When you’re the one leading a change, it’s easy to assume everyone else is seeing it the way you do. You’ve been in the planning meetings, you understand the reasons, and you can picture where it’s all heading. For your team, it can feel very different.

That idea was at the heart of a three-workshop programme I’ve just finished with the finance and change leadership team of a global insurance business. They’re in the middle of a major transformation, with two cohorts and leaders spread across several countries. Over three weeks we used Insights Discovery to help them lead that change in a way that works for the people around them, not just for themselves.

Starting with ourselves

Before you can bring anyone else with you, you need to understand how you respond to change. Some of us want the facts and the detail before we commit. Some want to get moving and sort the rest out later. Some need to know everyone’s OK, and some are already excited about what’s next.

Insights Discovery gives leaders a simple, shared language for those differences. In the first session we explored each person’s colour energies and mapped the whole team onto a team wheel. Seeing where everyone sat, and where the gaps were, sparked some really honest conversations about how each of us shows up when things get uncertain.

Bringing others with you

The second session moved from “me” to “them”. We used the Bridges transition model to look at the emotional journey people go through during change: from endings, through the uncertain neutral zone, and into new beginnings.

One idea really landed with the group. Leaders usually start that journey long before everyone else. By the time a leader has made peace with a change and is ready to move forward, their managers may still be in the middle of it and their teams may only just be starting. It isn’t resistance, it’s timing. Knowing that changes how you communicate.

We also talked about ambiguity, which is unavoidable in any transformation. A simple approach the group found useful was being clear about three things in every update: what we know, what we don’t know yet, and what happens next. It doesn’t remove the uncertainty, but it gives people something to hold on to.

Sustaining momentum

The final session looked beyond go-live, because that’s often when the energy drops. In small groups, leaders described what success would actually look like six months on: what they’d see, what they’d hear and how it would feel, both for their own teams and for the wider business. The answers were thoughtful and very human. Alongside better processes and systems, they talked about trust, clarity, motivated teams and a sense that the hard work had been worth it.

To finish, the groups built their own shared leadership charter: ten commitments they’re holding themselves to as the transformation continues. A few that have really stayed with me:

• Talk to people in a way that works for them, not just for you.
• Make time for real conversations, not just scheduled updates.
• Celebrate the effort people put in, not just the end result.

None of these is complicated. But they’re the things that slip first when leaders are busy, and they make the biggest difference to how change feels for everyone else.

What I’m taking away

My favourite part of this work is watching leaders shift from “how do I see this?” to “how do I bring someone with me who sees it completely differently?” Insights Discovery helps start that conversation. The real value comes from applying it to the change people are actually living through.

Leading a team through change and wondering how to bring everyone with you? Get in touch with Talent Impact. I’d love to chat about how we could help.