One in four senior leaders expect employees to simply adapt to organizational change, CoachHub research finds

Only 21% of organisations describe their most recent transformation as a clear success, yet employee resistance is still treated as an obstacle to push through rather than a signal to act on

London/Berlin, 22 September 2026 — One in four senior leaders believe employees should simply adapt when they resist organisational change, according to new global research from digital coaching platform CoachHub.

The findings, from CoachHub's new report Make Change Stick, are based on a survey of 800 senior transformation, business and people leaders across seven markets in Europe and North America. They reveal a disconnect between organisations' recognition that people determine the success of transformation and how they respond when employees struggle with change.

Just 21% of organisations describe their most significant recent transformation as a clear success. And while 79% say their transformation created measurable business value, only 64% say that value was sustained after implementation, a 15-point drop between launching change and making it last.

Yet when resistance occurs, organisations do not always seek to understand what is driving it. While 41% of leaders say they start by seeking to understand employees' concerns, almost a quarter (24%) take an approach that amounts to "the decision has been made, employees need to adapt". A further 15% escalate employee resistance to senior leadership.

Investment tells a similar story — organisations allocate 22.4% of transformation budgets to technology platforms and systems, against 9.2% to coaching for managers and leaders. Coaching is also the support least likely to reach managers, offered in just 16% of transformation programmes, despite 86% of those who receive it rating it useful.

What the most successful organisations do differently

The research compared the top quartile of performers, Leaders, with the bottom quartile, Laggards — with the six widest gaps between the two groups all behavioural rather than structural, based on the business impact they saw from transformation. Leaders are 45 points more likely to have managers who adapt plans based on feedback from their teams, and 41 points more likely to have managers who listen to employee concerns before deciding how to respond.

The gap also widens with distance from the centre. Readiness to deliver transformation differs by 23 points for the core transformation team, but by 41 points for frontline managers and team leaders, the people closest to where the work actually changes.

Timing separates them too, with 38% of Leaders giving managers support before the transformation was announced, compared with 18% of Laggards, who were far more likely to wait until implementation was already under way.

Matti Niebelschütz, CEO and Co-founder of CoachHub, said: "Transformation only happens when people are able to translate that change into new behaviours and new ways of working. Telling people simply to adapt risks treating the symptom rather than understanding the cause, and the data shows what that costs. Four out of five organisations cannot point to a transformation that clearly worked.

"This is where coaching can act as a transformation accelerator, giving people the space and support to process uncertainty, challenge established behaviours and build the capabilities they need to operate differently. Every Leader in our research who received one-to-one coaching found it useful. When coaching is embedded into transformation rather than added as an afterthought, organisations can move from simply implementing change to making it stick."

Resistance is a signal, not the problem

Transformation programmes typically focus heavily on strategy, technology, processes and implementation. But organisational change ultimately requires people to change how they think, behave and work. CoachHub argues that resistance should therefore be treated as information rather than simply opposition. Understanding why employees are struggling with change, whether because of uncertainty, lack of confidence, competing priorities, unclear expectations or established habits, helps organisations identify the behavioural barriers preventing transformation from taking hold.

Sarah Henson, Senior Behavioural Scientist at CoachHub, added: "Resistance is a normal human response to uncertainty and disruption, not evidence that employees are inherently opposed to change. Leaders should reduce friction around new behaviours, create the right environmental and social conditions for change, reinforce progress and help new behaviours become embedded over time."

The full findings and recommendations are available in CoachHub's new report, Make Change Stick.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

Methodology

The research was commissioned by CoachHub and conducted independently by Coleman Parkes Research between May and June 2026, with final analysis concluded in September 2026. It is based on an online survey of 800 senior enterprise decision-makers with direct visibility of major transformation programmes across seven markets.

About CoachHub

CoachHub is a leading global digital coaching platform, empowering organizations to create scalable and measurable personalized coaching programs for their entire workforce. CoachHub's global pool of coaches includes more than 3,500 certified business coaches in 90 countries across six continents, with coaching sessions available in over 80 languages. Serving more than 1,000 clients worldwide, CoachHub's innovative coaching programs are based on proprietary scientific research and development from our Innovation Lab.

CoachHub is backed by leading investors including Sofina, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Molten Ventures, Speedinvest, HV Capital, and Partech. CoachHub is committed to creating a greener future. The company is certified carbon neutral and its environmental management is certified according to ISO14001.

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