In a post I wrote last year, Embracing New Tech with a Workforce-First Mindset, I explored an industry-agnostic trend: technology adoption succeeds or fails based on how well people are supported through change. A workforce-first mindset reframes transformation away from tools and toward experience, capability, and trust.

As our practice has continued to grow in the change management space, a critical layer has become clear. One that often determines the success of change initiatives.

That layer is leadership investment in the initiative itself.

Organizations can design thoughtful change strategies, deploy intuitive systems, and provide robust training. Yet without sustained, visible investment from key and core leaders, even the best workforce-first initiatives struggle to scale or endure.

Visible Support and Investment = Increased Adoption

Research by the change management community continues to reinforce what many transformation leaders observe firsthand: leadership behavior is one of the strongest predictors of successful technology adoption.

Studies consistently show that digital initiatives underperform not because of technical shortcomings, but because leaders are underprepared to guide teams through ambiguity, shifting roles, and new ways of working. When leaders lack the skills, language, or confidence to support change, adoption stalls.

Earlier in my career, I saw this firsthand. Following an acquisition, our development teams had an opportunity to work more closely together across business units. However, senior leadership framed the change as a necessity, while frontline engineers were given little insight into why the change mattered or what outcomes leadership expected.. Luckily, the team I worked with was adamant about getting through the transition period positively and we took it upon ourselves to find the positive outcomes from the change and show that to the broader teams.

Leadership investment matters now more than ever because today’s transformations are not discrete events. Had leadership visibility and engagement been present from the start, productivity gains likely would have materialized far more quickly.

From Leadership Training to Leadership Enablement

One of the most important shifts emerging from recent research is the move away from episodic leadership training toward leadership capability systems.

Traditional approaches often focus on one-time workshops or role-based programs. While these can raise awareness, evidence suggests they rarely lead to sustained behavior change unless they are reinforced over time and tightly aligned to real business challenges.

More effective leadership investment models share several characteristics:

• They are anchored in strategic priorities, not generic competencies
  • Competency models help establish baseline expectations. Long-term success comes from giving leaders growth opportunities that align directly with business outcomes.
  • This means meaningful investment and accountability, allowing leaders to own wins AND failures
• They include reinforcement, coaching, and feedback loops
  • Change management and transformation are continuous processes that allow for continuous growth through wins and failures
• They measure impact based on outcomes, not attendance
  • This means intentionally designing transformations with the measurable end in mind

When leadership development is treated as an ongoing system that is anchored in business opportunities, rather than an isolated intervention, leaders are better equipped to translate strategy into action.

The Role of Leadership in Human-Technology Integration

 Change transformations typically involve both leaders and sponsors. These roles are often assumed to be the same, but expectations are not always clearly defined from the outset. Leaders aren’t just sponsors of technology; they are a core pillar of human and technical compatibility. Leaders in the technology space are those that develop the skills to:

• Communicate clearly why change is happening and how it is relevant to the frontline workforce AND their leadership

• Set expectations amid uncertainty

• Support learning while maintaining performance

• Model curiosity and adaptability

Emerging research highlights the importance of leaders creating environments where people can learn alongside new technologies, rather than feeling replaced or left behind. This means allowing learners and leaders, or both, to be a part of the development process and help shape the transformation in a way that will be beneficial to both the business and those that do the work.

This human-centered approach is essential for maintaining trust and momentum during transformation.

What Effective Leadership Investment Looks Like in Practice

Organizations that successfully align leadership investment with workforce-first technology adoption tend to focus on a few core practices:

Link leadership effectiveness to adoption outcomes
Rather than measuring leadership success in isolation, leading organizations connect it to indicators such as system usage, confidence levels, and operational performance.

Embed leadership development into transformation work
Leaders learn best when development is tied directly to real initiatives. This includes just-in-time coaching, peer learning, and structured reflection during deployments.

Reinforce psychological safety and feedback
Leaders play a central role in whether teams feel safe raising concerns, experimenting with new tools, and sharing insights that improve adoption.

Sustain investment beyond go-live
Technology launches are milestones, not endpoints. Continued leadership support after implementation is often the difference between short-term compliance and long-term value realization.

Leadership Investment as the Adoption Driver

A workforce-first mindset sets the direction for how organizations approach change. Leadership investment determines whether that mindset becomes embedded in daily practice.

When leaders at all levels are equipped, supported, and held accountable for guiding people through change, technology becomes an enabler rather than a disruption. Adoption improves, confidence grows, and organizations are better positioned to adapt as new technologies continue to emerge.

If your organization is investing in new technology, it may be time to assess whether leadership investment is keeping pace. Workforce-first change doesn’t stop at design and delivery. It depends on how leaders show up long after go-live. Our team at Summit specializes in the human-side of that change and we’re here to help.