What does it mean for a nonprofit to be truly prepared for change — not just reactive, but proactively resilient? Michael’s conversation with Mickey Desai centres on the critical role of identity and purpose clarity in enabling nimble, adaptive organisations. When a crisis hits, the organisations that navigate it fastest are those that already know […]
The Prepared Organization with Michael Randel Read More »
In this wide-ranging conversation, Michael and Mickey Desai dig into the five most common — and costly — mistakes that leaders make when trying to navigate organisational change. From underestimating resistance to skipping the stakeholder engagement phase, these are the patterns Michael has observed across 250+ client engagements over 25 years. If you lead a
Five Critical Mistakes with Michael Randel Read More »
Resistance is not the enemy of change — it is information. In this lively conversation with Cecilia Sepp, Michael reframes pushback as one of the most valuable signals a leader can receive during a change initiative. He shares why leaders who dismiss or suppress resistance consistently fail, and what it looks like to engage resisters
The Power of Pushback Read More »
What happens when a leader invests in coaching — not for their team, but for themselves? Michael joins Sarah Olivieri to explore the underappreciated value of executive coaching for nonprofit leaders, including how coaching accelerates leadership development, reduces decision fatigue, and creates the reflective capacity that drives sustainable high performance. Michael draws on his work
The Benefits of Coaching for Leaders Read More »
Culture change is one of the hardest things a nonprofit can attempt — and one of the most expensive to get wrong. Michael speaks with Haley Cooper about what culture change actually involves (beyond the posters and values statements), the real costs of staff turnover during change transitions, and how leaders can hold teams together
Navigating Culture Change Read More »
Associations face a unique set of change challenges — balancing member expectations with the need to evolve, often with volunteer boards and distributed governance structures. Michael joins Elisa Pratt and Andrew Chamberlain on the Association Transformation podcast to explore how association leaders can stop fighting resistance and start listening to it. A must-listen for association
Embracing the Gift of Resistance Read More »
Why do smart, well-intentioned leaders keep making the same change management mistakes? Michael returns for a second conversation with Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken to go deeper on the psychology of resistance, the structural reasons change initiatives fail, and what leaders can do differently from the very first day of a change effort. Practical, evidence-based, and grounded
Mastering organizational change management: unveiling leadership mistakes Read More »
I’d never witnessed this before. A national election was threatening to tear a country apart. A high risk of violence by supporters of the losing party. Uncertainty about how the work of our organization would be impacted by the new government. I was unsure who I could trust in the workplace to speak about my
Leading an organizational change initiative is something that, more likely than not, you will take on as a leader. It could impact your team, your department, or even the whole organization. You might have come across a statistic which claims that 70% of organizational change efforts fail. This might lead you to have second thoughts
Avoid These Five Critical Mistakes In Leading Change! Read More »
Implementing organizational change doesn’t have to be challenging. If you’re a leader interested in how to do this well, I’ve got 5 insider tips to share with you. Change is the only constant, the old adage goes. Organizations need to change to meet new demands, and an evolving marketplace. When navigated successfully, change encourages innovation,
Avoid these 5 mistakes in leading change! Read More »
“Why am I getting all this pushback on our new organizational change?” Have you had to ask yourself this question? You’re not alone in doing so, unfortunately. Because change work is hard! It upsets the status quo. It disrupts established relationships. It challenges secure identities. It’s also hard because it asks people to accept something
The Surprising Gift of Resistance Read More »
Oof – that was unexpected! Who knew there was going to be so much resistance to this organizational change? Have you ever been in this situation? You recently launched a change initiative with great fanfare! You’ve been planning this change for a while, but the response is less enthusiastic than you were expecting. In fact,
Mapping Stakeholders in Change – a leader’s guide Read More »