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How to help leaders review change management practices and strengthen adoption during a change

Have senior leaders review change management progress during the change, using adoption data to spot barriers, align sponsorship, and assign visible actions that reinforce the new behaviors. Focus on practical decisions, manager support, resistance, and…

Introduction: why this action matters for adoption

A change plan is only useful if leaders keep using it to make decisions, remove barriers, and reinforce the behaviors the project needs. This action asks senior leaders to visibly review whether change management practices are working while the change is underway. It matters because sponsorship is not just a name on a steering committee; active, visible sponsorship, coalition building, and direct communication to impacted groups are repeatedly identified as central contributors to change success [Prosci, 2021]. (prosci.com)

The purpose is not to create another governance meeting. It is to turn leadership attention into adoption support: clearer expectations, faster issue resolution, better manager enablement, and more credible role modeling. ACMP treats sponsorship, stakeholder engagement, measurement, feedback, and plan modification as core parts of change management practice [ACMP, 2025]. (acmpmexico.org)

What this action is and when to use it

This is a stakeholder engagement and commitment intervention. The change manager prompts leaders to review the project’s change management practices and then take visible ownership of the next actions. It works best when the review is practical: What are impacted groups being asked to do differently? Are leaders and managers reinforcing it? Where is resistance or confusion showing up? What decision or visible action is needed now?

Use this action at launch, before major milestones, during implementation dips, after readiness checks, and when adoption indicators show risk. In early phases, focus the review on sponsor alignment, stakeholder impacts, and the change story. During implementation, focus on manager support, resistance themes, training uptake, and feedback loops. Near go-live and sustainment, focus on adoption evidence, reinforcement mechanisms, and ownership transfer. McKinsey’s transformation research supports a comprehensive approach that combines will, skill, rigor, and scope, including role modeling, skill-building, and reinforcement mechanisms [McKinsey, 2023]. (mckinsey.com)

Preparation: inputs, stakeholders, materials, timing, and decisions needed

Before approaching leaders, prepare a short evidence pack. Include the project objective, impacted groups, top behavior changes, adoption risks, readiness data, open decisions, manager feedback, and the specific leader actions needed. Avoid asking leaders to “support the change” in general terms. Sponsors are usually carrying other responsibilities, so requests need to be specific, time-bounded, and easy to act on [PMI, 2013; Prosci, 2021]. (pmi.org)

Identify the right leadership audience. The executive sponsor should review enterprise-level risks, resources, and the sponsor coalition. Business-unit leaders should review local adoption, manager readiness, and conflicting priorities. People managers should review team-level meaning, questions, and capability gaps. Gallup recommends that senior leaders communicate the strategic rationale and that managers confirm and personalize the message for teams [Gallup, 2020]. (gallup.com)

Step-by-step facilitation guide

  1. Frame the review as adoption assurance, not compliance. Open with the business outcome at risk if people do not adopt the change. Connect the discussion to benefits, customer outcomes, risk reduction, or operational performance.

  2. Show the current adoption picture. Present three to five signals: readiness, training completion, stakeholder sentiment, manager feedback, process-use data, or unresolved barriers. ACMP emphasizes measurement, reporting cadence, and feedback mechanisms to monitor performance against the plan [ACMP, 2025]. (acmpmexico.org)

  3. Ask leaders to review the change practices that affect commitment. Facilitate discussion around sponsorship visibility, message consistency, manager enablement, stakeholder engagement, resistance themes, capability support, and reinforcement. Keep the question practical: “What are people seeing leaders do that proves this change matters?”

  4. Adapt the request to resistance level. If resistance is low, ask leaders to reinforce momentum and recognize early adopters. If resistance is moderate, ask leaders to clarify the “why,” address trade-offs, and equip managers with answers. If resistance is high, create listening channels and treat concerns as stakeholder data rather than dismissing them as opposition; CIPD emphasizes voice, dialogue, trust, and legitimate questioning during change [CIPD, 2014]. (cipd.org)

  5. Convert the review into visible leader actions. Each leader should leave with one or two actions: attend a team huddle, record a short message, call a resistant peer, unblock a policy issue, reinforce a decision in a leadership meeting, or ask managers to hold team conversations.

  6. Follow up within one week. Confirm what was done, what stakeholders noticed, and what changed in the adoption data. Prosci advises change practitioners to guide sponsor performance with forward-looking coaching rather than trying to dictate executive behavior [Prosci, 2023]. (prosci.com)

Example: how this could be applied in a real change initiative

A company is implementing a new procurement workflow. Training completion is high, but managers report that teams are still using spreadsheets because approvals in the new system feel slower. The change manager schedules a 30-minute sponsor review with the COO and three business-unit leaders. The evidence pack shows usage by team, recurring objections, and two process bottlenecks.

The leaders agree to three actions: the COO records a two-minute message explaining why standard workflow data is needed for supplier control; business-unit leaders attend team huddles to answer questions; and the process owner fixes one approval rule before go-live. The review shifts the change from “training is complete” to “leaders are removing barriers and reinforcing the new way of working.”

Roles and responsibilities

Role

Responsibility

Change manager

Prepare evidence, facilitate the review, coach leaders, track actions, and update the change plan.

Executive sponsor

Own the business case, model expected behaviors, remove barriers, and hold leaders accountable.

Business leaders

Translate the change into local priorities and reinforce expectations with managers.

People managers

Explain team impact, listen for concerns, coach individuals, and escalate barriers.

Project manager/product owner

Provide delivery status, decision needs, system/process constraints, and timing implications.

Common mistakes to avoid

Do not ask for generic “support” when a leader needs a concrete action. Do not treat the review as a slide presentation with no decision. Do not rely only on broadcast messages; stakeholder questions need dialogue and sensemaking. Do not assume the sponsor coalition is aligned because one executive approved the project. Prosci notes that named sponsorship is not the same as effective sponsorship, especially when sponsors are invisible, fail to build a coalition, or do not manage resistance [Prosci, 2021]. (prosci.com)

Measures of success or adoption indicators

Indicator type

What to look for

Leader visibility

Leaders attend agreed forums, send messages, join huddles, and discuss the change in normal business routines.

Manager activation

Managers can explain the change, answer “what this means for us,” and escalate barriers.

Stakeholder response

Fewer repeated questions, improved readiness sentiment, better trust signals, and clearer understanding of the rationale.

Adoption behavior

Increased use of the new process, reduced workarounds, improved compliance, or higher completion of role-based tasks.

Barrier removal

Faster decisions, resolved policy/process issues, and fewer unresolved resistance themes.

Checklist for the change manager

  • Confirm the leader has authority over the impacted people, process, system, or funding.

  • Prepare a one-page adoption evidence pack.

  • Identify the two or three leader decisions or actions needed.

  • Tailor the request by phase: alignment, implementation, go-live, or sustainment.

  • Provide talking points and manager cascade guidance.

  • Ask leaders to model the behavior publicly.

  • Capture commitments, owners, and due dates.

  • Follow up with evidence of whether leader action was visible to impacted groups.

  • Update the change plan based on the review.

Optional reusable template: leadership review request

Subject: Leadership review requested: adoption risks and visible actions for [change name]

Purpose: Review whether current change management practices are supporting adoption and agree leader actions for the next [two to four] weeks.

Current adoption signals: [Readiness score, usage data, feedback themes, training status, resistance risks.]

Decisions needed: [Decision 1], [Decision 2], [Decision 3].

Requested leader actions:
“Please reinforce why this change matters in your next leadership meeting, ask your managers to hold a 15-minute team discussion using the attached talking points, and escalate any barrier that prevents teams from using the new process.”

Follow-up: The change manager will confirm completed actions, stakeholder response, and updated adoption indicators by [date].

References

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