Company stakeholders often feel that losing engagement, productivity, and personnel–including top talent–is the cost of doing business during a major organizational change. Disruptions don’t need to be that significant. Leaders who lead through change, not merely manage the change, will see their organization come out the other side stronger.

There will always be some negative outcomes as you go through change. But by identifying top talent early on, giving employees space to process the change, and building trust and alignment through transparency, companies can mitigate those negative outcomes and retain top talent.

Here are nine tactics to keeping top talent during a change:

1. Change the way you think about organizational change. People talk a lot about change management, but it’s important to shift the language from “managing change” to “leading through change.” Being a leader through change means bringing people along with you.

2. Identify and engage with top talent early in the decision-making process to maximize your chances of retaining key individuals. Top talent know they’re marketable. So depending on the job market, you may lose the best people quickly and end up retaining more of the lower performers within the organization.

3. Execute change in a way that communicates respect to the entire organization. Leaders have a tremendous opportunity to show empathy and build a corporate culture of respect that will ultimately lead to employee retention.

4. Spend time face-to-face with employees. Whether it’s one-on-one in person, on skype on a chat or in a town hall setting, leaders need to be present, answer questions, and own up to their decisions.

5. Be a great listener. This will not only communicate respect and support to employees, but also offers leadership valuable feedback that can inform future decisions.

6. Be authentic and build trust with your employees. Employees can tell if you’re putting on a show. Be genuine and honor those employees that helped get the company where it is.

7. Give employees space to go through the “change curve.” The “change curve” is actually similar to the grieving process. Employees need time to come to terms with the change and what it will mean for them personally and professionally. Give them the time and space they need.

8. Be open and transparent. This doesn’t mean you can tell everyone everything, because sometimes plans aren’t definitive. But being transparent with what you can share and creating open lines of communication will help employees feel valued and respected.

9. Help employees understand the drivers behind a change. Even if employees disagree with the “how,” they might be able to get on board with the “why.” If employees understand the drivers behind the change, they can move through the process in a more positive way.

Change isn’t easy on anyone. But leaders who take these lessons to heart will be in a good position to maximize employee retention. And companies that make use of outside experts to help guide leaders through change will be in a better position to retain top talent, creating critical continuity during a difficult period.