Over the past few months, we’ve written extensively about how organizations work from the inside: why teams make decisions nobody actually wanted, why people defend what they’ve created themselves, and why power gradually erodes our ability to understand others. These ideas explain a lot. But one question remains for every leader: what do you actually do with all this knowledge when you need to implement change right now?
We decided to ask someone who deals with this in practice.
Elena Safina is GradeX’s expert in change management and leadership development.
For over 15 years, she has supported organizational transformations, assessed leadership teams, designed leadership development programs, and worked with what is commonly called resistance to change.
We spoke with her about why formally implemented changes often change nothing, what separates strong leadership teams from weak ones, when resistance should be listened to rather than overcome, and where to start when there’s no budget for a major program.
1. What is the most common misconception leaders have about why change fails to take hold?
That people didn’t understand.
A leader encounters resistance and assumes the communication wasn’t good enough: let’s explain it again, put together another presentation, run another workshop.
But most of the time, people understood perfectly well. They simply see that the change brings them more losses than benefits: additional responsibilities, loss of familiar status, uncertainty.
More explanations won’t address that. Only an honest conversation about what people stand to lose and what they’ll gain in return will.
2. Can resistance actually be useful? And how do you distinguish it from inertia?
Yes, quite often. Resistance is information.
Inertia sounds like this: “We’ve always done things differently here.”
Useful resistance is specific: “If we do this, this particular process will break.”
The test is simple: ask the person to explain exactly what will go wrong. If they can give a concrete answer, there’s probably a risk that was overlooked during the design stage.
If their answer comes down to habit, that’s inertia, and it requires a different approach.
3. Does the IKEA effect hold true in practice? And what if you can’t involve everyone?
Almost exactly.
A solution that a team has built itself tends to survive the first difficulties. A solution imposed from above falls apart at the first obstacle: “Well, it wasn’t our idea.”
You really can’t involve everyone, but you don’t need to.
What matters is giving people at every level a genuine decision to make within their area of responsibility. Not simply approving something that’s already been decided, but choosing how to implement it in their own environment.
Even a little room for customization changes attitudes.
4. Have you seen a project where a change was formally implemented but nothing actually changed?
Here’s a typical scenario.
A company introduces a new goal-setting system. Everyone completes the forms on time, all the reports look right, and the project is declared a success.
Six months later, it turns out that real priorities are still being discussed in regular team meetings, while the new system contains goals nobody ever thinks about.
The clearest warning sign is when the new tool exists alongside the old one rather than replacing it.
5. What separates a leadership team that successfully navigates transformation from one that doesn't?
The ability to disagree internally while remaining united externally.
Weak teams do the opposite: everyone nods along during the meeting, and afterward each manager explains to their own people why the decision was a bad one.
Employees pick up on this immediately.
A strong leadership team can have heated disagreements behind closed doors. But once they leave the room, they speak with one voice.
6. What changes in a leader when an organization moves from growth to transformation?
During growth, speed and personal involvement are highly valued. The leader makes decisions, maintains control, and steps in to save the day.
During transformation, those same qualities start getting in the way.
The task is no longer to keep putting out fires, but to build a system where fewer fires start in the first place.
The strongest leaders during the growth phase often struggle the most. Their habit of keeping everything under personal control becomes a bottleneck.
7. What's the most underrated leadership skill?
The ability to tolerate uncertainty without passing it on to the team.
During change, leaders often don’t have all the answers.
A weak response is to pretend they do, or to pass their anxiety down to employees.
A strong response is to be honest about what is known, what isn’t, and when more clarity can be expected.
People find it easier to work with an honest “I don’t know yet” than with confidence that turns out to be empty a month later.
8. If there's no budget for leadership development, where should a company start?
With regular discussions of real management challenges among peers.
Every two weeks, a few managers get together for an hour to work through a specific situation one of them is facing.
It costs almost nothing, but provides something most training programs don’t: the opportunity to work on real problems and see your own decisions through someone else’s eyes.
9. What's the first question you ask when joining a new company?
“What was the last change initiative that failed here, and how do people talk about it?”
The answer immediately reveals whether the organization has a habit of examining failures or prefers to forget them.
Almost everything that follows depends on that.
10. What advice would you give a leader who is driving change but feels their team isn't on board?
Stop trying to convince people and start asking questions.
The natural instinct in that situation is to make your arguments even stronger.
But if your team isn’t with you, chances are there’s something you don’t understand about how the change looks from their perspective.
A couple of honest one-on-one conversations will achieve more than another all-hands meeting.