The leaders who succeed overcome the barriers to organisational change

By Peter Meyer, Principal Consultant, Elkera Pty Limited

28 August 2025

Many organisations struggle with inefficiencies, unclear roles, and outdated systems, yet those problems often remain unaddressed. Leaders want to succeed, but too often necessary change doesn’t happen.

Decades of research show that the real barrier to change is a hesitation to begin. There is a high level of uncertainty for leaders, particularly for those who have not previously undertaken a major organisational restructure. Leaders hesitate to act because of the risks of conflict, the need to justify costs before the benefits are known, the personal time and attention required, and the uncertainty of the results.

Successful leaders do not avoid problems, they face problems directly. But, to do so, they need the right tools to manage the technical and interpersonal issues involved and overcome the barriers to action.

In this article, I describe a set of principles that provide a toolkit to help leaders initiate necessary change in medium-sized organisations. With that toolkit, leaders can overcome their hesitation. They can confidently and effectively provide the leadership needed to build the understanding, trust and the organisational capabilities that are essential for successful organisational change.

1. What are the challenges for your organisation?

Change is only undertaken to address real problems. Before they can act, leaders need to have a good understanding of the broad nature of the problems faced by their organisation.

Most medium-sized organisations face many of these issues:

Competitive environment – There is a need to respond to evolving market conditions to maintain and build the product or service customer base.
Unplanned growth – The business has outgrown its old structure. Roles and responsibilities are unclear or inappropriate. Worse, there is no documentation to adequately describe the business structure and lines of accountability.
Deficient systems – Systems are not connected to each other and there are manual, overlapping or inefficient processes.
Inadequate data – Managers don’t have the data about costs or customers that they need to make good decisions.
Dissatisfied customers – There are too many customer complaints.
Previous failed cost cutting efforts – Attempts to reduce costs by cutting staffing levels have not worked. Some staff had to be re-hired and morale has been damaged.

Many organisations face other problems based on their unique circumstances.

2. Why action is necessary

Organisational problems like those described in section 1 don’t go away. Hesitation is costly to both the organisation and the leader.

For the organisation, those problems represent financial losses that compound into the future.

Leaders who never face their organisation’s real challenges diminish their own reputations. The reality is that neither shareholders nor employees are fooled when problems are left unaddressed.

Brave, inspirational leaders who successfully re-invent their organisations achieve great personal satisfaction and become truly influential leaders.

3. Framework for initiating change

Background

The following topics describe ten key principles that provide a toolkit to manage uncertainty and initiate successful change projects in medium-sized organisations.

Principle 1: Recognise that performance can be improved

Change only happens when leaders acknowledge that problems exist. At the start, issues may be vaguely defined and feel overwhelming. Most medium-sized organisations face multiple challenges, from unclear roles to inefficient systems. Each problem undermines performance in different ways.

Through structured analysis, problems can be defined clearly enough to prioritise and address. Recognising the need for improvement is the first step toward overcoming the hesitancy to change.

Principle 2: Begin with a top-down, systemic, organisation wide analysis

Leaders cannot jump straight to fixing structures or processes without first understanding the organisation as a whole. A systemic, top-down analysis provides that foundation.

Why start top-down:

Change must be aligned to outputs and customers. Only by viewing the whole production system can you ensure that changes improve results for customers.
Problems rarely sit in isolation. Medium-sized organisations often evolve into silos, so responsibilities and processes must be traced across boundaries.
Organisational issues are complex. Usually, problems are the result of a mix of structure and inefficient work practices.
Leaders cannot fix everything at once. A broad view allows issues to be prioritised for focus on those with maximum value.

What the analysis delivers:

A list of business outputs.
The functions needed to produce each output.
The top-level processes for each function.
Stakeholders in each process and their roles (via a RACI matrix).

This high-level picture is what I call a functional model of the business. It enables leaders to:

See how functions are allocated across work units.
Establish a common taxonomy for discussing functions and processes.
Identify stakeholders for each process.
Spot misallocations, duplications, or redundant processes.
Identify areas where staff report recurring problems or inefficiencies.

A functional model gives leaders a shared language and framework to understand their organisation. It is the essential first step in deciding where to focus improvement efforts.

The functional model and the steps involved are described in more detail in my article: Growing pains for medium businesses: Why you should clearly define internal business structure [Meyer, 18 June 2025].

Principle 3: Work incrementally to manage risks and provide flexibility

Uncertainty about costs and benefits is a major contributor to hesitancy. The solution is to proceed in stages, gathering just enough information at each step to guide the next.

An incremental approach separates the work into manageable stages:

Begin with a functional model of the business.
Identify specific functions or processes for deeper review.
Use process modelling where needed to see exactly how outputs are produced.

This incremental approach limits financial risk, builds confidence, and gives leaders the flexibility to adjust direction as insights emerge.

Principle 4: Initiate the project with a clear project charter

Change efforts succeed when they start with a shared understanding of purpose, focussed on business value. A project charter secures alignment and commitment from senior leaders.

The charter should set out:

Project sponsor (typically CEO or COO).
Clear statement of problems to be addressed.
Scope of work and objectives.
Expected business benefits.
Governance committee members and key stakeholders.

A clear charter establishes authority, direction, and accountability before the work begins.

More information about the project charter is included in my article: Assembling the right teams for systems improvement projects [Meyer, 5 August 2025].

Principle 5: Engage an expert business analysis consultant

Objective, expert analysis is essential. Internal managers often lack the independence or structured methods to identify systemic problems.

An experienced business analyst can:

Provide a neutral perspective.
Apply proven frameworks for functional and process analysis.
Help translate complex issues into clear options for action.
Elicit and specify software requirements.

The right consultant brings clarity and structure, reducing the risks of bias or misdirected effort.

I have described how to identify and select a suitable expert in my article: Hiring a business consultant? Why domain knowledge isn’t enough on its own [Meyer, 25 June 2025].

Principle 6: Identify and consult all stakeholders

Change affects people across the organisation. Stakeholders must be identified and engaged from the outset.

Key principles in stakeholder selection include:

Ensure that core team members are process experts, not junior staff without expert knowledge and influence.
Consult widely to capture all perspectives, risks, and opportunities.

Comprehensive stakeholder involvement avoids missing important information and builds support for change.

The selection of stakeholders is described in detail in my article: Assembling the right teams for systems improvement projects [Meyer, 5 August 2025].

Principle 7: From day one, communicate with all stakeholders to build trust

A critical element of project success is employee openness to change. Employee openness to change depends on trust. Trust grows from clear and accurate communication.

Leaders should:

Share relevant and accurate information about objectives and progress.
Acknowledge uncertainties honestly.
Provide regular updates to reduce rumours and fear.
Seek feedback from employees so they feel heard and so their perspectives can be considered.

Trust, once established, creates the conditions for collaboration and resilience when challenges arise.

The key elements required to establish trust are described in my article: Set up your organisational change project for success before the work begins [Meyer, 19 August 2025].

Principle 8: Begin development of a business case from day one

Change must deliver measurable business benefits. At the start, estimates will be rough, but a continuous assessment of business benefits is essential.

The early business case:

Helps to assess the likely scale of benefits from proposed improvements.
Compares relative benefits of potential initiatives.
Can be refined as the project develops.

An evolving business case keeps leaders focused on delivering business value.

Key elements of early business case development are described in my article: Essential first steps for SMEs to start a new software project [Meyer, 2023].

Principle 9: Adopt a systems thinking perspective and look for new ways of working

Many organisations fall into the trap of treating problems in isolation or automating outdated or suboptimal processes (“paving the cowpaths” [Nielsen 2025]).

Systems thinking requires leaders to:

Understand how processes and structures interconnect.
Look for opportunities to redesign work, not just automate it.
Evaluate changes by reference to overall organisational performance, not just local efficiency.

This perspective ensures solutions are sustainable and deliver real long-term benefits.

I have described systemic thinking in more detail in: The barriers to solving your business problems: Part 2 – Removing the barriers [Meyer, 28 July 2025] and also in Leadership challenge: How new leaders can understand the business and deliver results fast [Meyer, 11 August 2025].

Principle 10: Take responsibility for all analysis and requirements elicitation

A common mistake is leaving requirements definition to software vendors. Vendors cannot be expected to fully understand the organisation’s needs.

Leaders must ensure that the organisation develops effective requirements, with the assistance of an expert business analyst, to:

Enable management to communicate business needs to prospective solution providers so they can provide meaningful solution proposals.
Hold vendors accountable for solution delivery.

Taking responsibility for the requirements process ensures that technology supports the organisation’s real business needs.

This principle is explained in my article: Why SMEs should define software requirements before buying a SaaS product [Meyer, April 2025].

4. Conclusions

Common barriers to change were described at the beginning of this article to include: risks of conflict, the need to justify costs before the benefits are known, the personal time and attention required, and the uncertainty of the results.

Those barriers produce a range of uncertainties in the minds of leaders. In the face of those uncertainties, leaders hesitate to act, with negative consequences for their organisation and for themselves.

Most of the uncertainties will only be fully resolved as the project proceeds towards its conclusion. In the meantime, leaders need a way to manage those uncertainties so they can overcome the barriers to action.

The ten principles described in this article provide the core knowledge and tools that will enable leaders to effectively manage those uncertainties and lead with confidence.

Hesitation is natural, but it is also costly. Leaders who act deliberately and systemically to lead change strengthen their organisations and their leadership legacy.

If your organisation is facing the challenges described in this article, I invite you to contact me to discuss how you can successfully implement the principles discussed in this article.

References

[Meyer, 2023] Meyer, P, 2023, Essential first steps for SMEs to start a new software project, <https://elkera.com.au/essential-first-steps-to-plan-a-successful-software-project/>.

[Meyer, April 2025] Meyer, P, April 2025, Why SMEs should define software requirements before buying a SaaS product, <https://elkera.com.au/define-software-requirements-before-buying-saas/>.

[Meyer, 18 June 2025] Meyer, P, June 2025, Growing pains for medium businesses: Why you should clearly define internal business structure, <https://elkera.com.au/define-business-structure-with-functional-model/>.

[Meyer, 25 June 2025] Meyer, P, 25 June 2025, Hiring a business consultant? Why domain knowledge isn’t enough on its own, <https://elkera.com.au/hiring-a-business-consultant/>.

[Meyer, 28 July 2025] Meyer, P, 28 July 2025, The barriers to solving your business problems: Part 2 – Removing the barriers, <https://elkera.com.au/barriers-to-solving-business-problems-part-2-removal/>.

[Meyer, 5 August 2025] Meyer, P, 5 August 2025, Assembling the right teams for systems improvement projects, <https://elkera.com.au/the-right-teams-for-systems-improvement-projects/>.

[Meyer, 11 August 2025] Meyer, P, 11 August 2025, Leadership challenge: How new leaders can understand the business and deliver results fast, <https://elkera.com.au/leadership-challenge-to-understand-the-business/>.

[Meyer, 19 August 2025] Meyer, P, 19 August 2025, Set up your organisational change project for success before the work begins, <https://elkera.com.au/set-up-organisational-change-project-for-success/>.

[Nielsen 2025] Nielsen, J, 2025, Rethinking Workflows For AI, <https://www.uxtigers.com/post/ux-roundup-20250818>.