Hey Reader,

Have you ever heard a leader say that their business is too small for strategy? I haven’t. Heck, I have business of one, and I have strategies for business development, marketing, sales, networking, service delivery, client relations, and more.

Which is why I’m so surprised when leaders of small- and medium-sized purpose-driven 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 essentially, change management means designing a strategy to navigate change so that your org and your people move from the status quo to the new normal successfully.

So when leaders say “we’re too small for change management,” what I hear is “we’re too small to be strategic.”

But if that doesn’t apply to other areas of your business, then why should it apply to change?

The smallest team I worked with last year was a team of three. The founder wanted to make a change and wanted to make sure that they centered their two employees in the process. But by taking a few steps back and designing a strategy to get to the desired outcome, we ended up creating a completely different pathway than the founder had originally intended — a strategy that worked better for everyone (and saved the founder a bunch of money and nurtured a culture of trust, care, and open communication).

The same concept applies for the size of a change itself.

Even a small change can have a big impact on your people. Navigating change of all sizes in a strategic way helps people do their jobs better, increases trust and strengthens your culture, and utilizes resources in the best way possible so that you can redirect time, money, and energy where they matter most: your mission.

Any change and organizations of any size can benefit from a structured approach — from having a strategy. The key is to have a strategy that works for your specific organization, that is tailored for your org size, and that you can scale up and down based on the size of a change so that change is a joy and not a slog.

At our next Organizational Change Office Hours, we’ll diagnose how your company currently navigates change and how you can start to tailor your strategy to meet the needs of your mission, your business, and your people, no matter the size of your change or your organization.

​Register for free here. Have a question for the Q&A? Just reply here and I'll be sure to get to it.

Talk soon,

Caitlin Founder, Commcoterie

P.S. — I’m doing some market research to refine my offers and I’m looking to speak with CEOs, Founders, or Executive Directors of small- and medium-sized purpose-driven companies and nonprofit organizations to see what challenges they face when it comes to change, what avenues they have already explored to overcome these challenges, and what resources they have available to dedicate to organizational change.

If you're a leader who would be open for a 60-minute call — 30 minutes for me to ask you some questions and then 30 minutes for you to bring any change management questions you have to the table — reply here so I can send you some more details. Thanks in advance!

What we're into right now: Process & Purpose

Layla Pomper's ProcessDriven Freebie Library ProcessDriven helps small teams turn chaos into process. The ProcessDriven Approach combines software expertise with practical process-first strategies that have helped 1,700+ teams build a scalable foundation of business systems. I follow Layla on LinkedIn and she's a content powerhouse — and ProcessDriven's tutorials and downloads about tech and process-building in their freebie library are a gift. If you're looking to build routines, SOPs, and processes into your workday and workflows, check out the library. Dig into the library

Benjamin Von Wong with Creative Mornings A few weeks ago, I heard Benjamin Von Wong speak at a Creative Mornings event accompanied by Charlie Levine at Asia Society, and it was an experience that will stay with me for a while. Benjamin, an artist and activist, talked about something that is hard for folks who have been taught that your work = your worth: separating the purpose from the person. He also explored a feeling I’ve struggled with for a long time: not doing enough. He shared his journey and then he helped up define: what is enough? Watch his talk here

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