The 12 Questions for Leaders Carrying Change
A quiet conversation guide for leaders who are carrying change, and for the people they carry it with.
The companion to a two-minute change readiness check
These twelve questions walk hand in hand with How ready are you and your team for change, really?, a free two-minute check built on the same twelve themes. It shows you, privately and in plain language, where you and your team stand across Regulate, Reframe and Realign. It's being tested with a small circle of leaders right now and will be released here very soon. In the meantime, this guide is yours to use, print and share.
Change has a way of landing on leaders twice: once as the plan you have to deliver, and once as the quiet weight you carry home in the evening. Most change support looks after the first. These twelve questions are for both.
They come from more than thirty years of walking alongside organisations through restructures, new systems, mergers and moves, and from noticing, again and again, that the change usually wasn't the problem. The problem was that people were tired, unheard, or hadn't yet made peace with what they were being asked to let go of, and nobody had paused long enough to ask.
How to use this guide
Name the change. Write one or two sentences about the change you're carrying, so every answer comes from the same place.
Start with yourself. Find fifteen quiet minutes and write the first honest answer that comes, not the one you'd say in a meeting.
Notice the gaps. Where your answer for yourself and for your team feel very different, that gap is usually where the real conversation lives.
Then take one question to your team. One is enough to begin.
Come back to it at the start, in the messy middle and just before go-live.
Prefer pen and paper? The printed version includes space to write.
Is there enough in the tank?
Before anyone can take in something new, their nervous system needs to feel there's enough energy, time and safety to do it. Exhausted people don't resist change because they disagree. They resist because they have nothing left to give it.
Do I have the energy and headspace to lead this change well right now?
Not in theory and not once things calm down, but this week, as you are.
Do I notice when I'm running on empty, and act on it before it shows?
What are your early signs: shorter emails, a tighter jaw, skipping lunch, the 2am replay? And what do you actually do when you see them?
Does my team have the energy and capacity to take this change on?
Do people feel safe telling me what they really think, including the hard parts?
Does it make sense, and has the letting go been honoured?
Every change, even a good one, asks people to let go of something: a way of working, a team, a sense of competence, sometimes a piece of identity. When the losses are named, the gains can finally be heard.
Have I made peace with what this change asks me to let go of?
People can feel it when a leader is still quietly grieving the old way, even if the words say otherwise.
Do I believe in this change, and could I say why in my own words?
Try it now, in two sentences, without the slide deck.
Have people had real space to talk about what this change means for them, the losses as well as the gains?
Could my team explain why this change matters in their own words, not just mine?
Are you leading as yourself, and is everyone ready to step?
The last part is about coming home to yourself as a leader, and making sure the first practical step is one people can actually take.
Am I leading this change in a way that feels true to who I am?
Where are you performing a version of leadership that isn't really yours?
Do I have someone I can think out loud with, honestly, about how this is going for me?
Not to fix it or report on it, just to think. If no name comes to mind, that's an answer too.
Is everyone equipped to take the first practical step this change asks of them?
If my team answered these questions anonymously, would their answers match mine?
This is the question that holds all the others. If you're not sure, that uncertainty is worth listening to.
The question I most wanted to skip was…
The biggest gap between my answer and my team's is probably…
One small thing I'll do in the next seven days is…
Where to from here?
If these questions stirred something, you're very welcome to keep the conversation going with me. A SoulSync Discovery Chat is free, with no pressure and no pitch: just a space to think out loud about what you're carrying and what might help, whether that's support for you as a leader or a deeper, anonymous look at how ready your team really is for change.
WhatsApp: +44 7471 279593
Email: salome@wellnezwayz.com
With heart, Salomé
This is a reflective guide, not a validated assessment or a diagnosis, and it isn't a substitute for professional advice. You're welcome to print, use and share it in its complete form with your teams and colleagues. Please keep my name on it. © 2026 Salomé Saaiman · WellnezWayz