Case Study #1 – Change Management Professional

 

Background

Emma L., a senior change management practitioner at a multinational healthcare organization, had spent over a decade leading complex transformation initiatives. She was well versed in change frameworks, stakeholder engagement, and implementation strategies, but despite her expertise, she struggled to gain the degree of executive-level influence necessary for her responsibilities.

Executives acknowledged her contributions in managing resistance and driving adoption; however, she was often excluded from early strategic discussions where critical change-related decisions were made. Instead, she was brought in later in the process, limiting her ability to shape the overall direction for initiative implementation.

“I was seen as someone who helped with the tactical aspects of implementation, but I wasn’t part of shaping the actual execution architecture itself,” Emma recalled. “Leadership listened to my updates, but they weren’t seeking my insights to impact their decision-making.”

Determined to break out of this peripheral role, she enrolled in the Advanced Trusted Advisor (ATA) program to learn how to establish herself as a strategic advisor to senior executives.

The ATA Experience

Emma quickly realized that her technical expertise wasn’t the issue—the challenge was how she positioned herself and communicated with executives. Through ATA’s experiential learning model, she gained critical insights into:

• Speaking the language of senior leaders—framing her insights around business impact, risk mitigation, and strategic outcomes rather than always invoking change management nomenclature
• Delivering difficult messages effectively—learning how to present uncomfortable truths in a way that executives could hear, absorb, and act on
• Shifting from being seen as an expert in change mechanics to being relied on to provide challenging, practical diagnoses and recommendations as well as to help frame the thinking and decision-making processes of senior leaders

One of her biggest breakthroughs came during a role-play exercise, where she had to deliver direct feedback to a CEO who was pushing back on her feedback that he was inadvertently contributing to some of the implementation delays. Daryl helped her refine her approach—she learned to be bolder, more concise, and more confident in how she framed challenges.

“I had been tiptoeing around issues instead of calling them out clearly,” Emma said. “ATA gave me the perspective and strategies I needed to be direct without being offensive or dismissed.”

Real-World Impact

Shortly after completing ATA, Emma found herself facing a major merger integration project. Previously, she would have waited to be brought into the process. This time, she proactively engaged senior executives, framing her observations around risks to realization, cultural implications, and leadership accountability.

During an executive meeting, she challenged leadership’s assumptions about how employees would respond to the merger, as well as how they would need to step into a more active role during implementation. Instead of softening her message, she made it clear that if they didn’t address certain issues promptly and effectively, resistance could derail the integration.

Her direct, strategic framing changed the conversation. From that point on, executives sought her guidance before making key decisions related to mergers implications. Tangible evidence of her increased influence was her appointment to co-lead the integration planning team, where she worked alongside the COO to drive executive alignment.

Emma said, “ATA helped me move from simply managing change to advising on how change should be approached and led. Now, I’m not just reporting on transformation—I’m shaping it.”