Leading Change Starts with You

 

No matter what our role is, we all lead or participate in change in some form. Especially as higher education confronts today’s rapidly changing environment, we must be prepared as leaders to move into the future and work toward greater impact.  

But why is it so hard to lead change?

One fundamental thing about change leadership is that technical strategies fail without the human foundation. After all, transformation starts with people, not processes.  

Here’s why starting with yourself and human dynamics is essential: 
 
Change triggers natural resistance. When people encounter change, their first response is often denial or judgment—it’s neurological, not personal. And if you haven’t done your own internal work around the change, you’ll lack the emotional steadiness to guide others through their initial resistance. Your unprocessed anxiety or impatience will amplify their fear. 
 
Trust determines adoption speed. People don’t follow strategies; they follow leaders they trust. If you haven’t examined your own motivations, fears, and blind spots around the change, others will sense that uncertainty. They need to see that you’ve wrestled with the same concerns they have, and that you’ve emerged with genuine conviction. 
 
Systems are relationship networks. Every organization is really a web of relationships, informal influence patterns, and unspoken agreements. A brilliant strategy that ignores these human dynamics will hit invisible walls. That’s why you need to understand who influences whom, what people value, and where the emotional landmines are buried. 
 
Urgency without empathy backfires. You can articulate why change is necessary and paint a compelling vision of the outcome, but if people don’t feel heard in their concerns, they’ll resist even good ideas. Starting with human dynamics means creating space for people to process their losses and fears before asking them to embrace something new. 
 
The most elegant change strategy becomes irrelevant if people don’t feel psychologically safe enough to engage with it authentically. 

Preparing to Lead Change 

So what can you do as a leader to prepare yourself for change, so that you can start to model for others what leading through change looks like?  

The first thing you’ll need to do is define your relationship to the change that needs to happen. Take 20-30 minutes today to reflect on an upcoming change and build a Change Journey Map.  

The Change Journey Map 

To build your Change Journey Map, you can work through these questions in writing, use a trusted colleague to talk them through, or reflect on them with Sophia, your leadership coach in My Path, as a brainstorming partner.  

Your Origin Story:

• What first made you believe this change was necessary? Was it a specific moment, conversation, or realization? 
• What emotions did you feel when you first recognized the need for change? (Frustration? Excitement? Dread?) 
• How has your thinking evolved since then? 

Your Honest Inventory:

• What are you genuinely excited about with this change? 
• What are you secretly worried about or dreading? 
• What might you lose if this change succeeds? (Status, comfort, expertise, relationships?) 
• What assumptions are you making that might not be true? 

Your Mission Connection:

• How does this change serve your deeper professional mission? Not your job title, but what brought you to this work? 
• When you connect this change to your authentic purpose, what shifts in how you think about it? 

The goal of creating a Change Journey Map isn’t to eliminate all concerns, but to understand your full emotional landscape so that you can lead from authenticity rather than just authority. 

Check out our recent article Leading Change in Higher Education: Lessons from the Work to explore more of the human elements of leading change.