Leading Change: What the Emerging Leaders Workshop Taught Us About Leadership
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Posted by Jon Vaughn
- Last updated 1/07/26
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Recently, Quest’s Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) held the third of our nine leadership workshops for the current cohort — a blended series of in-person and virtual learning experiences designed to deepen participants’ leadership capabilities over the course of the year.
This month’s focus was Leading Change, and our virtual workshop brought the cohort together with best-selling author and keynote speaker Chris Laping, whose work on People Before Things has shaped how leaders in every industry think about organizational change.
Before sharing more about the session itself, I want to say why I felt compelled to bring these insights forward. At Quest, we believe change leadership is one of the most critically important skills leaders must develop right now. Every organization — no matter the industry — is navigating shifting technologies, rising expectations, constrained resources, and increasingly rapid transformation. The ability to guide people through uncertainty is no longer optional. It is a defining leadership capability.
And yet, very few leaders are ever taught how to lead change in a way that builds trust, creates clarity, and brings people with them. That’s why I wanted to share what we learned — because the concepts in this workshop are more than interesting ideas. They are practical, human-centered tools that leaders can use immediately in their day-to-day work.
The workshop capped off a month-long learning journey in which participants explored how clarity, communication, capacity, and empathy intersect with the realities of leading people through uncertainty. But nothing captured the heart of the session more than a single line Chris shared:
“Organizations do not resist change. Organizations resist leaders.” – Chris Laping
It was one of those moments where the virtual room collectively paused. Not because the idea was complicated — but because it was undeniably true.
Chris unpacked this idea with a clarity that resonated deeply across the cohort:
- Change failure is rarely about the project itself
- It’s about how leaders show up
- It’s about advocacy, clarity, persistence, listening, and preference-building
- It’s about the human experience, not the technical solution
- It’s about leadership behavior, not leadership titles
- And it places responsibility — and opportunity — on each of us to lead differently
This reframes change leadership in a powerful way. It’s no longer about the mechanics — the timelines, announcements, task lists, or “comms packages.” It’s about people.
How you show up determines whether people lean in or shut down.
Why This Matters for Emerging Leaders
One of the unique dynamics of the ELP is watching participants recognize that leadership isn’t something that begins when they get a new title. It begins the moment they take responsibility for how they influence the people around them.
Throughout the month’s forum discussions and yesterday’s workshop, participants wrestled openly with real challenges:
- How do I connect people to the why behind a change when I’m still searching for it?
- How do I protect my team’s capacity in an environment of constant demand?
- How do I build trust and preference when decisions feel top-down?
- How do I show empathy even when the pace of work is overwhelming?
What emerged was a set of shared realizations:
- Leadership is the glue during change.
- People want advocacy more than they want perfection.
- Vulnerability and honesty create safety.
- And leading change well requires uncommon persistence in the common-sense behaviors we often overlook.
One participant said it best:
“I always thought change management was about process. Now I see it’s about people — and people follow leaders, not plans.”
A Glimpse Into The Emerging Leaders Program
Leading Change is just one of fifteen leadership competencies our cohort will explore this year.
We have already covered Leadership Foundations, Organizational Understanding, Business Acumen, Strategic Focus and Executive Communications, among others. In the months ahead, participants will dive into Team Leadership, Agility & Problem Solving, Networking & Relationships, Financial Intelligence and more results oriented leadership skills.
Each component builds on the last, forming a foundation of leadership that participants can use immediately — not years from now. The ELP experience is intentionally structured to create practical, adaptive, human-centered leadership — the kind organizations desperately need in a fast-changing world.
If This Resonated With You…
If you read this and thought: “I want to get better at leading change.” Or “I wish someone had taught me these things earlier in my career.”…you’re exactly the kind of leader the Emerging Leaders Program was built for.
You can learn more about the next cohort here: Quest’s Emerging Leaders Program
And whether you apply or not, I hope this takeaway stays with you:
Organizations don’t resist change.
They resist how leaders show up during change.
Lead differently, and everything else becomes possible.
Over the next few months, we’re hosting several upcoming information sessions where you can learn more about the program, hear how other leaders have navigated similar crossroads, and decide whether this experience is the right fit for you. These sessions are low-commitment, highly informative, and a great way to explore how building better judgment and decision-making frameworks can shape your leadership journey. We invite you to register for an upcoming info session and take the next step with intention and clarity.
