A People-Centric Approach to Change Leadership

Transformational changes may save the company but could cost you your culture. So, what’s a SHE-EO to do? (I combined SHE and CEO. Clever, micro-feminististic pun, huh?) 

Introducing the VOWS Method

The VOWS method is a communication approach I developed while navigating various change management projects as a Business Transformation Analyst. The framework is broken into four parts and the questions are focused on how to create buy-in for big changes such as a reorg, restructure or even small ones like the arrival of new leaders. As you may know, I’m Paris Volpe—Corporate Unicorn by day, Intuitive Coach by night. One of the most rewarding aspects of my 9-to-5 role is applying insights about human behavior to the change methodologies I employ. What is curiously top-of-mind for my clients these days parallels the work I do in my day job in change management. People are desperate to feel engaged at work. So, I did some digging and it turns out, big transformation shifts are on the rise for Corporate America. Change leadership could not be more important than it is right now. 

Why Change Is On the Rise

Recently, corporations across the globe have been heavily focused on transformational changes through reorganization—shifting human resources, reporting structures, work distribution, asset management, and more. To be honest, I really had to focus my left-brain on the data I was seeing to understand what shift is happening here. But this is what I found:

• The Data: Data from S&P Global shows a significant rise in corporate reorganizations across the United States between 2020 and 2024. In the first half of 2024, 64.45% of the 346 U.S. corporate bankruptcy filings were categorized as reorganizations, up from 54.74% during the same period in 2023. (Source: S&P Global)

While there are infinite ways to dissect this trend, and various elements of bankruptcy law we could dive into, here’s how I'm thinking about it: Companies are increasingly opting for restructuring over selling off assets to address their financial stress.

• My Perspective: This is generally good news for Corporate Unicorns like you and me because it means companies are creating plans to stay financially viable by changing infrastructure rather than liquidating (aka selling parts of their business or completely crashing altogether).

This means, yay, companies are doing whatever it takes to stay afloat! But it doesn’t quite feel good, does it?

The Challenge of Big Org Shifts

Here's what else I learned. Restructuring is also on the rise. This could mean a lot of things but likely for you and me, it means merging departments, role changes, hierarchy shifts, role elimination and creation.

• The Data: A study by CSC found that 83% of industry professionals anticipate a rise in restructuring mandates over the next two years, with 25% predicting a significant increase. These experts cite the political landscape, tightening interest rates, and new regulatory challenges driving companies to shift so boldly. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

• Why It Matters: Reorgs, whether focused on the structure of debt, assets, or people, can be necessary to adapt to the market or to improve efficiency. However, they are extremely hard on us, the employees.

If your company has experienced a layoff, the invisible but very real consequences are even greater.

• The Data: In 2023, Forbes cited a Leadership IQ survey, which showed that 74% of employees retained after a layoff say their productivity declined afterward. (Source: Forbes)

The Solution: Heart-Centric Leadership

When all other options for process improvement have been exhausted and restructuring becomes inevitable, your best chess move is to pour as much time and energy into heart-centric change leadership as you can.

Without extremely thoughtful messaging and inspiring leaders, reorgs risk:

• Morale

• Productivity

• Psychological safety

And, let’s be real, no one showing up for the annual holiday party. Who’s going to eat all of Donna’s famous cinnamon rolls and watch The Muppet Christmas Carol with you?

Introducing the VOWS Method

The good news? There’s a communications salve we can apply to reorg-anticipatory grief: The VOWS Method.

It starts with a compelling vision of the future.

Compelling Vision: The Key to Driving Change

People need a compelling vision of the future to step into—or else, the human at rest will stay at rest. Or worse, a human coasting will stay coasting (also known as quiet quitting) until an outside force of inspiration acts upon it.

To paraphrase Einstein, this “change law” applies to our personal lives too. When we face opportunities for transformation, it’s often the vision of a better future that drives us forward. (Or absolute necessity, but that’s a blog for another day.) 

You know this: It’s damn near impossible to lose weight, change jobs, dump the guy who will never really get you, if you can’t envision a brighter life on the other side of the hard work it’ll take to get there.

Instead, you get stuck—fixating on the effort and agony, with no proof that things will improve. We wake up each day with the dullness of Scrooge and the voice on our Hatch might as well be Dickens rumbling, “Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” 

The same fears and doubts surface during workplace transformations. That’s why it’s so important for leaders to take a critical look at their reasoning behind a change and spend the time necessary to paint a clear and motivating picture for their teams. Depending on the organization, this communication might happen all at once—in a single memo—or through a series of meetings. Regardless of the format, the crucial elements I’ll outline below must be communicated clearly, kindly, and often. 

The VOWS Method: Foundations for Change Leadership

The VOWS method for building effective change leadership communications emerged from my experience supporting a major change project. At the time, I didn’t have this framework documented but was journaling nightly—reflecting on the questions we needed to ask ourselves to create buy-in.

Initially, we anticipated the change would be met with applause because the burnout among employees was “so very real,” as the kids say. They were ready for something different. But readiness for change doesn’t erase grief. Employees would have to navigate the unknown: new processes, redefined roles, shifting managers, and evolving hierarchies.

Ultimately, it’s not the change itself that people fear—it’s the transition.

Knowing this, the leadership team committed to giving the project its own core value: “Put people first, culture second, process third.” This guiding principle shaped every decision, prioritizing the hearts and minds of those affected. 

• Focusing on people allowed the team to make micro-pivots along the way, especially when we were heading toward a process that the ground floor employees were starkly against.

• Emphasizing culture gave way to raw, crucial conversations over text, over tacos, and over time. It was the vulnerability of employees that shed light on the shadowy, scary parts of the transition leaders had no idea existed. 

We focused on the people so we could get the process right.

When leaders focus on people and culture over profit, the result is often greater profitability in the end. If you disagree, you’re free to be wrong! Trimming your books like you’re trimming the tree might save costs today, but you’re also burning up your biggest asset: employee engagement. 

• Gallup's 2020 Meta-Analysis: Organizations with highly engaged employees see a 21% increase in profitability and a 17% boost in productivity!

• Achievers' 2020 Report: Companies that focus on employee engagement achieve higher productivity and profitability, highlighting the critical connection between workplace culture and business success!

• Forbes Insights (2021): Engaged employees contribute to faster revenue growth by being more innovative, providing better customer service, and driving overall financial performance.

Happy, fulfilled employees deliver exceptional results. Protecting their hearts and minds protects the organization. 

Clear is Kind: The Power of Thoughtful Communication

As Brené Brown says, “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.” Communicating clearly and kindly doesn’t guarantee a smooth transition or eliminate all resistance—big emotions are part of any change. (Just ask any divorcee navigating an asset battle!) But by prioritizing clarity and kindness, leaders can soften the cultural impact and create space for trust and engagement.

This brings us to the four-part VOWS formula for designing people-centric, trust-building communications during a transformation:

1. Vision for Success

2. Ownership of Discomfort

3. Why with Confidence

4. Set Conditions for Feedback

Below, I’ll walk through each component and provide guiding questions to help you craft thoughtful change management communications. Bring your change management partner along on this journey. She can help you transcribe your leadership discourse into a beautifully crafted comm. (Shameless plug, sue me!)

1. Vision for Success

A compelling vision includes both tactical elements (e.g., org charts, work redistribution) and tangible benefits for employees. It should include metrics whenever possible. Show your team that you’ve done the research and are making data-informed decisions. Then ask them to validate that data! Nothing is worse than looking at a spreadsheet that shows numbers are down but completely neglects the narrative of why. The opposite is true as well. Show me, Corporate Unicorn Paris, a chart that says my productivity will increase by 20% (and my sparkle ratings will skyrocket) under certain conditions and then let me ask questions about that story. Let me co-create this future with you, and I’m far more likely to be an agent of change.

Questions for consideration: 

• What is our tactical vision for the future?

  • Org design

  • Roles and responsibilities

  • Decision rights

  • Hierarchy

  • Redistribution of work

• What are the immediate actions and decisions being taken, and why are they important for the vision?

• What is our definition of success and how will we measure it (e.g., increased capacity, clarity in roles, higher employee satisfaction)?

• How will we know we’ve made the right changes at the end of this?  

• What are the clear benefits we see because of this change? (Ideally, this is paired with metrics) 

  • We are driving towards a 10% increase in capacity for XYZ.  

  • We expect to increase the velocity of content production by X%.  

  • We want employee satisfaction and engagement survey results to increase by X. 

2. Ownership of Discomfort

Name the most empowering action you can take to gain more control of your emotions. If you guessed, naming them, you’d be right! You’re definitely smarter than a 5th grader, I can already tell. Research shows that naming emotions, often called, “affect labeling” can activate the parasympathetic nervous system. It’s like hitting the “I am calmer now!” button! (Not sponsored by STAPLES, but hey, I’m open to it.) 

Story time: Imagine you are in a heated self-debate, agonizing over the living room so it’s perfect for the holidays. You really cannot handle Aunt Jane pointing out the lack of feng shui and the dusty baseboards. Why do you even care, Aunt Jane?  Your partner looks at you and says, “I see how overwhelmed you are.” Those words alone are enough to reduce the intensity of your overwhelm. No baseboards have been cleaned! Yet, you feel better. 

The same way labeling a feeling has the power to dissipate the weight it holds, addressing discomfort felt by a large group of people, validates and honors the challenging experiences they are having. Logically, we know people need to feel heard in the workplace but it’s a challenging tone and language to get right. 

To start, I offer you reflection questions to discuss at your next leadership meeting to not only acknowledge the discomfort people feel but also own it. 

Remember, bring your Change Management leader with you! Just don’t call her a guru. 

Questions to Consider:

• What did we get wrong that we need to own?

• How do we honor that we “got it wrong in the past” and validate confidence in our new path? 

• Are there concerns that need to be addressed 1:1? Or is there evidence of collective grief that we need to address a large group?

• Is this as simple as a line in a memo or does there need to be more thoughtfulness around it?  

• How do we communicate our growth from past experiences and what we’re doing differently? 

• Do we have an empath anchor or intuitive leader on the team who can help us read the room while we deliver these messages?

• Who brings the most life and generosity of spirit to our team? How can we leverage their gifts to help us ease the discomfort? 

• What specific actions demonstrate our commitment to doing things differently now? 

• How can we ensure our ownership of previous errors, missteps, is constructive and solution-oriented rather than dwelling on the past? 

3. Why with Confidence

People are always reaching for “the why” behind organizational changes. Our brains are hardwired for protection, and we will default to a familiar hardship over an unfamiliar benefit. However, folks are more likely to step into the unknown if they can see the rationale of the decision-architects. 

Questions to consider:

• What specific changes reflect what we heard from our people? 

• Are there past successes, case studies, evidence that we can leverage to illustrate our confidence in this change? 

• Does this change align with company core values and goals? 

• What cultural competencies can we highlight that will resonate with everyone? 

• Why is this happening now vs later?  

• Why is it happening to specific people and not others?

• Why do we feel this time we have made the right choices? (Highlight where we might have wobbled or misstepped in the past.)  

4. Set Conditions for Feedback

There are some decisions that must be made top-down. However, we also know the value of feedback, creative solutions, and collaboration with various levels within an org/dept. Part of communicating clearly and kindly means setting a structure around decisions that have already been made vs ones open for discourse and alternate paths. People will have opinions no matter what, but we can offer clear boundaries for feedback, so people know what to expect in the end.  

• How will we communicate what feedback we are open to vs decisions that have been finalized and are not up for review? 

• Do we have decisions we’d like to pause and put in front of other leaders before cascading the messaging?  

• How do we align our hopes, aspirations, and already made decisions with employee expectations, hopes, and aspirations of personal agency? 

• Who do we value feedback from the most?  

• How do we communicate that we are safe spaces for discussion and also advocates for what we believe is transformational change? 

• Is there a list of questions we will pose to certain groups for feedback?  

• What is our definition of “noise” vs constructive feedback? 

Closing Thoughts

In times of change, the most valuable tool leaders have is their ability to communicate with clarity and genuine confidence in the future. The VOWS method isn’t just a framework for organizational transformations—it’s a reminder to ask yourself the tough questions throughout the entire change process, and use your head and heart to talk about it all. People know lip service when they hear it and are so over the “change is hard” platitudes. They want to feel agency and co-create the vision of the future alongside their trusted leaders. They want to know that when change comes, it’s with purpose and clear direction for a lasting impact. They want to know the change matters because they matter. 

From The Author:

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This post also would like to encourage that we collectively stop calling women in their zone of genius a "guru." She's an expert. Thank you!

XOXO

The Corporate Unicorn