"It has been estimated that 70 percent of organizational change initiatives fail or fall short of expectations. Typically, when attempts at organizational transformation fail, there is finger-pointing, and the blame is placed on leadership in the majority of cases, or on the followers who either resisted the change or failed to move forward. The real problem is that leaders and followers need to work together in all initiatives in the organization, but particularly when there is a need to change direction or implement new initiatives."
"The real problem is that leaders and followers need to work together in all initiatives in the organization, but particularly when there is a need to change direction or implement new initiatives. In our recent article (Kugler & Riggio, 2026), we suggest that research on followers and followership needs to be incorporated into change initiatives in order for them to succeed. This means seeing followers as active contributors to change initiatives rather than recipients of finalized change decisions who potentially resist and slow down implementation."
"A key to getting organizational members on board is to not compel them to support the change program but to seek out voluntary commitment from followers by listening to their concerns and promoting authentic, two-way communication. For team members to "get on board" with a change program, they need to identify as followers who support the leader and the change initiative. Based on the notion of voluntariness, true sup"
Organizational change initiatives often fail when leaders and followers do not work together. Change efforts require incorporating followership research so followers are treated as active contributors rather than recipients of finalized decisions. Success depends on creating urgency and voluntary support through listening to concerns and using authentic two-way communication. Leaders should form a powerful coalition and socially negotiate leader and follower roles so team members identify with supporting the leader and the change initiative. Leaders should empower followers by reducing obstacles and rewarding proactive contributions, enabling followers to move forward with the initiative.
#organizational-change #leadership-communication #followership #employee-engagement #change-management
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