You can’t have one without the others

Hey Reader,

“So what do you do?”

We all get this question (at least my US readers do). At school pickup. At the dog park. At networking events and conferences. When meeting new friends.

For work, I’m the founder and principal strategist of Commcoterie. I help leaders at values-driven organizations design strategies, navigate change, and develop stakeholder communication so that they can achieve their organizations’ missions and visions.

(Outside of work, well, I’m one of those too-many-hobbies people…plus, I have a SUPER energetic four-year-old. So, “what do you do?” is always a fun question. For now, back to the business…)

That wasn't always my answer

Commcoterie started out as a communication consultancy first, mostly because “change management” and “strategy” used to be harder position, market, and sell.

So for the first few years, I worked on employee communication, some external communication in the total chaos of 2020, leadership communication, and team workshops.

Why? Because the leaders of my client organizations wanted something done differently.

One of my soapbox topics is that all communication is change communication

We communicate with one another to facilitate the transition from status quo to future state, even if that transition is from one moment to the next. (I’ll do a deep dive on this in March’s newsletter).

When I tell my family it’s time to get ready for dinner, I want them to stop what they’re doing and come set the table.

When I say thank you to a barista, for example, or my daughter’s teacher, or someone who works in my building, I want them to know that I appreciate them, feel a stronger personal connection with me, and establish a good working relationship for the future.

When I send an email to a client’s team outlining how they’re supposed to transition to using a new project management software, I want them to stop doing things the way they have been doing them and start doing things in a new and different way.

But wait.

My client’s team doesn’t want to use this new project management software (and my daughter doesn’t want to stop playing dress-up and clean up for dinner, and maybe the guy who works in my building just got snapped at by another tenant and is feeling rightfully salty). Not everyone is going to do what you want them to do just because you say it.

Maybe my client’s team is change-averse. Or maybe this is the third time this organization has tried (and failed) to adopt a new technology like this. Or maybe they do not have the capacity to take new trainings, learn a new system, and transfer their current workflows over to the new one.

That’s change management

And it doesn’t matter how beautifully I write an email to the team announcing this cool, new software, because that communication tactic is not part of a larger change management strategy that is part of an even more robust change culture.

So the more clients asked me to come in and “announce something new to the team,” the more I start to ask: What have you done to facilitate this change up until this moment?

Luckily (I guess for me and my business) over the past 6+ years, change has been (if you’ll pardon the cliche) the only constant. Now, when I say “change management,” more people are not only familiar with the term, but they understand the importance of strategizing for and facilitating change in an intentional way so that the change will be successful.

So I started working on larger and more complex change management projects and designing the communication strategy to be embedded from the start.

I love my clients and collaborators. I really do. HOWEVER. More and more often, I found myself asking, “What made you decide on this change?” or “What led you to believe this was the best time to do this?”

Most of the time, they couldn’t give me an answer, and even when they did, their reasoning just didn’t make sense. I started to help my clients not just course-correct, but to start strategically next time; to define a decision’s purpose, to clearly state goals and objectives, to take big picture outcomes and ensure that tactics and day-to-day work were in service of them, to dissolve siloes and articulate how operations and processes connect across an organization.

That is strategy

Not that it’s a linear process; first strategy, then change management, then communication. Not at all.

You do have to start somewhere, though. And if you don’t have a strategy, you cannot change (successfully), and you cannot communicate (meaningfully). It’s more like a braid, although a braid is too neat and tidy, and tied with a bow. Very 1990s change management.

It’s the Commcoterie logo and imagery, really; groups of interconnected circles. I make sure they’re all there, that they stay interconnected, that they don’t fall off, that they all get attention, that the connections stay strong, that new circles are added when needed, and that links are removed when they’ve truly achieved their purpose. The circles are on the move, so I help leaders set the tempo and the direction, and design ways to bring all of the other stakeholders along, connecting more circles as we go.

Strategy, change management, and stakeholder communication. You can’t have one without the others.

I’d love to hear how you describe what you do. Reply here and let me know.

Talk soon,

Caitlin

Caitlin Harper
Founder & Principal Strategist, Commcoterie

From Commcoterie's Coterie

coterie: co`te*rie" (k?`te-r?"), n. A set or circle of persons who meet familiarly, as for social, literary, or other purposes; a clique

Holding the Difficult, Holding the Beautiful, an expressive arts group series with Emma Sullivan Uebele & Joanna Wróblewska

This Friday, February 13th kicks off the next series of this incredible experience.

For six weeks, Emma and Joanna will lead a small, intimate group through weekly two-hour sessions of accessible, inspiring art invitations designed to gently support reflection, expression, and the quiet emergence of spring.

Together – as facilitators and in community with the group – they hold a space to create, reflect, and be with one another — making room for the tender, the difficult, and the luminous parts of our lives. It's a place to acknowledge and process challenging experiences together through the arts, as well as appreciate signs of beauty and creativity in daily life.

I'm already taking a course at the very same time each Friday, otherwise, I would be there. I took part last fall, and it was so lovely and nurturing – I can't recommend it enough, and I'm already looking forward to the next time they offer this series!