilled at resolution. They escalate an issue, then sit back and wait for direction. Relationship dependency - The executive becomes the glue holding important relationships together. Customers want the CEO. Departments work together because the executive personally bridges them. Conflict gets resolved only when the leader intervenes. Knowledge dependency - Critical judgment is primarily in the leader. Team members may know what the executive would decide, but they do not necessarily understand why. From Answer-Giver to Capability-Builder One of the most important transitions a senior leader makes during growth is moving from subject matter expert to a team capability-builder. That does not mean executives should stop giving answers. Effective leadership is situational. Someone facing an unfamiliar, high-risk problem may need clear direction. Someone with greater experience and capability may benefit more from being given the opportunity to exercise judgment. The problem is when the executive remains the answer-giver when the follower can become the decision-maker. Instead of immediately answering, try asking: What do you recommend? Then ask probing questions: What alternatives did you consider? What risks do you see? What information would change your recommendation? Who else needs to be involved? What do you need from me? By doing this, you have not stopped leading. You're solving the problem by developing the problem solver. Be prepared for this approach to reveal an incomplete answer. That is not failure. It creates a development opportunity to challenge their thinking by sharing that you see something differently. This approach transfers experience. Broader research supports this approach. Empowering leadership is positively related to individual and team-level performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and creativity. The implication isn't that executives should stop contributing their expertise. It's how they contribute that expertise that matters. Delegation Requires Structure Giving someone responsibility without clarity, capability, authority, resources, or support isn't empowerment. It is abandonment. Effective delegation requires more than telling team members, " You own this now," and walking away. People need to understand: The outcome they are responsible for. The authority they have to make decisions. The guardrails within which they should operate. The information available to them. The resources they can use. The circumstances that require escalation. How reasonable mistakes will be handled. Also, if an executive delegates a decision and immediately takes control back when the first mistake occurs, the organization learns formal authority may have moved. Real authority has not. Decentralizing decision authority won't automatically improve performance; it is more likely to pay off when leaders actively support employees in using their increased discretion effectively. Delegation is not the absence of leadership. It's the design of distributed leadership without becoming directionless. The Inner Game of Leadership Behind the Bottleneck The outer game of leadership is what others see: delegation, decisions, communication, accountability, priorities, structure, meetings. But beneath these visible behaviors is the leader's inner game that quietly controls the outer game. Exhibit 3: Sustainable change requires attention not only to what leaders do, but to what drives the behavior. Lasting change requires attention not only to what leaders do, but also to what drives the behavior. Why does the executive keep stepping in? Perhaps they do not trust the team. Perhaps their identity has become tied to being the person with the answer. Perhaps they believe a different decision is automatically worse. Or perhaps no one has ever asked whether the leader's role should change as the organization grows. This is why “delegate more” or "try harder" is inadequate advice. Sometimes the organization needs clearer decision rights. Sometimes another leader needs development. Sometimes the executive needs to change a deeply reinforced leadership habit. Often, more than one is true at any one time. The Executive's Leadership Must Scale Leaders and organizations need to grow together. Some activities that once represented the highest and best use of an executive's time should migrate elsewhere as capability develops. Exhibit 4: Executive productivity is redefined: not how much one person accomplishes, but how much capability their leadership creates. The executive's attention can then move toward work that is more important to the organization's direction, capability, and coherence. Imagine your business continues to grow, but you are no longer at the center of everything. What keeps moving and what begins to stall? Then examine where work currently flows: Which decisions still depend on you? Which problems repeatedly return to you? What knowledge remains primarily in your head? Where have you unintentionally made yourself indispensable? Where do people have responsibility without sufficient authority? These are early indicators of scaling risk. Leadership that drives growth must eventually adapt to the complexity it creates. The strongest leaders do more than make good decisions. They build organizations capable of making good decisions without every one of them having to flow through the leader. About This Series This article is the third in a series exploring the Risk Zone—the period between consequential leadership decisions and the organizational performance those decisions are intended to create. The full framework, including six recurring forms of leadership risk and how Executive Advisory moves between coaching and consulting depending on where the risk sits, is developed in the white paper Executive Advisory: Where Coaching and Consulting Come Together. Download the white paper: Executive Advisory: Where Coaching and Consulting Come Together References Doolittle, J. (2023). Life-Changing Leadership Habits: 10 Proven Principles That Will Elevate People, Profit, and Purpose. Organizational Talent Consulting. Doolittle, J. (2026). Executive Advisory: Where Coaching and Consulting Come Together. Organizational Talent Consulting. Greiner, L. E. (1998). Evolution and revolution as organizations grow. Harvard Business Review, 76(3), 55–68. Huettermann, H., Berger, S., Reinwald, M., & Bruch, H. (2024). Power to the people—and then? A multilevel leadership perspective on organizational decentralization. Human Resource Management, 63(2), 333–353. Lee, A., Willis, S., & Tian, A. W. (2018). Empowering leadership: A meta-analytic examination of incremental contribution, mediation, and moderation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(3), 306–325.

Why the transition after the hire can determine whether a great executive becomes a great leader Hiring a senior executive is one of the most consequential decisions an organization makes. Leaders define the role, evaluate candidates, assess experience and fit, conduct interviews, check references, negotiate compensation, and ultimately make the hire. Then the candidate accepts. The announcement goes out. The search closes. It feels like the finish line. But it isn't. The Risk Zone is the space between a consequential leadership decision and the organizational performance that decision is intended to create. Executive transition is one of its clearest examples. Hiring identifies the candidate the organization believes has the greatest potential to succeed. The executive's transition helps determine whether that potential becomes performance. The Risk Shifts After the Hire Once an executive accepts the position, the nature of the risk and question changes from: Did we hire the right person? to: Can this person deliver here? Even highly capable executives enter with incomplete information. They must understand the culture, establish credibility, build relationships, clarify expectations, learn how decisions actually get made, and begin producing results—often simultaneously. Research reinforces the complexity. A recent review of 136 studies found that leadership transitions involve more than learning responsibilities. Leaders must adjust to a new environment, develop their identity in the role, and learn to work effectively with the people around them. A new executive is not simply learning a job. They are learning how to lead here. Experience Does Not Eliminate Transition Risk Organizations can understandably assume that an experienced executive requires less transition support. After all, they have led before. Experience matters enormously. But knowing how to lead and knowing how to lead here are NOT the same thing. A leadership approach that worked exceptionally well in one company may fail in another. The people are different. The history is different. The culture is different. Decisions get made differently. Even expectations that appear clear on paper may look different once in the role. The executive faces two jobs at once: Perform the role while learning the system in which the role operates. Move too slowly, and people may wonder when the new leader will begin producing results. Move too quickly, and the executive may make decisions before sufficiently understanding the people and context surrounding them. The challenge is not choosing between learning and getting results. It is learning while getting results—and being willing to adjust along the way. One of the earliest risks in an executive transition is surprisingly simple: Everyone may believe they know what success looks like without agreeing on it. The job description describes responsibilities. It rarely captures the full definition of success. The board may have one set of expectations. The CEO may have another. Peers and direct reports may have their own assumptions about what the new executive should change, or preserve. That creates the possibility of an expectations gap before the executive makes a single significant decision. One early conversation can expose it: What must be true six months from now for us to consider this transition successful? The discussion should reveal more than a list of activities. It should focus on the business results that matter most. Which relationships need to be established? What problems require immediate attention? What decisions cannot wait? And perhaps just as importantly, what should the executive understand before trying to change it? Clarity creates something more useful than an onboarding checklist. It creates a definition of traction. The Organizational Chart Is Not the Organization A new executive can study the organizational chart, financial statements, strategic plan, customer data, and operating metrics. But none alone fully explains how the organization actually works. There are histories behind relationships. People turn to certain people even when their influence isn't obvious from their titles. Previous decisions explain current sensitivities. Unwritten expectations shape how conflict gets handled, who needs to be consulted, and how decisions get made. You don't learn this from an organizational chart. The executive is entering an existing system, not an empty position. That makes relationship building part of the work. A new executive needs to understand where critical knowledge resides, whose support will be necessary, where trust is strong or fragile, which relationships need early attention, and where they may be receiving only part of the story. The organizational chart tells the executive who reports to whom. It doesn't communicate how influence, trust, information, and decisions actually move. Choose Early Wins Carefully New executives understandably want and need to demonstrate value. Boards, CEOs, employees, and peers are watching. But activity and impact are not the same thing. A highly visible change may demonstrate decisiveness while unintentionally damaging trust. Importing a successful practice from a previous company can create resistance when the executive has not yet understood why the current system works the way it does. A better question is: Where can I create meaningful progress while also building the relationships and understanding I will need for larger changes later? The best quick wins accomplish something important while helping the leader learn. They involve people whose support will make a difference. They demonstrate listening and decisiveness. And they create progress without pretending everything is figured out. The goal is to make early action build momentum, not resistance. Build a Candid Feedback Loop A new executive is forming impressions of the organization at exactly the same time the organization is forming impressions of the executive. This makes feedback especially valuable. The executive may believe things are going well while people around them are having a very different experience. Without candid feedback, differences between intent and impact can persist. And the higher someone moves in an organization, the more difficult candid feedback can become. People become more careful about what they say to someone who has significant positional authority. Experience by itself does not guarantee growth. We can repeat the same experience over and over without necessarily learning from it. Development happens when we stop long enough to examine what happened, learn from it, and adjust what we do next. A simple set of questions can accelerate development: What happened? What did I do? How did others respond? What result did my behavior produce? What should I repeat or change next time? Build Leadership Habits for the New Context Executive transition is not only about learning the organization. It is also about establishing how the executive will lead within it. This is where knowing and doing can separate. An executive may know that listening is important and still move too quickly to solutions. They may value delegation and still take work back when pressure rises. They may believe in candid feedback and still postpone a difficult conversation. One practical way to make a desired behavior easier to repeat is to decide in advance what you will do when a predictable situation occurs. Research calls these implementation intentions—simple “if–then” plans that connect a situation with a desired response. For example: If I feel pressure to provide an immediate answer, then I will ask at least one clarifying question before proposing a solution. Or: If a major decision affects another executive’s area, then I will consult that leader before finalizing the decision. There is nothing magical about an if–then statement. Its value is that the leader has decided what good leadership should look like before the pressure of the moment arrives. Learning → Practice → Reflection → Repetition → Habit A new role creates countless opportunities for that progression. The executive is having unfamiliar conversations, developing new relationships, encountering new problems, and making consequential decisions. Each becomes an opportunity to ask: What does good leadership require from me in this situation—and am I doing it consistently enough for other people to experience it? That last part matters. Leadership is not only what we intend. It is also what other people experience from us. Onboarding and Transition Are Not the Same New executives need systems access, organizational information, introductions, meetings, business reviews, and orientation. All of that is necessary. But much of it answers: What does this executive need to know to enter the organization? Transition asks a different question: What does this executive need to learn and do to become effective here? Orientation transfers information. Transition converts information into performance. The first 90 days receive a lot of attention in executive transitions. For good reason. Those early months reveal a great deal about how the executive learns, builds relationships, sets priorities, makes decisions, and communicates. But 90 days should not become an artificial finish line. An executive can make an excellent first impression while still struggling to build the relationships, alignment, decision processes, or leadership patterns necessary for sustained performance. Evidence points to thinking about the first 180 days. By then, the questions should have moved beyond: Has the executive settled in? Better questions are: Are the right relationships developing? Are expectations becoming clearer? Is the executive making progress on the outcomes that matter? Is candid feedback flowing? Is the leader learning and adjusting? Are productive leadership patterns becoming more consistent? By six months, the objective isn't simply successful entry. The objective is traction. Traction means the executive is building credibility, creating alignment, making meaningful progress, and establishing leadership patterns others experience consistently. Watch for Weak Signals Before Labeling It a Hiring Problem Executive-transition problems aren't always obvious at first. They often begin as weak signals. An important relationship isn't developing. Expectations remain unclear. An early decision creates unexpected resistance. Tension grows within the leadership team. Feedback becomes scarce. Everyone seems busy, but progress on the outcomes that matter is surprisingly limited. None of these automatically mean the organization hired the wrong person. The transition may need attention. This distinction matters. When an otherwise capable executive begins struggling, organizations can quickly return to: Did we hire the wrong person? In my experience, the more useful question is: What is getting in the way of the right person succeeding? Diagnosis creates options before issues become performance failures. The Hire Is Not the Outcome Executive search answers an enormously important question: Who should lead? Once that question is answered, another begins: How will we help this leader become effective here? That requires more than orientation. New executives need clarity about expectations and an understanding of the system they have entered, strong relationships, candid feedback, time to reflect on what they are learning, and disciplined attention to the decisions and leadership habits that shape organizational excellence. This is the Risk Zone after an executive hire. The organization has already invested considerably in finding the right person. The next responsibility is converting that decision into performance. Because the success of an executive search should not ultimately be measured by whether the right person accepts the job. It should be measured by what that leader and the organization can accomplish together. About This Series This article is part of a series exploring the Risk Zone—the period between consequential leadership decisions and the organizational performance they are intended to create. The concept was introduced in The Leadership Risk That Begins After the Decision and is explored more fully in the white paper Executive Advisory: Where Coaching and Consulting Come Together. Download the white paper: Executive Advisory: Where Coaching and Consulting Come Together References Dai, G., De Meuse, K. P., & Gaeddert, D. (2011). Onboarding externally hired executives: Avoiding derailment—accelerating contribution. Journal of Management & Organization, 17(2), 165–178. Doolittle, J. (2023). Life-changing leadership habits: 10 proven principles that will elevate people, profit, and purpose. Organizational Talent Consulting. Doolittle, J. (2026). The leadership risk that begins after the decision. Organizational Talent Consulting. https://www.organizationaltalent.com/post/the-leadership-risk-that-begins-after-the-decision Jiang, X., Agolli, A., & Harold, C. M. (2026). Leader role transition: A systematic review and agenda for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 47(2), 288–311. Trenz, N., & Keith, N. (2024). Promoting new habits at work through implementation intentions. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 97(4), 1813–1834.

Leaders worry about making the wrong decision. But some of the greatest leadership risks emerge after they make the right one. They hire the right executive. Approve a sound strategy. Restructure the organization. Promote a high-potential leader. Invest in growth. Make the difficult call they have postponed for too long. Then something happens between the decision and the result. The new executive struggles to gain traction. The strategy is clear, but the leadership team interprets its priorities differently. The restructuring creates new roles, but decision authority remains unclear. The CEO delegates responsibility, yet important decisions continue finding their way back to the CEO. None of these necessarily means the original decision was wrong. The decision may have been right. The risk emerges in what happens next. Leaders understandably put enormous energy into consequential decisions. They gather data, seek advice, debate alternatives, assess risk, and build consensus. Eventually, they almost always decide. But a decision alone does not create the intended value. The Gap Between Decision and Performance Between a consequential leadership decision and the organizational performance it is intended to enable is a period I call the Risk Zone. It is where: Expectations can become unclear Alignment can weaken Decisions can slow Candor can become filtered Leadership behavior can drift Execution can stall Organizations often invest heavily in the front end of important decisions. They conduct executive searches. They build strategic plans. They redesign structures. They select new systems. They announce change initiatives. Then the meeting ends. The search closes. The strategy is approved. The new leader starts. And attention moves to the next priority. But organizational value has not been created yet. The decision creates the opportunity. What happens next determines the return. Why Good Decisions Still Produce Poor Results There is a temptation to assume that if the decision was good, the result should follow. Organizations do not work that way. Consider hiring a senior executive. Selecting the right person matters enormously. But the executive still has to understand the culture, establish credibility, build stakeholder relationships, clarify expectations, navigate organizational dynamics, make decisions, and begin producing results. Research on CEO succession indicates that leadership changes can affect strategy, governance, stakeholder relationships, and organizational performance. Or consider strategy. The strategy itself may be sound. But if the senior team isn't aligned on priorities and trade-offs, if decision rights remain unclear, or if leaders leave the room agreeing only to behave differently afterward, strategy becomes increasingly difficult to execute. The same pattern appears during growth. Systems and leadership practices that worked when an organization was smaller can become constraints as complexity increases. A highly involved founder who once accelerated decisions can eventually become the bottleneck through which too many decisions must pass. These look like different leadership problems. But they share something important: the organization made a decision intended to create value, and risk emerged while trying to turn that decision into performance. The Risk Leaders May Not See The higher a leader rises in the organization, the harder it can become to receive unfiltered information. That does not necessarily mean people are dishonest. Positional power itself changes conversations. Employees become more careful about what they say. Bad news may travel more slowly. Disagreement may happen after the meeting rather than during it. Assumptions may go unchallenged. Research on psychological safety connects interpersonal safety with behaviors such as speaking up, asking questions, learning, seeking feedback, and discussing mistakes. Research on employee voice and silence likewise highlights leadership’s influence on whether employees communicate concerns upward. For an executive, that makes candor more than a culture issue. Filtered information is a decision risk. The challenge is not merely whether leaders have enough information. Most already have dashboards, reports, advisers, peers, employees, boards, and increasingly artificial intelligence producing more analysis than they can realistically absorb. The harder challenge is seeing the situation clearly enough to act well. Evidence-based management offers a useful discipline: integrate scientific findings, organizational information, professional expertise, and stakeholder perspectives rather than relying too heavily on any one source. The question becomes less: Do we have enough information? And more: Are we seeing the situation clearly enough to act well? Diagnose Before You Prescribe Leadership risk rarely has a single cause. Suppose a CEO is frustrated with an executive who no longer appears capable of operating at the level the organization requires. The obvious conclusion may be to replace the executive. Maybe. But several other explanations are possible. Has the organization outgrown the role? Has the role changed without expectations changing with it? Is decision authority unclear? Has growth created complexity the existing structure cannot support? Has the executive received clear feedback? Has the CEO avoided a difficult conversation? And perhaps the most uncomfortable question: How might the CEO’s own leadership be contributing to what is happening? The visible problem may sit in the leader, the system, or both. A strategy, structure, role-design, or decision-rights problem may require an organizational solution. Avoidance, control, fear of conflict, overconfidence, or unexamined assumptions may also be contributing to the problem. The work is to diagnose the actual constraint before engaging the solution. That is why effective leadership work often should not be limited to either coaching or consulting. Some moments require reflection, ownership, and behavioral change. Others require organizational diagnosis, operating-mechanism redesign, evidence, options, and a clear recommendation. Often, leaders need both. Insight Is Not the Finish Line Even correctly diagnosing the problem is not enough. A leader can leave a meeting with greater self-awareness and still change nothing. A leadership team can agree on a new operating model and continue behaving exactly as it did before. Knowing is not the same as doing. Insight has to become visible through decisions, conversations, habits, accountability, and follow-through. The practical questions are: What will you do differently? What conversation needs to happen? What decision needs to be made? What behavior needs to change? What will tell us whether it is working? That is where insight becomes traction. Start With the Risk This changes the way we should think about leadership support. Instead of beginning with: Does this executive need coaching? Or: Does this organization need consulting? A better starting question is: Where is the risk? Is the risk in a leadership transition? Is something important stuck? Has growth outpaced the organization’s leadership systems? Is seniority filtering the information reaching the executive? Is the executive team insufficiently aligned to make trade-offs and execute? Is the organization unprepared for a critical succession? Those are different leadership risks. They require different interventions. Sometimes the leader needs someone who will ask the question no one else is asking. Sometimes they need evidence. Sometimes they need an organizational diagnosis. Sometimes they need a recommendation. And sometimes they need someone willing to challenge the assumption beneath the entire conversation. Where Is Your Greatest Leadership Risk? The decision still belongs to the executive. But making the decision is only the beginning. The real leadership question is what happens next. I developed the white paper, Executive Advisory: Where Coaching and Consulting Come Together, to explore that question more fully. It introduces the Risk Zone, examines six recurring forms of leadership risk, and outlines an evidence-informed approach for moving from consequential decisions to organizational performance. Download the white paper: Executive Advisory: Where Coaching and Consulting Come Together References Berns, K. V. D., & Klarner, P. (2017). A review of the CEO succession literature and a future research agenda. Academy of Management Perspectives, 31(2), 83–108. Doolittle, J. (2023). Life-changing leadership habits: 10 proven principles that will elevate people, profit, and purpose. Organizational Talent Consulting. Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. Edmondson, A. C., & Bransby, D. P. (2023). Psychological safety comes of age: Observed themes in an established literature. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 10, 55–78. Morrison, E. W. (2023). Employee voice and silence: Taking stock a decade later. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 10, 79–107. Rousseau, D. M. (2020). Making evidence-based organizational decisions in an uncertain world. Organizational Dynamics.

Handle change well and win; handle it poorly and fail. In an environment of perpetual change, the enemy of great change leadership is good change management. Discover the leadership attributes behaviors that drive change and the tools to plan and implement change well. In-Person Leading Organizational Change Produce change Handle change well and win; handle it poorly and fail. In an environment of perpetual change, the enemy of great change leadership is good change management. Discover the leadership attributes, behaviors that drive change, and the tools to plan and implement change well. About No company would brag about its status quo and sameness compared to when it began. But, change imposed is often change opposed. One of the most critical leadership challenges is leading organizational change. Any organization can move forward with small incremental changes, but building for the future in today's rapidly evolving environment means making bold changes. This workshop introduces leaders to organizational life cycles, Kotter's 8 steps of organizational change, a positive framework for change, a tool for keeping a pulse on what matters most during major organizational change . Who should attend? Leaders and managers curious about how to lead positive changes in organizations. Leaders and managers who are skeptical of the ability to create positive organizational change. Why you want to learn it? Every business is vulnerable to threats. But too few businesses and leaders stop to consider the possibility of becoming irrelevant. Harnessing the potential of company growth takes well-equipped leaders. "If you believe that training is expensive, it is because you do not know what ignorance costs." Leboeuf Well-equipped leadership makes a difference. Here is how: Team Performance: Several research studies have investigated the connection between the leader and business performance. Studies have demonstrated that effective leadership improves follower performance and promotes higher business results, follower job satisfaction, and follower organizational commitment. Innovation and Creativity: Evidence suggests that leadership is essential for driving innovation in a company. A study involving over 400 executives from 48 companies connected strategy and innovation performance directly with good leadership habits. Trust and Change: Studies have demonstrated that the level of trust in leadership directly correlates to employee retention, organizational commitment , and support for organizational change. Furthermore, when executives build trust, evidence suggests that organizational change readiness increases. Internal Communication & Relationships: Words shape worlds. Studies have revealed that influential leaders enhance two-way communication, creativity, collaboration, job attitudes, and organizational commitment. Leadership Transitions: Leadership transitions, whether successful or not, are costly. Evidence suggests that, on average, 35% of internally promoted executives fail, and direct reports spend 10-20% of their time helping a new leader transition. Successful leadership transitions increase company revenue, have 13% lower attrition rates, and are 90% more likely to achieve long-term performance goals. Leadership development is a leadership transition acceleration tool. Want to personalize or bring Leading Organizational Change training to your business? LEARN HOW Schedule US $275 Date & Time (EDT) Sorry, there are no upcoming dates scheduled for this locati on at this time. Please contact us to ask about upcoming dates! Location Railside Golf Club - Alder Room 2500 76th St. SW Byron Center, MI 49315 Language English Terms and Conditiions Here is our cancellation and refund policy . More Details Lunch is included in the registration price. Questions? Interested in training your team of 10 or more? Fill out our contact form to get started. Next REGISTER NOW Objectives At the completion of this workshop, participants will be able to: Explain the essential leadership attributes and behaviors during change Articulate the steps of Kotter's organizational change proces s Articulate the steps of the Appreciative Inquiry Utilize the ADKAR model to measure change progress and lead change How it will help you A common perception is that most changes in the workplace fail. Mckinsey and Company surveyed over 1,500 executives on their perceptions of change and concluded that most changes fail because only a third of the executives in the study indicated that changes were completely or mostly successful. No matter your perception of change, the reality of a fast-moving economy and complex business environment makes the "change problem" increasingly difficult. Change is complex, whether broad or incremental. Like running a successful marathon, the work begins well before the first steps of the race and before the visible aspects of a change take place. If organizations move too quickly or out of order, they get into trouble, leading to faulty decisions and wasted efforts. If I am unable to attend the session I signed up for can I transfer to a new date? How? Yes, you can transfer into a new session by contacting info@organizationaltalent.com and making your request in writing. Please indicate the class/date you would like to reschedule in the subject of the email. Review the available course offerings and indicate the class/date of interest. How do I get a refund on a course? To cancel your course enrollment and receive a refund, please contact our Customer Support group by calling 1-616-803-9020 or email us at info@organizationaltalent.com. What is your cancellation and refund policy? If you need to cancel your enrollment, please do so at least 72 hours before the start of your course to receive a refund. Refunds will be processed within 45 days from the cancellation date or the first day of the course, whichever comes first. No refunds are provided if you attend all or part of a course. We reserve the right to cancel a course due to low enrollment, bad weather, or other unforeseen events. If a class is canceled, we will notify you promptly, and you can choose to receive a full refund or credit for another class. Please note, we are not responsible for any cancellation costs you incur, such as airline tickets or hotel reservations. How do I contact you with questions about my training? You can reach us by phone at 1-616-803-9020 (Mon-Fri, 8 AM-5 PM Eastern Time) or email us at info@organizationaltalent.com. We're here to help! Where can I book leadership development workshops in the Grand Rapids area? Organizational Talent Consulting delivers leadership development workshops and team facilitation for organizations in Grand Rapids, West Michigan, and nationwide. FAQs

Is your organization healthy? Take this 10-minute self-guided health check to find out. The Organizational Health Check is for business owners, executives, and team leaders with talent challenges they are unable to solve on their own. Your report includes proven, simple, custom, and transformational strategies. Are you having an organizational talent crisis? Take this 20-minute business health check to get out of crisis mode fast. GET STARTED NOW Scroll Working on Organizational Talent Health Works! Performance Health Your employees support your business goals rather than derail them. Selection Health The right people in the right positions at the right time to support business growth. Development Health Empowered and motivated employees with the skills and knowledge to drive better business performance Sustainability Health Your talent investments pursue your organization's vision. Enablement Health Your workplace has a welcoming environment that takes advantage of all people's skills, knowledge, and abilities. GET STARTED NOW How does it work How does it work? STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 CLARIFY CRITICAL FOCUS AREAS TAKE THE QUIZ IMPLEMENT PROVEN STRATEGIES Take 20-minutes to complete the self-guided health check quiz. Once you submit the intake form you are provided a link to complete the quiz. You don't need anything you don't already know. Just answer the questions as best you can with what you already know. An organizational talent consultant will review your responses and prepare an easy-to-understand one-page report (sample report ). This report provides a snapshot of your organization's overall health and specific areas for improvement. The report will be emailed with an optional invite for a 20-minute debrief with a talent consultant. The debrief covers your questions and proven transformational recommendations. The fee for the report, recommendations, and the debrief is only $199. There are never any shortcuts to success. Realizing the benefits of the health check requires putting your plan into action. If needed, we will partner with you to turn your aspirations into an advantage to achieve the greatest positive impact. GET STARTED NOW Your Best Choice for Organizational Consulting THE ORGANIZATIONAL TALENT HEALTH CHECK It is for business owners, leaders, and human resource professionals wanting to make better decisions avoid costly mistakes and increase revenue. GET STARTED NOW TAKE THE HEALTH CHECK NOW Working on organizational talent health works. It’s good for your people and for your bottom line. Take the Test Do you want us to bring out the best in your organization? YES, I WANT TO THRIVE NO, I HAVE ENOUGH SUCCESS

A commitment to leadership that elevates people, strengthens communities, and creates lasting social impact through service, learning, and partnership. Driving Change for 3,000 Children by 2030 Everyone deserves the chance to thrive. Make a life-changing investment for a child in need by purchasing Life-Changing Leadership Habits, gear with a mission, and child sponsorship. 1. A book with a mission: Life-Changing Leadership Habits. 2. Gear with a Life-changing mission. 3. Life-changing child sponsorship. The Unfortunate Reality 2.2 billion children are living in our world — but about half of them are living in poverty and 1 in 3 lives on less than $1 a day. In developing countries, nearly 1 in 7 school-age children have never had a chance to attend school . 1 of every 6 school-age children works as a child laborer ; 73 million of them are under the age of 10. These children are not lacking potential. They are lacking opportunity. And that is something we can change. Changing reality—one child at a time Together, we are committed to transforming the future for 3,000 vulnerable children by raising $117,000 by 2030. Each contribution helps replace poverty with possibility and hardship with hope. When you give, you’re not just donating—you’re standing with a child and saying: your life matters. Organizational Talent Consulting is making a difference by donating over $23,000 and sponsoring 761children as of 2025 . How Child Sponsorship Works $39/month provides vulnerable children and their communities the tools to overcome threats like poverty and hunger and create meaningful educational opportunities. In-country staff connects with local leaders and parents to determine their unique needs, then partner with them on lasting solutions. Those in the local community nominate vulnerable children for the sponsorship program. Each sponsorship gift is combined with other donations invested in locally tailored solutions — ensuring long-term access. Chosen | World Vision USA Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied The Path to 3,000 Children by 2030 STEP 1: Purchase a book with a mission. Life-Changing Leadership Habits: 10 Proven Principles That Will Elevate People, Profit, and Purpose Life-Changing Leadership Habits offers a proven approach to achieving success and significance in life and work. It’s an everyday guide on how to lead in ways that life-changing habits emerge and bad habits disappear. Reading Life-Changing Leadership Habits makes a difference. 15 percent of profits (about $1) from each book sale is donated to child sponsorship by Organizational Talent Consulting. By reading this book, you are helping a child living in poverty bring a brighter future into focus. BUY NOW BOOK TRAILER STEP 2: Gear With A Life-Changing Mission Life-Changing Leadership Habits Engraved YETI Rambler Amplify the need for child sponsorship and your commitment to the cause with this engraved Life-Changing Leadership navy stainless steel 10 oz YETI Rambler Lowball. This mug is the ideal drinking companion. Easy to stack and store, the Lowball’s double-wall vacuum insulation will keep your hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold longer than standard drinkware. Also, the stackable 18/8 stainless steel resists dents and drops and saves storage space. $5 from each Yeti sale is donated to child sponsorship. By using this rambler, you amplify the message about the need to help children living in poverty and drive change in their reality. BUY NOW $49.97 Free Shipping $5 of y our purchase goes to sponsor a child in need. STEP 3: Life-Changing Child Sponsorship Sponsor a child directly with one of these non-profit agencies we support that are making a difference for children worldwide. Making this donation provides vulnerable children and their communities the tools to overcome threats like poverty and hunger and to make meaningful educational opportunities. We suggest one-time or monthly donations of $50, $100, or $250. SPONSOR A CHILD Mail Send us a message if you sponsored a child. We would love to know and say thank you. 3,000 Children By 2030 Our goal is to change the reality for 3,000 vulnerable children by making donations of $117.000 by the year 2030. Organizational Talent Consulting has donated over $23,000 toward this goal as of 2025. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.