Articles
Three months ago, it was the start of a new year. Your team returned from the holiday break, refreshed and ready to commit to a set of priorities for 2026. You had clarity, you had intent, and, perhaps, even genuine momentum. January, like it often does, felt like a fresh
Preparing for Change: Knowing Who’s With You and Who’s Not When you’re leading change, it’s natural to focus on the work itself—the strategy, the plan, the timeline. But there’s another layer that often determines whether change succeeds or stalls: the people. Every change effort has stakeholders—people who will be
One Map, Many Eyes: Learning To See What Surrounds You When the environment around you keeps shifting, it’s tempting to stay heads-down and react to whatever comes next. But that approach has a cost. You end up making decisions based on partial information and assumptions you haven’t examined. Your
Most teams start January with renewed energy and all the best intentions to make positive changes for the year ahead. By February, the momentum inevitably stalls. By March, people have reverted to their usual ways of working. Successful teams invest time upfront to align on what work matters most for
Finding Clarity in the Year-End Clearing December brings a peculiar challenge. As a leader, you’re expected to plan for the coming year—to set goals, establish priorities, and project confidence about a future you can’t fully see. But reacting and adapting to the current year’s constant disruptions has left
When Everything Is a Priority, Nothing Is You have too much on your plate. You’re wearing yourself out by trying to attend to everything you believe you have to do. What’s worse, you are not leaving yourself any ‘strategic slack’ to either deal with unexpected developments nor prepare for
Addressing Collective Exhaustion Without Trying to Fix the Unfixable Your team is exhausted. This is a reality that is not discussed much. This is not simply the exhaustion that follows long hours or challenging projects. This is the bone-deep weariness arising from months, perhaps even years, of operating in
You know the feeling. Your team is struggling—meetings feel unproductive, deadlines slip, and there’s an undercurrent of tension you can’t quite put your finger on. So you do what most leaders do: you focus on the people problems. You organize team-building exercises, facilitate difficult conversations, or bring in consultants
Finding Your Foundation When Everything Feels Unsteady The Resilience Paradox: Why Optimism Isn’t Optional Here’s what I’ve learned after years of working with leaders in crisis: resilience isn’t about being tough enough to power through. It’s about being adaptive enough to find solid ground, even when the landscape
Michael joins Carol Hamilton to unpack why psychological safety is far more than a ‘soft’ concept — it is the foundation that allows teams to innovate, raise hard questions, and navigate change without fear. Drawing on real client experience, Michael outlines the practical steps nonprofit leaders can take to build
Sudden, large-scale growth — even when it is welcome — can destabilise an organisation that is not prepared for it. In this conversation with Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken, Michael explores how nonprofits can build the organisational readiness to absorb transformational gifts and rapid scaling without losing the culture, mission focus, and
Have you heard our clients describe what happens when they work with us? Empowered Leadership: From Uncertainty to A Confident Leadership Transition When Janet and Michelle approached me about their year-long leadership transition at a regional educational association, they balanced enthusiasm with healthy skepticism. “We’ve worked together effectively for