Dive Brief:
- Only 13% of HR leaders believe their organization’s leaders are “very capable of anticipating and reacting to change,” with just 18% of leaders saying they feel “very prepared” to do so, according to the Global Leadership Forecast from leadership development firm DDI.
- The report found that executives lag behind the most, with just 8% demonstrating “strong change leadership.” Top level leaders struggle most with behaviors tied to empathy, influence and engagement, per the report.
- The number of leaders who said they feel prepared to manage change has declined from 25% to 13% over the past five years, even as expectations on leaders continue to rise, the report noted.
Dive Insight:
DDI’s simulation assessment data from more than 100,000 front-line, mid-level and executive leaders examined leaders’ ability to navigate change and revealed what it called “a systemic gap in change leadership capability.” The majority of leaders across all levels were found to be struggling, per the survey, but executives were especially weak when it came to leading through change.
“The global, technological, and competitive landscape over the past decade has translated into a transformation agenda for companies,” Tacy Byham, CEO of DDI, said in the release. “This cascades into change at all levels. To keep pace, organizations must view change as standard-operating-procedure.”
Just 1% of executives were strong at visibly rewarding desired behaviors, and only 4% of executives were strong in terms of stretching boundaries. Meanwhile, only 11% were strong when it came to addressing change resistance, because they’re often shielded from dissent and can experience resistance as “personal or disruptive.”
In terms of asking questions, the survey found that only 10% of mid-level leaders were strong in that area, due to an environment that rewards answers over curiosity.
Generation Z leaders tended to be higher in change readiness; they were 1.5 times more likely to feel prepared to anticipate and respond to rapid change.
“There’s a stark disconnect between the accelerated change organizations are facing and leaders’ ability to mobilize teams in an uncertain world,” Rosey Rhyne, senior research manager of DDI’s Center for Analytics and Behavioral Research, said in the release. “Yet, HR teams can help: When leaders have access to high-quality assessment and development programs to provide them with self-insight and growth, they are 5.6x more likely to effectively anticipate and react to change.”
A September report from The Grossman Group found that there’s a disconnect between leadership and employees when it comes to enacting workplace change. More than 50% of business leaders said they expect to implement 3 or more changes in the next two years, but employees said they can’t absorb all the shifts their leaders expect them to make.
Another report from Eagle Hill Consulting last year found that while 63% of U.S. workers said they had experienced workplace changes in 2025, 34% said the changes weren’t worth the organizational effort.
