When employees are asked to adopt a new system, process, structure, or way of working, they look for signals about whether the change is real, safe, and expected. Senior leaders create many of those signals through what they say, what they prioritize, what they fund, what they challenge, and what they personally model. PMI describes actively engaged executive sponsors as a top driver of project success, while Prosci reports that projects with extremely effective sponsors are far more likely to meet objectives than those with ineffective sponsors [PMI, 2014; Prosci]. (pmi.org)

This action is therefore not “more communications.” It is a stakeholder engagement and commitment intervention. The change manager helps senior leaders take visible ownership, align their messages, remove barriers, and model the behaviors expected from others. That matters because successful transformation requires behavior change, and McKinsey’s influence model identifies role modeling, understanding and conviction, reinforcement mechanisms, and skill-building as key levers for shifting mindsets and behaviors [McKinsey, 2015]. (mckinsey.com)

This action involves deliberately prompting senior leaders to support the change in observable ways. Typical activities include a direct request from the primary sponsor, a short sponsor briefing, leader-specific talking points, a coalition map, leader commitments, calendar holds for visible moments, and follow-up to confirm that support was seen by impacted groups.

Use it when the change crosses functions, requires managers to reinforce new behaviors, or depends on trust in leadership. It is especially important when leaders are passively supportive but not visible, when impacted groups are receiving mixed messages, when resistance is increasing, or when managers say they do not know what executives expect. Prosci’s sponsorship guidance frames effective sponsorship as active and visible participation, coalition-building, and direct communication with employees [Prosci, 2026]. (prosci.com)

Start with the change story, impact assessment, adoption risks, stakeholder map, and current sponsor assessment. The change manager should know which groups are most affected, which leaders influence those groups, where support is strong or weak, and which behaviors must change.

The core stakeholders are the primary sponsor, senior leaders whose functions are impacted, people managers, project leadership, HR or communications partners, and informal influencers. Gallup notes that involvement should depend on the type of change and the organization’s power and influence dynamics; transformational changes usually require broader leadership and stakeholder involvement than narrow transactional changes [Gallup, 2020]. (gallup.com)

Prepare a one-page leader ask, a short briefing deck, talking points, FAQs, a visible-action calendar, and a feedback loop. Decisions needed include who will make the request, what each leader is being asked to do, what messages must be consistent, what local tailoring is allowed, and how visible support will be measured.

Step 1: Diagnose the sponsorship gap. Identify where senior leaders are committed, neutral, resistant, overloaded, or unclear. Compare what impacted employees need to see with what leaders are currently doing.

Step 2: Align the primary sponsor. Before approaching peers, coach the sponsor on the specific request. The ask should be concrete: “Please open your next leadership meeting with the case for change, name two behaviors you expect, and ask each director to confirm how they will reinforce them.”

Step 3: Map the sponsor coalition. Use a simple coalition map showing each senior leader, their influence, current commitment, impacted groups, and required action. Prosci recommends mapping sponsor commitment and alignment to identify risks and actions [Prosci, 2026]. (prosci.com)

Step 4: Brief leaders in plain language. Avoid change jargon. Explain the business reason, the people impact, what adoption will look like, and what leaders must do in the next two weeks. PMI found that sponsor effectiveness is limited by overextension, inefficient communication, and lack of sponsor development, so the briefing should make the role easier, not heavier [PMI, 2014]. (pmi.org)

Step 5: Give leaders practical materials. Provide talking points, examples of desired behaviors, answers to likely questions, and a short list of visible actions. Gallup advises that senior executive leadership should first communicate key change information and that managers should confirm and reinforce it [Gallup, 2020]. (gallup.com)

Step 6: Create visible moments. Schedule leader participation into existing business routines: town halls, steering committees, manager meetings, site visits, training kickoffs, decision reviews, and recognition moments. Kotter’s model reinforces the importance of a guiding coalition, removing barriers, short-term wins, and anchoring new behaviors [Kotter]. (kotterinc.com)

Step 7: Follow up and close gaps. After each visible action, gather feedback from managers and impacted groups. If support is not visible, coach the leader privately or ask the primary sponsor to re-engage the coalition.

A company is replacing local sales spreadsheets with a shared CRM. Sales leaders say they support the change, but regional directors continue asking for spreadsheet reports. The change manager maps the sponsor coalition and finds that two directors are neutral because they fear productivity loss.

The chief revenue officer sends a direct peer request: each director must attend one CRM training kickoff, stop requesting the old spreadsheet report after a named date, and share one customer example where common data improves account planning. The change manager provides talking points, a FAQ on productivity concerns, and a weekly adoption dashboard. Within three weeks, managers report fewer mixed messages, CRM logins rise, and resistance shifts from “leadership is not serious” to specific usability issues the project team can address.

Do not treat a verbal endorsement as sponsorship. Do not let leaders delegate all support to the change team. Do not ask every leader to repeat identical scripts when local impacts differ. Do not ignore quiet resistance from influential leaders. Do not overuse leaders for ceremonial events while failing to involve them in barrier removal, decisions, and reinforcement. Finally, do not measure leader participation only by attendance; measure whether impacted groups actually saw, understood, and believed the support.

Use three levels of measurement. First, track change management execution: leader briefings completed, visible actions delivered, sponsor coalition gaps closed, and barriers removed. Second, track individual adoption: awareness, willingness, usage, proficiency, manager readiness, and feedback themes. Third, track organizational outcomes: business KPIs, process compliance, customer impact, productivity, or benefit realization. Prosci recommends measuring change management performance, individual performance, and organizational performance, including adoption speed, utilization, and proficiency [Prosci]. (prosci.com)

Subject: Request for your visible support on [change name]

Message outline:

We are entering a critical phase of [change name]. Your team will be impacted by [brief impact], and your visible support will help employees understand that this change is expected, supported, and connected to our business priorities.

I am asking you to take three actions by [date]. First, open your next leadership/team meeting by explaining why the change matters. Second, model the expected behavior by [specific behavior]. Third, ask your direct reports to reinforce [specific adoption expectation] and surface barriers by [feedback route].

We will provide talking points, FAQs, and a short adoption dashboard. After [date], we will review what employees are hearing, where barriers remain, and what additional support leaders need.

Prosci. “5 Ways to Help Sponsors Build a Coalition of Support for Change.” Published May 11, 2022; updated Apr. 22, 2026. https://www.prosci.com/blog/5-ways-to-help-sponsors-build-a-coalition-of-support-for-change (prosci.com)

Prosci. “Change Management Success.” No publication date shown. https://www.prosci.com/change-management-success (prosci.com)

Project Management Institute. “Executive Sponsor Engagement: Top Driver of Project and Program Success.” Oct. 2014. https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/top-driver-project-program-success (pmi.org)

McKinsey & Company. “The science of organizational transformations.” Sept. 1, 2015. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-science-of-organizational-transformations (mckinsey.com)

Gallup. “Proven Change Management Principles: How to Effectively Initiate It.” July 15, 2020. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/315602/proven-change-management-principles-effectively-initiate.aspx (gallup.com)

Kotter. “The 8 Steps for Leading Change.” No publication date shown. https://www.kotterinc.com/methodology/8-steps/ (kotterinc.com)