Hey Reader,

Hope your 2024 is off to a good start so far. Over here, I like to keep the New Year period low pressure and high in self-compassion.

While I’m all about reflection and strategic planning, over the years, I’ve found that it’s not only less stressful to do those things in my regular, year-round practice (rather than try to cram it all in when I’d rather be eating mince pies and explaining to my toddler that yes, every single snowflake is one-of-a-kind), but it’s more impactful overall.

Part of my "low pressure" attempt was signing off of LinkedIn from December 15th until...today! That left space for plenty of rejuvenation (two weeks in SoCal with my family!), but it also left space at the very beginning of the year for what I love most about my business: working with my clients.

I’ve kicked off some awesome organizational change projects with new clients already, and I’m excited that Commcoterie’s Restorative Change methodology is going to bring communication-driven, people-centered change to so many more companies this year.

Just last week in a kickoff call, a client asked what I meant by people-centered chang. Obviously they wanted to focus on their people, but they were a little afraid that we’d end up with too many cooks in the kitchen when making decisions or that everyone would have a (conflicting) say in the change we were creating.

I assured them that people-centered change actually avoids those very problems. It simply means that we design change — from the very start — with people in mind.

Often, organizations end up with too many cooks when they’ve made decisions behind closed doors only to start pulling in other parties to weigh in or give feedback because the change becomes unwieldy or they can’t answer all of the questions that come up in order to solve problems that arise.

They encounter vocal change resistance when they’ve designed change in a bubble and then announce it to everyone else — and didn’t consider any aspects of the change that folks are up in arms about when designing the change in the first place (by that point, things have gone too far to course correct effectively and the org typically ends up in crisis mode...if that sounds familiar, be sure to check out our upcoming events at the bottom of this email!).

Organizations will never design, implement, and sustain successful change if they don’t close the gap between those in control of the change and those impacted by the change.

• Successful change is change that does no harm (emotionally and mentally) to employees
• Successful change doesn’t end up costing 10x more than it should because it’s poorly managed
• Successful change makes an organization and its culture stronger

The fundamental failure of traditional organizational change is that it treats people as a phase in an initiative, and one that they address too late in the process.

When leaders and project teams focus on their needs and desires rather than the people most impacted by a change, they overlook essential information that can threaten a change’s success — or cause costly damage to an organization’s culture (and its bottom line).

Designing people-centered change can be hard because it’s different than the way most organizations operate. But there’s one question leaders can ask that will start to get them in the right frame of mind:

If you were on the receiving end of this change, with no power or control whatsoever, how would you feel about the change?

And here’s a key point: You don’t ask this question halfway through the process when you’re trying to push a change through or when you’re figuring out “key messages” for how to break the news — you ask it from the very start, to help design the change itself.

It’s a difficult question to answer because a leader with power and control over a change won’t actually be able to feel exactly what their employees are feeling. They must admit that they don’t know, and do everything they can to find the answer. This requires compassion rather than empathy, and compassion isn’t something we’re necessarily used to at work.

At our next Organizational Change Office Hours, I’ll break down a quick example of a change gone wrong and show how using this question and channeling compassion can help leaders design change that is more successful, doesn’t waste resources, and that strengthens an organization’s culture.

Will I see you there?

You can register for free here — it’s open to all, and if you’d like to share it with your networks, here are some assets to help.

To a low pressure and high self-compassion year,

Caitlin Founder, Commcoterie

P.S. — Have a question for this month's Office Hours? Just reply here after you register and I'll prioritize it during the Q&A.

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Upcoming events & what we're reading

Communicating Change in Times of Constant Crisis with Commcoterie & Creative Mornings FieldTrips In this free workshop Creative Mornings, you’ll learn about Restorative Organizational Change, how it differs from traditional change management methodologies, and the three communication pillars Commcoterie uses to drive inclusive, equitable, and effective organizational change with values-centered businesses. You’ll leave with a strategy you can use to communicate with compassion, curiosity, and clarity and be the calm in the storm when crisis strikes. Register here​

5 Ways DEI Needs to Look Different in 2024 from Different The landscape of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is reaching a critical juncture. The journey thus far has been marked by both significant milestones and setbacks and the rapidly changing societal, economic, and technological milieu we’re all witnessing demands a different (and better) approach. In this blog post, Different, a Black, Asian, LGBTQIA+, non-binary and women owned diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consulting firm shares five key ways to make your organization’s DEI and culture efforts find greater success in 2024. Read it here​

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