Real change leaders are seldom found in executive suites. Though top-level involvement is essential to organizational change, the real change leaders (RCLs) who affect how the majority of people perform come from the ranks of middle and frontline managers. A recent study of nearly 150 mid-level change leaders in 29 different change efforts explored what makes RCLs stand out from traditional middle managers, and what top management can do to ensure a critical mass of this emerging new leadership capacity.

Wrenching change programs are today engulfing company after company with their relentless demands on change leaders

Wrenching change programs are today engulfing company after company with their relentless demands on change leaders. Since such individuals are invariably in short supply, it is no coincidence that most of these efforts stall part way through. They simply become bogged down in the middle, even when they have been well thought through and are driven by enlightened top management groups.

The most difficult aspect of major change has little to do with getting the right concept, core process redesign, or even a team at the top. It lies in changing the people system—the skills and behavior of hundreds of employees down the...