leadercommunicator Blog

How to Increase Adoption of Technology in the Workplace

davidgrossman@yourthoughtpartner.com (David Grossman) — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 15:08:20 GMT

Finding better ways to successfully integrate technology in the workplace is top of mind for many leaders today. Yet too often, organizations still fail miserably on this challenge by rushing in without being strategic. The result? Frustrated employees and lasting cultural damage throughout the organization.

The good news is there are a lot of lessons learned and best practices to lean on for leaders looking to up their game. One of my favorite pieces of wisdom comes from a recent point IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna shared with author Malcolm Gladwell: “The biggest change is not the technology. It’s getting people to accept that there’s a different way to do things.”

I couldn’t agree more with Krishna. Technology adoption is essentially about people and culture change. I’ve seen it time and again in our work with Fortune 500 clients. Very frequently, the most important piece is ignored: employee buy-in for how the new technology not only improves the company’s bottom line but makes their daily work life seamless, efficient, and rewarding.

What Is Technology Adoption?

As a formal definition, I define technology adoption as leaders using digital tools as superpowers that can unlock creativity, learning, and human potential. The focus should be on leaders asking how they can transform technological change from a challenge into an opportunity for growth.

Modern Leadership: What Exceptional Leadership Looks Like Today

davidgrossman@yourthoughtpartner.com (David Grossman) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 15:02:33 GMT

In my three decades of working with senior leaders, I’ve found the best often rise to meet unprecedented challenges. Yet, today's leadership landscape is much tougher, with the pressure on leaders intensifying in all directions.

Leaders face a perfect storm. The demands on their time, their teams, and their own capacity seem to grow exponentially, while the pressure to deliver results has never been greater.

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re feeling it. My guess is you’re doing a lot of things right, but somehow, there’s this nagging sense that you’re still not meeting the moment. Consider the short list: Increasing pressure for shareholder value. The rise of artificial intelligence. Lingering shifts in workplace expectations and the way we work, triggered by a global pandemic. Ongoing economic and political uncertainty around the world.

Recognizing the demands on the leaders we work with, The Grossman Group partnered with The Harris Poll to better understand what employees need most from leaders now.

Why Gratitude in Leadership Is More Important Than Ever

davidgrossman@yourthoughtpartner.com (David Grossman) — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 15:10:24 GMT

Gratitude in leadership matters much more than many of us realize. Whether it’s Broadway producer Lin-Manuel Miranda publicly celebrating cast and crew at Hamilton rehearsals, or legendary NFL football coach Pete Carroll embracing a coaching philosophy of gratitude, leaders who show appreciation build outstanding cultures. And as I’ve seen time and again, an outstanding culture gets results.

What Is Gratitude in Leadership?

Leaders who prioritize gratitude do more than just recognize great work now and then. Instead, they make gratitude a daily practice and go out of their way to understand the multiple ways that individual employees contribute to the organization’s success.

Leaders who embody gratitude also recognize that all people inside an organization, no matter their role, have an important part to play and deserve to be recognized for making an impact.

Why Is It Important for Leaders to Show Gratitude?

I view gratitude as a business imperative and the foundation upon which all other leadership success is built. Research backs me up, demonstrating that gratitude supports psychological safety, which in turn enables innovation. Gratitude also builds trust that drives engagement.

Lead by Example: Meaning, Importance & Examples

davidgrossman@yourthoughtpartner.com (David Grossman) — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:00:26 GMT

The famous advice of “lead by example” is frequently pointed to as essential to business success. In reality, leading by example in visible and memorable ways is rare and can be hard to do. Leaders are busy, and their actions and motivations aren’t always clear, all of which leads to confusion and misdirection for employees.

Yet time and again, leaders who stand out for excellence in management, a positive employee culture, and top business results are experts in leading by example.

Take Mary Barra, widely celebrated for her candid nature and commitment to accountability at General Motors. During her first year as CEO of GM in 2014, dozens of safety recalls were issued, and a defective ignition switch was linked to at least 13 deaths. From the start of the crisis, Barra quickly expressed her deepest sympathies to the families who lost loved ones and took accountability, stating that the ignition switch problem was “riddled with failures, which led to tragic results.” She then promised a swift and comprehensive overhaul of safety practices inside GM.

This response won her praise from the business community and champions of business ethics. “I strongly believe behaviors set your culture – and that’s not something you can fake,” Barra said in an interview with Stanford University’s School of Business. “During this time, we undertook what I believe is the most comprehensive safety review in GM’s history and created a safety-first culture to ensure nothing like this could ever happen again.”

Another well-known example is Herb Kelleher, the former CEO of Southwest Airlines, who died in 2019. Kelleher led by example in countless ways, namely by exuding the kind of folksy and approachable demeanor that he wanted his employees to apply with customers. Kelleher often said the most important trait that Southwest looked for in applicants was a sense of humor. He also worked to break down leadership barriers by showing up at company parties dressed as Elvis Presley, inviting employees to a weekly cookout, and working alongside baggage workers during the Thanksgiving rush.

Internal Communications Plan: 7-Step Strategy and Template

davidgrossman@yourthoughtpartner.com (David Grossman) — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 15:24:45 GMT

Name a company that’s faced a recent reputational crisis, and I can connect it to a common, predictable theme: poor communication. Incidents pop up for all companies, but often problems emerge or are made worse when leadership hasn’t embraced communicating in an engaging, candid, and reliable way with its own employees and the public.

Recent examples abound, including Boeing contending with financial losses and a trust problem following years of safety issues and corporate culture concerns. A lack of transparency and communication surrounding massive layoffs and restructuring at Tesla and Meta has resulted in reputational hits to those companies as well.

With poor communication and planning, companies naturally struggle, particularly when social platforms give employees an easy public microphone to expose or share grievances. Further, employee trust and confidence can easily break down when there’s no established process for employees to share ideas or ask questions.

This is why building an exemplary internal communication strategy and strategic communication plan is so critical for businesses today. The foundation of all great company communication starts internally, with your own people. When a team feels engaged, informed, and valued, the organization is far more likely to achieve lasting success.

Companies also have fresh opportunities to transform their communication planning today with new strategic tools powered by AI and innovative digital platforms. For instance, AI can help teams customize messages with ease, creating specific messages for different levels of employees, from managers to remote employees to frontline workers. AI also enables better measurement tools, such as open-text feedback, and other ways of making sense of how people engage with communication, illuminating what works for specific employees and what doesn’t.

All of these innovations make communication planning even more critical. After all, employees can be an organization’s biggest advocates – a reality too many leaders forget.

Here's what a clear communication plan helps organizations achieve:

Focus the internal communications function on the most important business needs
Empower internal communication leaders and teams to be more proactive consultants to the business with a focus on delivering value and impact
Get internal communications teams out of the reactive fire-fighting that causes strain and fatigue
Advocate for employees and their information needs
Calibrate a range of business and communication messages and needs so they are connected, relevant, and digestible for your audiences
Leverage existing and new channels to reach employees where they are
Measure and demonstrate progress against business and organizational outcomes that matter
Employ tactics for using AI tools to better customize messaging and assess the overall impact of specific communication strategies
Incorporate guidelines for when to allow AI-written drafts and when communication must be written and delivered in a leader’s personal voice with guidance and direction from communications leaders (major transformations, layoffs, or other sensitive topics shouldn’t be relegated to AI drafts)

Change Management Examples [+ 3 Real-Life Case Studies]

davidgrossman@yourthoughtpartner.com (David Grossman) — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 15:50:40 GMT

I can’t think of a client today that isn’t focused on change management. I also can’t think of a company that isn’t battling change fatigue within the workforce. This is why excellence in change management processes has become a key priority for so many organizational leaders.

Manage change well, and you can move mountains. Fumble change plans and you’ll suffer from employee burnout, turnover, poor execution, and failure on all the important measures of change success.

A recent national study we conducted with The Harris Poll underscores this. We found that organizations are at a pronounced change tipping point. While most employees can absorb just 1 to 2 major changes per year, more than 50% of business leaders expect to implement three or more changes in the next two years.

Further, our study found that AI is adding additional pressure to the change fatigue phenomenon. 83% of leaders in our study expect AI to play a major role in future change, and 1 in 4 say it’s the hardest change to implement.

What is Change Management?

Change management is the process organizations follow to implement organizational change, with the goal being to successfully navigate current challenges and succeed in the future.

Ask any employee working today, and two simple words – “change management” – can often prompt an eye roll. Employees see so much change that they’re often suspicious that the proposed changes are well-intended. Employees often worry that the changes won’t result in many positives for them, and instead may just lead to layoffs, added workloads, and more stress.

Even before our study uncovered widespread change fatigue, the signs had been brewing for years. Willingness to support organizational change collapsed from 74% of employees in 2016 to just 38% in 2022, making change fatigue a major challenge for employers, according to a Gartner survey.

These realities are why change management needs to be done carefully – and well. Organizations desperately need better approaches that employees can embrace. Forcing change on a team without their involvement dooms the plan from the start.

What Can Be Done to Manage Change Better?

De-accelerating the pace of change may not be an option for most organizations due to the normal course of change already taking place, combined with a wave of technological transformation led by artificial intelligence.

Why Grandma Elsie’s (Delicious) Pumpkin Pie Still Brings Us Together

davidgrossman@yourthoughtpartner.com (David Grossman) — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 17:40:20 GMT

It's that time of year again – the holidays are fast approaching and as many of you know, the season kicks off with my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving. One of the many reasons I look forward to Thanksgiving is because it’s the season of Grandma Elsie’s Famous Pumpkin Chiffon Pie and other crowd-favorite recipes, and special time with family and friends.

Grandma Elsie and Her Special Tradition

For those of you who don't know the story behind Grandma Elsie and her famous Pumpkin Chiffon Pie (which is the best I’ve ever tasted), I'd like to share it. For those of you who do, I hope you'll indulge me in a retelling to honor the woman whose generous spirit and tradition are behind the pies.

How to Overcome Resistance to Change in the Workplace

Kyle Dierking — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 14:59:29 GMT

Change is an inevitable part of business growth and transformation, yet employee resistance to change is becoming a major barrier to success, one that requires far better communication and new leadership strategies.

New research that The Grossman Group conducted with The Harris Poll found organizations are at a concerning change tipping point. Most employees can absorb just one or two major changes per year, yet more than 50% of business leaders expect to implement three or more changes in the next two years, the study found.

It's understandable that employees are feeling overwhelmed. Whether it's the introduction of a new strategy, new technology, restructuring, or shifts in company culture, employees are experiencing a dizzying array of shifts inside their organizations today. On top of all that, AI has become the most frequent – and often most difficult – change. In fact, 83% of leaders in our enterprise change study with The Harris Poll study expect AI to play a major role in future change, and yet one in four leaders also said it’s the hardest change to implement.

What Are the Keys to Overcoming Resistance to Change?

Understanding why people resist change and implementing effective strategies to overcome resistance is essential if business leaders, HR professionals, and internal communicators expect to win today.

Our study with The Harris Poll found that communication is one of the most important factors in change success. Organizations are 3x more likely to succeed in major change when employees are fully bought in. Clear and credible communication doubles success rates, the research found. Visible leadership also makes or breaks change, with organizations 5.5x more likely to fail without visible leadership and without effective communication.

Organizations that succeed are those whose leaders and communicators move in lockstep, thoughtfully sequencing change and communicating in ways that connect with people and earn their commitment.

What Exactly Is Resistance to Change?

Resistance to change refers to employees' reluctance or opposition to altering existing behaviors, processes, or structures. It can come in various forms, from passive resistance (e.g., lack of engagement, procrastination) to active opposition (e.g., vocal complaints, declining performance). Resistance to change in the workplace can be influenced by psychological, cultural, and organizational factors.

This resistance isn't always immediately apparent. Sometimes, it lurks beneath the surface, showing up as decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, or a subtle decline in the quality of work. Other times, it's blatantly obvious through direct confrontation or sabotage of change initiatives.

Change Management Communication: 5-Step Plan + Template

davidgrossman@yourthoughtpartner.com (David Grossman) — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 17:56:24 GMT

Today, change isn’t just constant – it’s accelerating. During the pandemic, organizations realized that they could move faster than they ever thought possible, and that trend has continued a half-decade later. Rapid technological advancements, economic shifts, and the rise of AI-driven operations are reshaping how companies function.

Add to that the resurgence of mergers and acquisitions, evolving hybrid work models, and mounting pressure to improve operational efficiencies, and it’s clear that organizations are navigating a perfect storm of transformation.

Yet, despite the frequency of change, many companies still falter in one critical area: driving successful transformation through communication. Too often, leaders focus on executing the change itself while overlooking the need to communicate and bring employees along for a meaningful change journey. Without clear and empathetic communication, even the most well-planned initiatives can face resistance, confusion, or even failure.

We’ve had a front-row seat to how organizations can succeed – or stumble – when leading and communicating through change. From those experiences, we’ve developed a proven five-step approach to help leaders communicate change that engages employees, reduces uncertainty, and drives lasting results. Details of that plan follow, but let’s first consider the case for taking communication more seriously.

Why Leaders Need to Do a Better Job Communicating Change

A 2025 national study by The Grossman Group, conducted online with The Harris Poll, found 1 in 4 change efforts fail, often because of poor communication. Even when leaders think they are communicating effectively, employees disagree, with 1 in 4 employees saying their leaders don’t communicate change well.

Other research reaches similar conclusions, with 67% of leaders reporting that they’ve been part of an underperforming transformation in the last five years and that there’s a significant gap in perceived (82%) versus actual (23%) strategic alignment.

What Exactly is Change Management Communication?

Change management communication is the process of building awareness and support for organizational change. It helps stakeholders understand what’s changing and why, and how it will affect them. It delivers timely information and materials, ensures stakeholders receive information about what’s important, and provides ways to share feedback and ask questions.

Whether you are changing technology, business practices, leadership, or a combination of things, change management communication is essential to helping people move from where they are today to the desired “future state.”

Change Management Plan: 5-Step Template w/ Examples

davidgrossman@yourthoughtpartner.com (David Grossman) — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:18:32 GMT

The pace of change inside business today, especially amid the explosion of AI, is greater than ever. Leaders and employees can argue whether it’s fair or even necessary, but the reality is that constant change is here to stay.

At the same time, many companies handle change poorly, causing change plans to ultimately flop and employee burnout and turnover rates to soar. A 2025 national study by The Grossman Group, conducted online with The Harris Poll, found 1 in 4 change efforts fail – at great cost.

The research found that most employees can absorb one to two changes per year, yet more than 50% of business leaders expect to implement three or more changes per year.

Many earlier studies back up the findings, with Bain & Company recently concluding that 88% of business transformations fail to achieve their original ambitions.