Transformation Leadership
Digital Transformation
Workforce Transformation
Organizational Change
ERP Transformation
Workforce Transformation
The People Who Decide Whether Your SAP Transformation Succeeds
Daniela Saca
You went live with SAP.
Milestones achieved. Training completed. Project closed.
Success. At least on paper.
But a few weeks later, reality starts to look different.
⚠ What's happening on the ground:
- Teams create workarounds.
- Old spreadsheets come back.
- Processes drift.
- Adoption stalls.
What happened?
Often, the answer isn't technical.
It's social.
Because people rarely change because leadership asked them to.
"They change because people they trust changed first."
And those people are not always managers.
The hidden network inside every organization
Every company has two structures:
📋 The Official One
Titles, reporting lines, governance.
👥 The Unofficial One
Trust, influence, credibility.
This second network usually determines how change spreads.
You can send communications. You can run training. You can track completion rates.
But employees still ask someone privately: "Do you think this will actually work?"
That person matters more than most transformation dashboards.
What unofficial change leaders actually look like
They're usually not obvious. They may not speak the most. But people listen when they do.
Look for people who:
- ✓ Receive questions after meetings
- ✓ Explain decisions to others
- ✓ Get copied into conversations without needing to be
- ✓ Are early adopters people imitate
- ✓ Influence sentiment across teams
- ⚠ Create momentum — or resistance
How to identify them before resistance appears
Step 1 — Ask employees directly
Not: "Who manages your work?"
Ask: "Who do you go to when you're unsure?"
Patterns appear quickly.
Step 2 — Observe post-meeting behavior
Watch what happens after workshops.
Who gathers people? Who gets approached? Who people check with?
Step 3 — Track adoption signals
Look for teams that:
- adopt unusually fast
- delay together
- follow the same behavior patterns
Influence leaves traces.
Step 4 — Involve them before communications begin
Most transformations identify stakeholders. Fewer identify trusted voices.
Bring them into:
- pilot groups
- testing cycles
- feedback sessions
- champion networks
Not to become project ambassadors.
To become translators of change.
The Takeaway
Successful transformations don't spread through hierarchy.
They spread through trust.
The earlier you identify unofficial change leaders, the less energy you'll spend fighting resistance later.
Because people don't copy the org chart.
They copy the people they trust.
