I’ll start this article with a declaration of bias.
My background is rooted in human rights. I hold a master’s degree in Political Studies, spent years leading an international human rights organisation in a voluntary capacity, sat on a refugee council housing families fleeing conflict, and travelled across the Asia-Pacific to advocate alongside country leaders and opposition figures. I’ve met Nelson Mandela, sat in a private audience with the Dalai Lama, and worked with incredible individuals who put their lives on the line for democracy.
It was a profound privilege—and it completely shaped how I view power, agency, and human dignity.
So now you know my bias. Let me share a brief memory from my very first master's lecture.
Our professor asked our small class: "Do you live in a democracy?"
Naturally, we all said yes. His reply? "Wrong. You don't."
When we pushed back, he asked us what was democratic about our family dynamics, our churches, or our workplaces. We were stunned. None of us had considered democracy outside of the formal political system. After 30 minutes of debate, we reached a sobering conclusion: Democracy was for the government, but not for the rest of our daily lives.
Years later, as I moved through project and change management roles, I saw the truth of that lecture play out in executive and senior manager meetings repeatedly.
Most organisations still run on an explicit or implicit "my way or the highway" culture. While this is slowly evolving—partly due to courageous leaders working to consult authentically—the pace of change remains achingly slow.
Is this top-down, non-democratic approach to organisational change actually failing us? The data says yes.
A major study highlighted by Fortune magazine looking at organizational leadership across multiple countries revealed that 70% of organizational change initiatives fail. Why? Because employees are completely disconnected from the process.
As Fortune noted:
"When organizations struggle with change, they usually do so not because leaders have a poor strategy or insufficient opportunities to win new business, but because they don’t focus enough on how people are likely to behave, feel, and think throughout the process."
What lies at the heart of this failure? A lack of genuine collaboration. And true collaboration requires a belief in democratic principles—ensuring that the people doing the work have the information, time, and agency needed to make informed choices. How can you expect staff to adopt new ways of working when they don't understand the rationale, nor are given the support to learn?
After years of listening to the same frustrating executive conversations, I walked away from a lucrative career in traditional change management to found ChangeCoach.
My mission is to empower the individuals caught in the crossfire of poorly executed organisational shifts. By giving them the playbook, language, and confidence to advocate for themselves and their teams, ChangeCoach bridges the gap that executive leadership leaves behind.
Poorly managed change doesn’t stay contained within the workplace — it spills into people’s personal lives, amplifying stress, eroding confidence, and contributing to burnout. That harm isn’t accidental. It’s the predictable outcome of leadership that is under‑skilled, under‑informed, and operating without a human‑centred understanding of how change actually works.
It’s time we equip employees with the tools to push back against poorly led change and to build not just resilience, but genuine capability. When people understand how change should be designed, communicated, and implemented, they stop feeling powerless. They gain language, clarity, and confidence. They can advocate for what they need. They can navigate change rather than being overwhelmed by it.
With the right resources, encouragement, and knowledge, staff can learn the principles of effective change leadership — and strengthen their personal change skills at the same time. This is the work I do: helping individuals understand change deeply, respond constructively, and build the capability to manage the changes placed upon them, both at work and in life.
Too often, I watched senior leaders treat change managers as a buffer against blame while showing astounding indifference to the very staff driving their business results. I saw change teams try to implement meaningful consultation, only to be repeatedly shut down or restricted to senior management.
Worst of all, frontline managers—the backbone of any shift—were left exposed. Receiving change communications at the exact same time as their teams, they were expected to drive adoption in nanoseconds without understanding the "why" or having the time to analyse the impact.
Collaborative Change is the only way forward.
It is time for leadership to check their ego—and their metrics. Look at the financial loss behind failed initiatives. Be honest with your change teams and middle management about what actually went wrong.
We need to take the co-design principles that have successfully powered IT projects for over a decade and apply them to organizational leadership.
The reality is that change is no longer episodic—it is continuous. With the rapid expansion of AI and emerging technologies disrupting every industry, massive shifts are layering on top of already broken, change-weary teams. What could be more urgent than fixing how we lead people through this transition?
It’s time for leaders to leave the mandated, top-down model behind. Embrace democratic, collaborative change models that respect human agency, leverage frontline expertise, and build organizations where people actually want to work.
If you want to further this conversation, please contact me at liz@changecoach.net.au If you are interested in change coaching, I offer a free 30 minute consultation. Hit the Book a Call button. It will be my absolute privilege to talk to you no matter where you are in the world!