Elevate Your Employees for Successful Change

Cathie Leimbach • October 22, 2024

According to experts Skerritt and Parsons, harnessing collective energy to drive change can be created by a three-step process, known as the “Three Es”. Let’s focus on the first E – Elevate.


Want your change efforts to be a success? It's all about getting your employees on board. Research shows that the results of change initiatives are much better when companies involve 20% to 30% of their  employees throughout the whole change process.


How do you get more people involved? Elevate a broad diversity of employees from simply doing what they are told to investigating, testing, providing feedback, and communicating the change.  


1.      Engage employees who love change. Ask them to beta test new processes and share their excitement for the benefits of the planned change.

2.      Leverage the capacity of employees who already have the skills needed to excel with the new technology, process, product, or service.

3.      Get input from a few employees who tend to discover problems and voice their concerns. Task them with finding solutions for the pitfalls.

4.      Request and listen to feedback from the ‘elevated’ employees with a ‘we really want to know the truth’ mindset.

5.      Involve several people who will be heavily impacted by the change in solving challenges that come to light.

6.      Once the beta testers and internal experts believe that the change will be beneficial, communicate the nature and timeline of the change in diverse ways. Be sure to include group meetings where beta testers share their experience, support, and excitement. 



By elevating many employees throughout the initial stages of the change effort, you can create a strong core of employees who are committed to your transformation. And that can make all the difference in your success.

The Performance Gap: Why Half Your Team is Burning Out

By Cathie Leimbach • September 30, 2025
Based on insights from James Hewitt's "Regenerative Performance" Something's not adding up in today's workplace. While companies demand more from their teams, the results tell a concerning story. Research shows that 50% of employees now show clear signs of burnout, and an alarming 73% feel disconnected from their work. James Hewitt, performance expert and author of "Regenerative Performance," points to a critical mismatch. We're asking people to perform at peak levels without giving them what they need to recover and recharge. Think of it like a smartphone. You can't expect your phone to run at full power all day without plugging it in. Yet that's exactly what we're doing to our workforce. We pile on meetings, deadlines, and pressure while cutting back on the very things that restore energy: breaks, development time, and meaningful connection. The solution isn't working less—it's working smarter. Hewitt's research reveals that sustainable high performance comes from balancing intense effort with intentional recovery. Teams that build in time to recharge actually outperform those that push through exhaustion. Smart leaders are already making the shift. They're protecting their people's energy as carefully as they manage their budgets. Because burned-out employees don't just hurt themselves—they hurt the bottom line too. Want to dive deeper into this issue? View The Burnout Crisis to understand the full scope of this workplace challenge. "Sustainable high performance comes from the rhythm of oscillation—not from the intensity of effort alone." —James Hewitt

Why Boring Beats Brilliant

By Cathie Leimbach • September 23, 2025
Craig Groeschel's Blueprint for Real Leadership