Commcoterie

Hey Reader, Have you heard of the term “wicked problem”? First proposed by planning engineers Horst Rittell and Melville Webber to differentiate between ‘tame’ problems – which could be resolved using standard scientific techniques – and complex, policy-based problems – which were neither simply nor completely resolvable – wicked problems have many causes, don’t have one right answer, and are often are difficult to even describe. How to end hunger. How to transition to clean energy. How to...

Hey Reader, After years of working with mission-driven companies and nonprofits, there is one thing I’ve seen grind momentum to a halt and drain resources more often and faster than any other: decision-making. Or rather, not making decisions (well). I see decision-making almost as a litmus test for an organization's operational or strategic effectiveness. When I ask, “Who makes the decision about this?” or “How will we decide on a path forward?” and get different answers from different...

Hey Reader, Growing up, I really wanted to be a paleontologist. Whether it started with seeing Jurassic Park in theaters or an article I read in American Girl magazine (IYKYK), the idea that I could find treasure just below my feet if I had the patience, skill, and determination to look captivated me. “It wouldn't be as exciting as you think," my mom was quick to warn me. "They don’t find a new fossil every day. Plus, there will be a lot of sand, and you hate sand.” She was right about one...

Hey Reader, A headline caught my eye this morning as I scrolled through LinkedIn. How to help employees cope with transformation fatigue. I've seen that word so often recently; suddenly, everything seems to be a transformation. HR transformations. AI transformations. Culture transformations. Just the other day, I joked that I should refer to my work as “transformation management” rather than “change management” to get with the times. With so many transformations going on, it might seem like...

Hey Reader, Over coffee with another consultant last week, the topic of sympathy vs. empathy vs. compassion came up. They told me about a keynote they had seen on the importance of empathetic leadership and confessed that they often found empathy draining. They felt guilty for saying this, but I assured them that they are not alone. Empathy can be draining – here’s why: Empathy means experiencing another person’s emotions as if those emotions were your own, and taking on the emotions and...

Hey Reader, Not a week goes by that I don't see a fellow change management consultant on LinkedIn whipping themselves into a frenzy about change management communication. They say things like, "Leaders spend too much upfront energy on generating excitement and spreading information, rather than the direct work of changing behaviors." Every time I read something like this, all I picture are a bunch of mimes running around, trying to do this "direct work," communicating without admitting that...

Hey Reader, Have you ever heard a leader say that their business is too small for strategy? I haven’t. Which is why I’m so surprised when leaders of small and even mid-sized organizations say that they’re too small for change management. The Association of Change Management Professionals defines change management as “the practice of applying a structured approach to the transition of an organization from a current state to a future state to achieve expected benefits.” A bit dry, but...

Hey Reader, One of the biggest challenges leaders face right now is how to make critical decisions when they can’t tell if the challenges they’re dealing with are temporary setbacks or permanent shifts. Elections flip everything upside down. Funds are ripped away and investments and grants are canceled. Social progress we thought was on an upward trajectory is sliding back downhill. The pace of technological innovation is dizzying, but it’s nearly impossible to tell what is essential, useful,...

Hey Reader, I’ve been designing strategies, connecting the dots, and helping leaders and their teams navigate change both in-house and with Commcoterie for a long time, and if I had to pick one red flag that signals to me early on that a change will fail, it’s this: leaders want their teams to do as the leader says, not as they do. We've all seen this happen: Use this new software (while I have an assistant do it for me). Come back to the office in-person (while I stay comfy at home...or at...

Hey Reader, Recently, I was chatting with a leader who was trying to get her team to do something new that they did not want to do. She had announced it, hyped it up, “rolled it out,” reinforced the hype, and yet…nothing had really happened. Well, nothing good. “What else can I do?” she asked. “They have to do it. That’s the next step, really. They don’t really have a choice.” She wanted them to suck it up and just do. the. thing. And she seemed ready to be the enforcer! But even if her shift...