Change is rarely a polite visitor. It arrives uninvited, rearranges the furniture, and forces you to reconsider what you thought was certain.
Anton Chekhov’s play The Cherry Orchard, first performed in 1904, is a masterclass in the quiet tragedy of resisting change. The play follows a once-wealthy Russian family who return to their estate, only to face the looming sale of their beloved cherry orchard to pay off debts. The solution is obvious to others: redevelop the land and secure the future. But the family cannot let go of what the orchard represents: their history, their identity, their comfort.
They talk, they reminisce, they make small plans. But they never act. While they cling to the past, others move decisively, and by the final act, the orchard is sold, the trees cut down, and their world irreversibly altered.
It is a story of beauty, nostalgia, and fatal inaction. And its lesson is sharp: refusing to adapt is not a neutral choice. It is a decision to be overtaken.
For organisations, the parallel is striking. Markets shift, technologies advance, expectations evolve.
Leaders who hesitate, hoping the old ways will suffice, risk more than missed opportunities. They risk irrelevance. The question is not if change will come, but whether you and your team will be ready to shape it, rather than be shaped by it.
Refusing to adapt is not a neutral choice. It has consequences.
In the theatre of organisational change, the spotlight often falls on strategy, timelines, and project plans. Yet, the real performance happens in the shadows… the whispered conversations, informal alliances, and silent acts of resistance or support.
When you are leading change, one of the most important questions you can ask is: Who is in my corner?
Not every change will win universal support. Some people will cheer from the front row; others will cross their arms and wait for the curtain to fall. Others won’t show up at all.
The role of the leader is to see clearly who is where and to take the first step in rallying people to the cause. It requires you to step up and influence.
Go First or Don’t Go at All
In successful transformations, leaders do not outsource belief. They model the behaviours, mindsets, and energy they want to see in others.
They understand that credibility cannot be delegated and commitment cannot be faked. People watch leaders closely during periods of uncertainty, searching for cues about whether the change is real, whether it matters, and whether it will last.
Best practice research by Prosci consistently identifies visible, active sponsorship as the number one predictor of change success.
This goes beyond approving budgets or signing off on plans. It means being physically and emotionally present at critical moments. For example, launch events, milestone updates, and difficult conversations can be used to share why the change matters, what it will achieve, and how it connects to the organisation’s future.
Leaders who ‘go first’ are the ones who take early actions that demonstrate their personal stake in the transformation. They pilot new processes before asking others to adopt them. They use the latest systems themselves, even if it takes them longer in the beginning. They publicly acknowledge both the progress and the pain points, showing that they are willing to walk the same road as their teams.
Going first sends a clear, unambiguous signal: This matters. I am committed. I am in this with you. It shifts the narrative from ‘the organisation is changing’ to ‘we are changing together’, which is the foundation for genuine momentum.
Mapping Your Corner
Too often, stakeholder mapping is done once – at the start of a program – and then filed away.
However, influence is dynamic. People shift positions, priorities change, and informal power moves quietly through an organisation.
To stay ahead of these shifts, you will want to take a structured, ongoing approach to stakeholder analysis. It can help to focus on three critical dimensions:
- Role in the change – Are the stakeholders making it happen, helping it happen, watching it happen, or trying to stop it from happening?Supporters may actively drive the change by backing decisions, providing resources, and contributing expertise. Others may be willing to assist if invited, but won’t initiate. Some remain passive observers, and a small but significant group may work against the change. Knowing who falls into which category helps you target your engagement strategy and decide when and how to involve them.
- Level of influence – Are the stakeholders a decision maker, an adviser to decision makers, or someone with limited formal influence?The greater their influence, the more time and energy you need to invest in their engagement. Influence isn’t always tied to hierarchy; informal leaders often wield significant sway over how others respond to change.
- Personal impact – Will the change enhance or diminish each stakeholder’s authority, opportunities, or sense of success?Even well-intentioned leaders can be swayed (consciously or unconsciously) by how a change affects them personally. Understanding the personal stakes allows you to anticipate potential resistance and tailor your approach.
These dimensions combine to form a clear picture of your stakeholder landscape. A decision maker who is negatively impacted and actively opposing the change demands priority attention. A detractor with little influence may require only occasional engagement, though it’s wise to monitor them, as organisational dynamics can change quickly.
As researchers, Professor Michael Beer and Russell Eisenstat’s ‘silent killers’ research (refreshed by Pregmark and colleagues) reminds us, resistance often hides in plain sight, embedded in culture and unspoken norms.
The leaders who succeed are those who continually reassess the field, knowing that today’s minor player can become tomorrow’s critical ally or obstacle. Consequently, you should always take a long-term view when it comes to building relationships.
Building Your Change Coalition
Once you understand the landscape of roles, influence, and personal impact, the next step is to build a coalition that can carry the change forward.
A true coalition is not the same as a project team. It is a connected network of formal and informal leaders who hold credibility in the eyes of others and can influence both the pace and the tone of the transformation.
Strong coalitions are intentionally designed. They are built by:
- Identifying potential allies early and equipping them with compelling stories, credible data, and clear talking points.
- Engaging neutrals and detractors in open, honest dialogue to surface their concerns and uncover areas of alignment.
- Reviewing the coalition regularly because support is never static and relationships can shift without warning.
This is where adaptive leadership meets political intelligence.
Influential leaders recognise that influence often resides outside the organisational chart, and they work to cultivate relationships throughout the organisation.
As Harvard’s Dr Michael Beer cautions, failing to build and sustain a strong coalition is one of the most common and most preventable reasons that change efforts falter.
The Adaptive Team Advantage
A strong coalition is essential, but even the most influential network will falter without an adaptive core team driving the change from within. No leader delivers transformation single-handedly.
In volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments, your immediate team becomes the multiplier effect. It can be the group that sets the pace, sustains energy, and models the mindset for the rest of the organisation.
Consequently, adaptability is the differentiator. It is not a “nice-to-have” quality; it is the capability that determines whether change efforts gain traction or stall.
Adaptive teams can learn quickly, unlearn outdated approaches, and re-learn as conditions shift. They respond to emerging challenges without losing sight of the bigger picture.
Start-up cultures offer a practical blueprint here. Many successful ventures follow a simple but powerful rhythm, and you can apply this approach with your team:
- Design – Define the vision with your team and outline the minimal viable change needed to move forward.
- Nurture – Test ideas, gather feedback from the team, and refine based on real-world experience.
- Accelerate – Once the foundation is proven, commit resources and scale with confidence.
Leaders can apply this cycle to organisational change, creating deliberate space for their team (and stakeholders) to experiment, learn, and pivot without losing momentum.
Natalie Fratto’s TED Talk on adaptability reinforces this point: leaders who ask “what if” questions, actively unlearn, and prioritise exploration over exploitation keep their teams responsive rather than reactive.
So while process matters, so too does dialogue and questions. Yet, while being one of the most effective ways to accelerate buy-in, the role of asking the right questions and truly listening is often minimised.
Allocate time. Sit down with your team to explore:
- What do they value most about this change?
- What worries them?
- What obstacles could derail progress?
- What would a great outcome look like for them, the broader team, and the organisation?
- What support would help them best contribute?
When your team members see their input shaping the path forward, ownership grows and resistance often fades.
Bringing it together
In change, success requires consistency, connection and concentration. You design the path, nurture it through experimentation and feedback, and accelerate when the foundation is ready. You also never stop scanning the room to see who’s in your corner, because allies and adversaries alike can shift over time. Influential leaders know they must balance immediate priorities with longer-term thinking.
This is where the work of coalition-building, influential leadership, and cultural change converge, transforming your vision into a shared endeavour and turning the uncertainty of change into a collective opportunity.
The leaders who thrive in transformation are those who refuse to stand still. They go first, they adapt fast, and they bring people with them, not by mandate, but by making the change feel like a cause worth backing.
In the end, the question is simple: when the future arrives, will you and your team be ready to shape it, or will you be left, like Chekhov’s orchard, holding on to something beautiful but already lost?
Getting you ready for tomorrow, today®
Award-winning author and global workplace expert, Dr Michelle Gibbings, helps leaders, teams and organisations unlock strategic influence to accelerate progress.