Maintaining Influence During Change

In companies that restructure, most “official” leaders quietly lose influence within months. Yet a smaller group gains more trust, more access, and more say—right in the chaos. They’re not louder or higher on the org chart. They’re doing something else, almost invisibly.

Gallup’s data shows something most leaders underestimate: during major shifts, engagement can diverge by more than 50 % between teams in the same company—often with the same policies, tools, and strategy. The variable is how leaders *show up* in the disruption. Some double down on directives and status, assuming clarity comes from firmer orders. Others quietly pivot from “because I said so” to “here’s why it matters, and here’s how we’ll figure it out together.”

The second group leans into relational authority. They narrate their own learning curve instead of pretending to have all the answers. They invite people into problem-solving, not just into status meetings. And crucially, they create enough psychological safety that bad news travels quickly instead of hiding in inboxes, where it tends to grow teeth.