Dear Change Leader, Victor stood at the front of the all-hands and said the words he’d rehearsed: “We’re steady. We’ve weathered worse than this.” As VP of Client Services at a mid-sized consulting firm, he mostly believed it. Revenue was down, two competitors had made cuts, and the news outside the building was loud enough […]
You’re Not Leading the Organization You Think You Are Read More »
Dear Change Leader, Charles had done everything right. He’d led his team through a disruptive reorganization with clarity and discipline. He communicated at every stage. The plan was visible, documented, and shared. When his leadership team asked how things were going, he pointed to it with quiet satisfaction. But something was shifting. Staff had
When the Plan Becomes the Problem Read More »
Dear Change Leader, The meeting had been going well — until it wasn’t. Elena, the VP of Client Success, had just finished presenting her team’s quarterly numbers when David, the COO, cut in: “I don’t understand why we keep resources allocated to that program. The data doesn’t support it.” The temperature in the room shifted
Stop Defending Your Position. Start Sharing Your Thinking. Read More »
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 start. And now it’s April
Leadership In Action: Is Your Team Still Running on January’s Map? Read More »
Dear Change Leader, “We just need to give it more time,” David told me. He was six months into a major restructuring at his regional healthcare network — new reporting lines, redesigned workflows, a leadership team that had been reshuffled twice. On paper, the plan was solid. But the signals were troubling: key staff were
Are You Being Persistent — or Simply Stubborn? Read More »
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 affected, people who hold influence,
Leadership In Action: Stakeholders in Change Read More »
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 team may be operating from
Leadership In Action: Context of Change Maps Read More »
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 them to achieve their shared
Building Team Alignment for the New Year Read More »
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 you feeling exhausted, and the
Leadership In Action: Perspective Building Read More »
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 the future. I’ll be frank––you
Leadership In Action: Priority Anchors Read More »
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 to work on communication and
Stop Fixing the Wrong Team Problems: Why the GRPI Model Changes Everything Read More »
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 years,” Janet explained, “but neither
Empowered Leadership: From Uncertainty to A Confident Leadership Transition Read More »