The P.O.S.H. Leadership Curriculum
Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, you will be able to anticipate the emotional arc of organisational change, design a communication strategy that acknowledges loss before demanding action, involve the right people in shaping the change rather than simply announcing it, identify and support the early adopters who will pull others along, and lead change without relying on formal authority or brute force.
The Story of the Market That Did Not Want to Move
Kofi Amankwah was the newly appointed director of a large open‑air market in Kumasi. The market had been there for generations. Thousands of traders sold everything from yams to imported electronics. It was chaotic, overcrowded, and alive.
It was also a fire hazard.
The city council had decided, after years of拖延, that the market needed to be relocated to a new, safer, and more organised facility two kilometres away. The new site had proper stalls, electricity, running water, and firebreaks. It was objectively better in every way.
The traders did not want to go.
They had been in this location for decades. Their customers knew where to find them. Their suppliers knew where to deliver. They had relationships with the shop owners next door, the money lenders across the aisle, the tea seller at the entrance. The new market was safer, yes, but it was also unknown.
The previous director had tried to force the move. He had issued ultimatums, threatened fines, and even brought in police. The traders had responded by locking the market gates and staging a week‑long protest that made national news. He was fired. Kofi was his replacement.
Kofi knew he could not repeat the same mistake. He also knew that the fire risk was real. Two weeks before he started, a small electrical fire had destroyed three stalls. It was a warning. The market had to move. But how?
He spent his first month doing nothing that looked like leadership. He walked the market every day. He sat with traders and listened. He drank tea with the yam sellers. He helped the electronics vendors pack up at the end of the day. He did not talk about the move. He talked about their lives, their children, their fears.
What he learned was not what he expected. The traders were not opposed to safety. They were opposed to disruption. They were afraid of losing their customers. They were afraid that the new market would be too expensive. They were afraid that the relationships they had spent years building would evaporate overnight.
Kofi realised something that changed his entire approach. The resistance was not about the new location. It was about loss. The traders were grieving a place that felt like home. No amount of logic about firebreaks would touch that grief.
So he stopped talking about the new market. Instead, he started talking about what they would carry with them. He proposed that each trader bring their own sign, their own table, their own arrangement. He suggested that the first week in the new market be a festival, with music and food and prizes, to draw customers. He asked a group of respected elders among the traders to help design the layout of the new stalls.
Slowly, the resistance softened. The elders became champions. They told the other traders that Kofi listened. That he respected them. That he was not like the previous director.
When the move finally happened, it was not smooth. Nothing like this ever is. But it happened. The traders moved. The customers followed. The festival brought crowds. Within three months, the new market was thriving, and the old one was being demolished for a parking lot.
Kofi learned something that year that shaped the rest of his career. People do not resist change. They resist loss. Your job as a leader is not to convince them that the change is good. Your job is to help them grieve what they are losing so they can open their hands to receive what is coming.
Why Change Fails
Every year, organisations around the world spend billions of dollars on change initiatives. New strategies, new systems, new structures, new cultures. And every year, the same statistic appears: between sixty and seventy percent of those initiatives fail.
Not because the ideas were bad. Not because the resources were insufficient. Because the leaders did not understand the human experience of change.
Most change management models are mechanical. They treat organisations as machines with levers to pull. Communicate the vision. Align the incentives. Train the skills. Measure the results. These are useful, but they miss the core reality. Change is not mechanical. It is emotional. It is social. It is a transition from one identity to another, and that transition is painful.
The leader who ignores the pain will be resisted. The leader who acknowledges the pain will be trusted. That is the difference between failure and success.
In my master’s thesis at HSE University, I argued that managerial soft skills are structural components of effective leadership. Nowhere is this more evident than in change leadership. The technical skills of project management are useless if you cannot navigate the human terrain of loss, fear, and resistance.
The Psychology of Loss and Transition
The research on change is deep, and its most important insight is that change is not an event. It is a process.
The Kübler‑Ross Grief Cycle. Elisabeth Kübler‑Ross’s five stages of grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, were developed for people facing terminal illness. But they apply perfectly to organisational change. People facing a major change go through the same stages. Denial: “This will never happen.” Anger: “How dare they do this to us?” Bargaining: “Maybe if we work harder, they will change their minds.” Depression: “Nothing matters anymore.” Acceptance: “Okay, let us figure out how to make this work.”
Most leaders skip straight to acceptance. They announce the change and expect everyone to be on board. When they encounter denial and anger, they are confused. They should not be. Those are normal human responses. The leader’s job is not to skip the stages. It is to walk through them with the team.
The ADKAR Model. Prosci’s ADKAR model identifies five outcomes people need to achieve for change to succeed: Awareness of the need for change, Desire to participate and support the change, Knowledge of how to change, Ability to implement the change, and Reinforcement to sustain the change. Notice that the first two are emotional. People need to understand why the change is necessary, and they need to want to be part of it. Logic alone is not enough.
The Status Quo Bias. Behavioural economists have shown that people have a strong preference for the current state, even when the current state is objectively worse than the alternatives. This is not irrational. It is a risk calculation. The devil you know is safer than the devil you do not. Leaders who ignore the status quo bias will be frustrated by resistance that seems illogical. Leaders who acknowledge it will design change that minimises perceived risk.
The Endowment Effect. People value what they already have more than what they might gain. This is why traders in Kofi’s market valued their old stalls more than the new, objectively better ones. They had invested years of their lives in those stalls. The stalls were not just physical spaces. They were repositories of identity, relationships, and memory. Change that asks people to give up something they are attached to will always feel like a loss. The leader who understands this does not dismiss the attachment. They honour it.
The Business of Change
The business literature on change is vast, but a few insights stand out as essential.
Kotter’s Eight Steps. John Kotter’s framework is the most widely used change model in business. It includes creating urgency, building a guiding coalition, forming a strategic vision, communicating the vision, empowering action, generating short‑term wins, sustaining acceleration, and anchoring change in culture. The model is useful, but its most important insight is hidden in the sequence. Notice that communication comes after vision. Most leaders communicate too early. They announce the change before they have built the coalition and refined the vision. The result is confusion and resistance.
The Diffusion of Innovations. Everett Rogers studied how new ideas spread through populations. He identified five categories of adopters: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. The key insight is that you cannot convince everyone at once. You start with the innovators and early adopters. They are the ones who are open to change, who have influence over others, and who can pull the rest along. Most leaders try to convince the laggards first. They waste enormous energy on people who will not move until everyone else has already moved.
The Change Curve. The Kübler‑Ross model has been adapted for organisational change. The change curve shows that performance drops before it rises. In the initial stage of change, people are confused and anxious. Productivity falls. Mistakes increase. This is normal. Leaders who panic at the drop and reverse course create more damage than the change itself. Leaders who stay the course, support their people, and wait for the curve to turn upward eventually see performance exceed the original baseline.
The Ghanaian Context. In my thesis research, I found that most Ghanaian businesses are informal and micro‑sized. They have no formal change management processes. Change happens through relationships, conversations, and trust. The leader who tries to impose change through formal authority will fail. The leader who walks the market, drinks tea, and listens will succeed. Kofi’s story is not an exception. It is the rule.
The Philosophy of Change
The philosophers have long understood that change is the only constant, and that wisdom lies in learning to flow with it.
Heraclitus on Rivers. “No man ever steps in the same river twice.” Heraclitus knew that everything changes. The river is always new. The person is always new. The leader who tries to freeze the world in place is fighting reality. The leader who learns to swim in the current is at peace.
The Stoics on Control. Epictetus taught that some things are within our control and others are not. In change leadership, the outcome is not within your control. You cannot make people accept change. You can create the conditions. You can communicate honestly. You can listen deeply. You can support the grieving. The rest is up to them. The Stoic leader does not cling to results. They focus on effort.
Nietzsche on Resistance. “What does not kill me makes me stronger.” Nietzsche was not writing about change management, but his insight applies. Resistance is not a problem to be eliminated. It is a signal to be understood. Resistance tells you where people are hurting. It tells you what they value. It tells you what you have missed. The leader who listens to resistance learns more than the leader who crushes it.
Lao Tzu on Flowing. “Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountains and earth. This shows clearly the principle of softness overcoming hardness.” The leader who forces change is like a hammer. The leader who flows with change is like water. Water does not demand. It finds the cracks. It goes around obstacles. It wears down resistance over time. It always reaches the sea.
African Wisdom: The Palaver of Change
The African tradition has always understood change as a communal negotiation, not a command.
The Palaver as Change Process. In traditional West African communities, important decisions were not announced. They were discussed. The palaver brought everyone together. Every voice was heard. The process took time, sometimes days. By the end, there was no need for a vote. Consensus had emerged. Change had been absorbed.
The modern organisation that announces change from the top is doing the opposite of the palaver. It is creating resistance by excluding voices. The leader who wants change to stick will create a palaver. They will listen before they act. They will let people shape the change so that the change becomes theirs.
The Talking Drum and the Message. The talking drum does not send a message once. It repeats it. It sends it through different routes. It ensures that everyone hears. Change communication in organisations is often a single email or a town hall meeting. That is not communication. That is announcement. Real communication is repetition through multiple channels, in multiple forms, over time.
The Elder Who Steps Aside. In many Ghanaian traditions, the elder does not cling to power. They know when it is time to step aside. They prepare the next generation. They trust the young to lead. Change leadership requires the same humility. You cannot lead change if you are attached to the old way. You must be willing to let go of what you built so that something new can grow.
Sankofa and the Future. Sankofa teaches us to look backward to move forward. In change leadership, this means honouring the past even as you build the future. Kofi succeeded because he honoured the traders’ attachment to the old market. He did not dismiss it. He named it. He grieved with them. Then he helped them carry what mattered into the new place.
Sacred Tradition: The Exile and the Return
The sacred texts are filled with stories of change, loss, and eventual hope.
The Exodus (Exodus 12‑14). The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. God sent Moses to lead them out. But when they reached the Red Sea, with Pharaoh’s army behind them, they cried out: “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” They wanted to go back. Even slavery was better than the unknown. Change always triggers the wish to return. The leader’s job is not to deny that wish. It is to keep walking forward anyway.
The Exile in Babylon (Psalm 137). “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” The Israelites had been taken from their homeland. They were in a foreign place. They hung up their harps and refused to sing. Change requires mourning. The leader who does not allow mourning will be resisted. The leader who sits by the river and weeps with the people earns the right to eventually say, “Now let us build.”
Jesus in Gethsemane (Matthew 26). On the night before his death, Jesus prayed: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” He did not want to go through the change. He asked for another way. Then he said: “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Change leadership requires the same prayer. You are allowed to not want it. You are allowed to ask for another way. Then you do it anyway.
The New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21). The end of the biblical story is not a return to the garden. It is a new heaven and a new earth. Change does not restore the past. It creates something that has never existed before. The leader who promises to bring back the good old days is lying. The leader who promises to build something better is telling the truth, even if the truth is hard to hear.
Practical Exercise: The Change Map
This exercise will take about forty‑five minutes. Do it alone, then bring your team into the conversation.
Step One. Name the Change.
Write down a change you are currently leading or facing. Be specific. Not “digital transformation.” Something like “We are moving our customer service team to a new software platform.”
Step Two. Map the Stakeholders.
List everyone who will be affected by the change. Include not just the obvious decision makers but the quiet ones, the front‑line workers, the administrative staff, the customers. Write down each name or role.
Step Three. Assess the Loss.
For each stakeholder, write down what they are losing. Not what they are gaining. What they are losing. Familiarity. Relationships. Status. Control. Efficiency. Identity. Be honest. Loss is real.
Step Four. Identify the Stage.
For each stakeholder, identify where they are on the change curve. Denial? Anger? Bargaining? Depression? Acceptance? Do not judge them. Just observe.
Step Five. Design the Intervention.
For each stakeholder, design one action that meets them where they are.
· For someone in denial: Share one piece of evidence that the change is inevitable.
· For someone in anger: Listen without defending. Let them vent. Say “I hear you.”
· For someone in bargaining: Help them identify what they can control and what they cannot.
· For someone in depression: Acknowledge the difficulty. Offer support. Do not try to cheer them up.
· For someone in acceptance: Give them responsibility. Make them a champion.
Step Six. Identify Your Champions.
Look at your list. Who are the early adopters? Who has influence over others? Who is respected even if they are not in formal authority? List three people who could become champions.
For each champion, plan one conversation. Ask for their help. Ask for their advice. Give them ownership of a piece of the change.
Step Seven. Take the First Step.
Choose one action from your plan. Do it this week. Not all of them. Just one.
Application
This week, do three things.
First, have a listening conversation with someone who is resisting the change. Do not try to convince them. Do not argue. Just listen. Ask: “What is hardest about this for you?” Then be quiet. Let them talk.
Second, publicly acknowledge the loss. In a team meeting or an email, say: “I know this change is hard. We are losing things that mattered. I want to name that.” You will be surprised how much trust this earns.
Third, give one champion real authority. Not just a task. Real authority to make decisions, spend resources, or speak on your behalf. Trust them. Then get out of the way.
Then notice something. The change will not go smoothly. It never does. But you will not be fighting alone. You will have champions, trust, and the willingness to grieve. That is how change happens. Not through force. Through presence.
References
· Kübler‑Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying. Macmillan.
· Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Harvard Business School Press.
· Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). Free Press.
· Kpodo, P. E. (2026). Managerial soft skills in the structure of effective leadership. Master’s thesis, HSE University.
A Final Word
Module 19 is not about managing projects. It is about leading people through loss. The two are not the same.
You can have the perfect plan, the perfect timeline, the perfect budget. If you ignore the grief, you will fail. People will resist. Not because they are stubborn. Because they are human.
Your job is not to convince them that the change is good. Your job is to sit with them in the loss, to name it, to honour it, and then to gently, persistently, lovingly, point toward the future.
That is not soft. That is the hardest work there is. And it is the only work that lasts.
This module is part of the P.O.S.H. Leadership Curriculum, available for free at [www.poshlifeplan.com].
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