The Smarter Way to Manage Change: The Glide Path Model

Breaking Free from the Playbook and Finding the Path of Least Resistance

"Change doesn’t fail because people resist—it fails because leaders insist on forcing their version of reality without listening to the one already unfolding."

Introduction: The Problem with Change Management as We Know It

Change management, as most organizations practice it, is broken. Not because the models are wrong—Kotter’s 8 steps, Prosci’s ADKAR, Bridges’ transition model—all have merit. The failure lies in how they’ve been applied: rigidly, mechanically, like a checklist handed down from a textbook.

Leaders cling to these frameworks like a safety blanket. They announce a “transformation initiative,” cascade the same deck through layers of management, and wonder why the results fall flat. The common refrain? “People resist change.”

But what if the problem isn’t resistance? What if it’s that most organizations treat change like an engineering blueprint—precise, rigid, over-engineered—when it could be navigated like water finding its way downhill: fluid, adaptive, efficient?

A Story: Team A vs. Team B

Two teams, same organization, same challenge: shift from selling hardware to selling software-as-a-service.

• Team A stuck to the playbook. They rolled out a master plan, sent out slide decks, ran mandatory training sessions, and introduced new sales targets overnight. Within six months, numbers were down, morale was low, and seasoned reps were quietly job-hunting. The official story was “resistance.” The unofficial one: “management doesn’t get it.”

  
  

• Team B took a different approach. Instead of forcing change, they asked: Who’s already experimenting? They found a handful of reps who were bundling services into subscription-like packages on their own. The team spotlighted those reps, gave them tools, and encouraged others to try. The shift wasn’t mandated—it spread. By the end of the year, subscription sales had grown 35%, and reps felt like they had driven the change.

  
  

The strategy was the same. The difference was how the teams approached it: one tried to impose, the other chose to amplify.

The Smarter Way: Principles for Change That Works

1. Start Where the Energy Already Is: Don’t drag people uphill. Find pockets of momentum—where experiments, hacks, and workarounds are already happening—and scale those.

   • Behavioral shift example: Employees voluntarily sharing “hacks” in a chat channel instead of waiting for official processes.

   • Outcome: Faster adoption of new workflows without formal training.

     
     

2. Think Minimum Viable Change (MVC), Not Grand Programs: Like startups launch a minimum viable product, launch small slices of change. Test, iterate, expand.

   • Behavioral shift example: Piloting a new tool with one project team before rolling it out company-wide.

   • Outcome: A 70% increase in adoption rates when scaled, compared to past top-down rollouts.

     
     

3. Make It About Outcomes, Not Activities: Stop measuring “number of town halls held” or “% of managers trained.” Those are inputs. Instead, measure behavioral shifts and business results.

   • Behavioral shift example: Managers moving from status-report meetings to coaching conversations.

   • Outcome: Employee engagement scores rising 15% in six months.

     
     

4. Shrink the Distance Between Decision and Action: The longer it takes for a decision to move through the hierarchy, the more resistance it accumulates. Empower frontline teams to experiment and decide faster.

   • Behavioral shift example: Approvals for pilot projects reduced from 6 weeks to 6 days.

   • Outcome: Innovation cycle times cut in half.

     
     

5. Frame Change as an Upgrade, Not a Loss: People aren’t afraid of change—they’re afraid of losing status, skills, or certainty. Position change as a way to gain capacity, not as a forced trade-off.

   • Behavioral shift example: Positioning AI tools as assistants to reduce administrative work, not as replacements for jobs.

   • Outcome: A 40% increase in employee willingness to adopt automation tools.

     
     

6. Focus on Multipliers, Not Majorities: Don’t try to “get everyone on board.” Identify the 15–20% of natural multipliers—the early adopters who influence others. Equip them, and watch momentum spread.

   • Behavioral shift example: Recognizing and rewarding early adopters publicly.

   • Outcome: Change spreads virally through peer influence instead of policy enforcement.

Why This Works: The Physics of Change

Think of change less like a corporate program and more like a river. Water doesn’t argue with rocks in its path—it flows around them. It doesn’t need everyone to move at once. It only needs an opening. Over time, the flow carves new channels that become permanent.

Traditional change management is about breaking rocks. The smarter way is about flowing around them.

Pragmatism in Action: A Field-Tested Approach

1. Scan for Signals – Look for where change is already happening without permission. Who’s already finding workarounds? What’s bubbling from the edges?

2. Spot the Spark – Identify one or two areas with visible momentum and early success.

3. Amplify and Broadcast – Shine a spotlight on those sparks. Share their stories widely. Make them visible.

4. Lower the Barriers – Strip away the bureaucratic obstacles that make it hard for others to follow suit.

5. Repeat and Scale – Rinse, learn, and expand until the change takes on a life of its own.

Closing: A Call to Leaders

The truth is: change is not managed. It’s unleashed.

You can’t script it, you can’t force it. What you can do is recognize where the current is already flowing and have the courage to step aside, clear the path, and let it run.

The smartest leaders don’t fight resistance—they respect it, read it, and move with it.

Or, as I like to put it: “Change doesn’t spread because you tell people to follow it. It spreads because they see themselves in it.”