In this episode of Hey Jack, Jack Nehlig and Trevor Robinson dig into one of the most pressing challenges leaders face today: leading people through change and building teams that are resilient enough to handle whatever comes next. With companies shifting strategies, restructuring, and adapting to new market realities, Trevor asks Jack what separates the organizations that navigate change well from the ones that fall apart. Jack lays out three practical fundamentals and shares a memorable story from his early career at Honeywell that perfectly illustrates what a truly resilient team looks like.
Leadership Is Always About Change
Jack starts with a distinction that reframes the entire conversation. Leading people through change is not a special event or a crisis response. It is the job. "Leadership is almost always about change. Management is about day-to-day operations and execution," Nehlig explains. If you are truly leading, you are always guiding people through some kind of change. If you are only turning the crank and going home, you are managing, not leading.
He challenges leaders to look in the mirror and ask themselves what they have actually changed in their team or their company over the past few months. "If a leader looks in the mirror and says really nothing for a bunch of months, well then they're not being a leader, they're being more of just a manager," Nehlig states. This is not a knock on managers. Managers are essential. But leadership, by definition, means moving people from where they are to somewhere better, and that always involves change.
Deep Process Knowledge Is the Foundation
The first of Jack's three fundamentals is having deep process knowledge and an active process improvement system. Organizations that handle change well are not scrambling to figure out how their own operations work when the time comes to pivot. They already know, because they have invested in understanding and documenting their processes long before any disruption hits.
"You get in trouble on change when you don't really understand all the things that are going on in your company. You're just doing work every day and not realizing what impacts something else," Nehlig warns. He points to large ERP conversions as a telling example. The companies whose implementations make the news for going badly are usually the ones that lacked a solid process backbone going in. The companies where it went smoothly just do it, and nobody hears about them because there is nothing dramatic to report.
Jack offers a simple self-assessment for any leader: can you name all the process owners of your company's high-level processes, and can you identify the power users in those processes? If you can, you probably have good discipline in place. If you cannot, that is where the work needs to start. He also cautions against assuming that ISO registration means you have strong process systems. "ISO just says, do you have good process documentation? Do you have good process follow-up? It doesn't say the results are really good," Nehlig clarifies. ISO sets a floor, not a ceiling.
Build Well-Trained, Diverse Teams
The second fundamental is investing in team training and building diverse teams. When Jack says diverse, he means people who are well versed in many different aspects of the company, bringing a range of perspectives and experiences to the table. When those teams face a change initiative, they have the collaborative mindset and breadth of knowledge to see the full picture.
"When you build a team, do you have a lot of diversity on the team? Do you have great collaborative mindset? You're hearing lots of people's opinions," Nehlig asks. Teams that check those boxes are far better equipped to identify risks, spot opportunities, and execute on change plans than teams built from a single narrow perspective. And this does not happen by accident. It requires deliberate investment in training and development, which Jack notes should be led by the HR team as a core organizational priority.
Embrace the Deputy Concept
Jack's third fundamental is one that Trevor admits he had never heard phrased quite this way: the deputy concept. The idea is straightforward. Every leadership position in the company should have a designated backup, someone who is trained in that role's authority, processes, and responsibilities so they can step in seamlessly when needed.
"You should have an org chart with a box next to every name with who is the deputy. And then not just go over and tell them they're the deputy, but train them on what they have to do when they are the deputy," Nehlig explains. This is not about succession planning in the traditional sense. It is about building redundancy into the organization so that if someone leaves, goes on extended leave, or is simply unavailable, the team does not miss a beat. Jack frames the test simply: if somebody quits tomorrow, can you survive for three to four months until you find the next person or restructure?
Trevor confirms this from personal experience, recalling times he stepped into roles during extended absences and was able to do so effectively because the processes and systems were well documented and the training was already in place.
Communication Ties It All Together
Trevor raises a point that prompts Jack to add what he calls an essential layer on top of the three fundamentals: communication. During any change initiative, leaders need to define all the communication mechanisms they will use to keep everyone informed, and then they need to communicate relentlessly.
Jack shares a rule of thumb that stuck with him throughout his career. "When you are the communicator and you are sick and tired of communicating a message, that's when you know they're finally getting it," Nehlig says. He recalls being impressed by how much communication his own leaders would push out during change initiatives, sometimes to the point of feeling redundant. But that redundancy is the point. It takes people seven or eight repetitions before a message truly lands.
Trevor connects this back to the infrastructure Jack described. You can have all the communication in the world, but without the process discipline, the trained teams, and the deputies in place, things will still fall apart. Both elements have to work together.
Make Your Own Damn Decisions
Jack closes with a story from his early career at Honeywell that perfectly captures what a resilient organization looks like in practice. One day, he walked up to his boss's office to find a note taped to the door that read: "Dear all, the executive leadership team is on an offsite today. Make your own damn decisions." And then a postscript: "If we find this works, we will make it policy."
The humor stuck with Jack, but so did the lesson. A truly resilient organization can function without its senior leaders being present, not just for one day but for extended stretches. "When the work is done, they'll say they did it without you. And that's the measurement of the most resilient team," Nehlig reflects. The leaders are there to set direction, manage the change agenda, and handle problems. But the day-to-day operation should be able to run without them, and that only happens when process discipline, team development, and the deputy concept are all working together.
Key Quote From The Episode
"Leadership is almost always about change. Management is about day-to-day operations and execution." - Jack Nehlig
Key Takeaways
- Recognize that leadership is inherently about change. If you have not changed anything in your team or company recently, you are managing, not leading.
- Build deep process knowledge across your organization by identifying process owners and power users, and invest in active process improvement systems that go well beyond minimum standards like ISO registration.
- Develop well-trained, diverse teams with people versed in multiple aspects of the company so they bring broad perspectives and collaborative problem-solving to change initiatives.
- Implement the deputy concept by designating and training a backup for every leadership position so the organization can absorb unexpected departures without disruption.
- Communicate relentlessly during change. Define your communication mechanisms upfront and keep repeating the message until you are tired of saying it, because that is when people are finally starting to hear it.
Wrap Up
Leading through change is not a special skill that some leaders have and others do not. It is the core function of leadership itself. The organizations that do it well are the ones that have invested in the fundamentals long before the change arrives: deep process knowledge, well-trained diverse teams, and a deputy structure that builds resilience into every level of the org chart. Layer relentless communication on top of that foundation, and you have a team that can navigate whatever comes its way. As Jack puts it, leaders should rise up and not be afraid of change. This is what they are built for, and they will learn to enjoy it as long as they look at it the right way.