How teams lead change: building connection, purpose and resilience
Change doesn’t belong to leaders or project managers. It involves and belongs to everyone. All team members shape change through decisions, conversations and the way we work together each day.
When change is left to a small group of leaders or a project team, other people feel disconnected. They wait for updates, worry about outcomes, and wonder how it affects them. But when whole teams get involved, making sense of what’s happening, influencing how things land, and staying connected to those around them, change becomes shared, not imposed.
In our previous articles in our Rethinking Change series, we looked at the human side of change management and How to lead people through change: practical tools and tips, In this final article, we explore how teams can take collective responsibility for change, working together with purpose, awareness and curiosity. It’s inspired by ideas from Peter Hawkins’ 5 Disciplines of High-Performing Teams, translated into real-world practice for managers and teams who want to lead change more collaboratively.
Why does change need shared ownership
Even the most capable leader can’t make change stick alone. Organisations move faster, and challenges are too complex for one person or department to manage everything. Teams are where real change happens: they’re the bridge between strategy and people, connecting vision to daily action. When teams share purpose, understand their wider impact and learn as they go, they become a steady, connected force that makes change work in practice.
1. Reconnect to shared purpose
When change feels constant, it’s easy for teams to lose sight of why they exist and who they serve. Start by revisiting your collective “commission” — the expectations and needs of your stakeholders, both internal and external. Take time together to revisit why your team exists and who you serve. It’s about realigning around what matters now. When everyone understands the “why” behind your work and how it links to the bigger picture, direction becomes clearer even when the path isn’t. Ask:
Who are we here to serve, and what value do we create for them?
What’s changing in their world that we need to respond to?
What are we being asked to deliver together that no one individual or function can do alone?
How will we measure success, both in outcomes and impact?Who relies on us — inside and outside the organisation?
What value do we create for them?
Once this is clear, clarify how the team will work together to deliver it: shared goals, priorities, and interdependencies. When every team member understands the bigger picture and their part in it, alignment replaces anxiety.
2. Strengthen collaboration inside the team
In our last article, we looked at how leaders can communicate clearly and manage resistance. At the team level, it’s about how you think and adapt together. Make time for shared problem-solving short discussions where people can explore what’s working, what isn’t, and what could be done differently. The more open the discussion, the more ownership people feel and the faster they adapt.Ask questions that spark collaboration, not updates:
What’s one challenge we could tackle better together than alone?
What are we noticing across our different roles or sites that might help us improve?
3. Stay connected to the wider system and your stakeholders
High-performing teams don’t just focus inward; they look beyond themselves.
Change affects, and is affected by, others across the organisation and outside it.
No team operates in isolation. Change ripples across departments, customers and partners. Understanding those interconnections is what turns a team from effective to exceptional. When people understand how their work fits into the whole system, they make better decisions and help the organisation move forward together. These conversations build empathy and practical collaboration.
Together, map the world around you:
Who are our key stakeholders?
Who’s most affected by this change, and how can we support them?
Who do we depend on for success?
Whose voice haven’t we heard yet?
Agree who in the team will take the lead on each relationship, ensuring everyone can represent the whole team when engaging externally. This shared responsibility builds trust, consistency and credibility and helps avoid the siloed decisions that slow change down.
4. Keep learning as you go
In uncertain times, the best teams treat change as a learning process, not a one-off event. Teams that pause to learn as they go adapt faster and with less stress.These small moments of reflection build collective confidence and continuous improvement — turning change from something to survive into something to learn from. End meetings or projects with simple reflection questions:
What worked well?
What did we learn about ourselves as a team?
What surprised us?
What have we learned this month about how we adapt?
What could we do differently next time?
What do we need to learn to handle the next phase more effectively?
5. Share the responsibility for leading change
The most effective leaders know when to step back and share leadership. As organisations become more complex, teams need to act as mini leadership hubs, connecting across functions, translating strategy into reality, and supporting each other through uncertainty. Encourage people at every level to take ownership of projects, stakeholder relationships, communication, and team well-being. That might mean:
Asking team members to co-lead initiatives or stakeholder relationships.
Encouraging cross-functional pairs to tackle shared challenges.
Rotating who leads team discussions or represents the group externally.
Recognising and rewarding collective success, not just individual achievements.
The more people feel trusted to lead, the stronger and more resilient the team becomes.
Reflection
Think about a change your team is part of right now.
How clear are you on your shared purpose and stakeholder expectations?
What would it take for you to learn, adapt and lead through change together rather than individually?
What could you do this month to create more shared ownership and connection inside your team and beyond it?
Change led collectively is stronger, faster and more sustainable.
When teams understand their purpose, stay connected to the people they serve, and learn as they go, they stop waiting for direction and start leading together.
Would you like to strengthen your team’s ability to lead change collaboratively?
We design and facilitate team coaching and development programmes that help teams build clarity, trust and resilience through change.
If you’d like to explore how we can support your team, get in touch >
