The engaged leader shows up in the middle.
Adoption is decided when the new way of working runs into the old one.
The sponsor is visible at kickoff. Everyone knows the project matters. Later, the team finishes training and prepares for go-live. Between those moments, people make hundreds of small decisions about whether they will actually use the new process.
A manager asks for the old report. An exception gets handled outside the new workflow. A team is told to use the new process while its deadline assumes the old one. These are ordinary problems that a progress report can miss.
This is what I mean by an engaged leader showing up in the middle.
Attendance does not prove adoption.
Training can teach somebody how to use a system. It cannot settle a disagreement about who owns a decision, give a team time it does not have, or resolve an incentive that rewards the old behavior.
Everyone can attend training and still change very little. Before scheduling another session, look at the work people return to afterward. What are their managers asking for? Which process is easiest to defend when something goes wrong?
In Flipping the Odds of Digital Transformation Success (2020), BCG found that only 30% of the transformations studied met or exceeded their target value and produced sustainable change. Its research combined experience with 70 companies and a survey of 825 executives. Leadership commitment through middle management was one of six factors associated with success.
Listen before calling it resistance.
Some objections protect the old way of working. Others point to a real problem. A required approval may have disappeared, the new steps may duplicate existing work, or several initiatives may be competing for the same people.
A leader needs to know which kind of objection they are hearing. Insisting on compliance without understanding the objection can make the process worse. Leaving every objection unresolved teaches people that the decision is optional.
The useful conversation starts where the work gets stuck: what is stopping this work, which part of the objection is valid, and who can decide what changes? The team needs an answer it can use on the next case.
Take one exception into the work.
Choose a project that is complete on paper but has not changed how people work. Find a recent instance where someone returned to the old process. Ask the people involved to walk through the decision, including what their manager expected.
Have the sponsor remove one obstacle they have the power to fix. Name who will handle the next step and when it will happen. Check the next comparable piece of work. A decision recorded in a meeting has not changed anything until people use it in their work.
Keep adoption on the agenda.
The change work should continue after go-live. Review workarounds, completed transactions and unresolved exceptions alongside cost and schedule. Training attendance still belongs in the picture; it just cannot stand in for the whole picture.
Strategy explains why the new way matters. Technology must support it. Culture shows up in what managers reinforce when deadlines tighten and the old route looks easier.
A leader does not need to supervise every transaction. They need to be close enough to see when their absence is being read as permission.