How do we involve employees in strategic change?

Frame a shared challenge by turning different departmental priorities into a question that teams can address together. Marketing may be focused on customer acquisition, product teams on evolving the offer and IT on delivering more with fewer resources. Each function can be responding to the same need for change without discussing how its response fits with everyone else's.

The B2B Reinvention framework starts by bringing the right people together and recasting pressing challenges and opportunities as a question. Use that approach to establish what the organisation needs to resolve collectively, rather than asking each department to find its own answer. A 2025 Staffbase survey of employees in Australia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States found that 20% said leadership communication made organisational vision and strategy very clear, while 36% described it as somewhat clear.

Bring the people responsible into the discussion before the strategic response has been decided. Give employees who will implement and explain the change a role in shaping it, rather than presenting an externally determined recommendation for acceptance. The B2B Reinvention approach puts the creativity of people closest to the business at the centre of strategy development.

Sales teams bring knowledge of how customers respond under pressure. Customer service teams must answer questions about a new direction, making their understanding and involvement important. Include the people who will have to live with the decisions, not only those authorised to announce them. A 2025 Staffbase survey across Australia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States found that 52% of desk-based employees felt their feedback was at least somewhat considered during change processes, compared with 39% of non-desk employees.

Develop the response together in a safe, facilitated setting where employees can use their experience and knowledge to explore possible answers to the shared strategic question. B2B Reinvention uses human-centred creative and design-thinking principles to help teams address business challenges and opportunities thoughtfully and productively.

The process moves from imagining different responses to devising tests that help identify which possibility best fits the business. Supporting research helps teams systematically assess and choose a strategic route, rather than relying on imagination alone. Use employee knowledge to generate possibilities, then use tests and research to inform the choice. Participation therefore extends beyond collecting opinions: employees help develop the alternatives and examine which direction offers the best prospect of success.