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Understanding the Human Dynamics Beneath Every Organizational Change
In a previous post, we explored how a PESTLE analysis helps organizations move from being reactive to acting strategically by mapping the external forces shaping their environment. That’s encompassed in the Systems pillar of our SHIFT consulting framework, which is all about understanding what’s happening around you. It’s important to note that you can have the sharpest environmental scan in the world and still watch your change initiative collapse. This is because the forces that actually determine whether change takes hold are found below the surface. An estimated 60–70% of organizational change initiatives fail.
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Massachusetts Employers: Workforce Training Grants Are Open!
We’ve got great news for our Massachusetts clients. The Workforce Training Fund Program is now accepting applications for State Fiscal Year 2026. commcorp That means funding is available right now to invest in your team’s growth and we’ve just expanded our workshop catalog to give you even more to work with. Here’s the quick breakdown on funding: The Express Program offers grants of up to $15,000 per organization per calendar year, with up to $3,000 per employee per course. The General Program offers up to $125,000 for two-year training grants.
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Introducing the Inclusion Geeks Library
Big news: the Inclusion Geeks Library is officially live at library.inclusiongeeks.com! 🥳 If we had a dollar for every time someone said, “I want to keep learning, I just don’t know where to start,” we’d have a very well-funded library. The inclusive workplace space is full of content. Articles, reports, frameworks, toolkits, research studies, think pieces. The challenge isn’t that resources don’t exist; it’s that finding credible, useful ones without spending hours down a rabbit hole feels nearly impossible.
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How Organizations Get Trapped in Short Term Thinking and Change Resistance
Something that won’t surprise anyone who works in organizational development is that most businesses are really bad at both embracing change and planning for the future. Recent research is documenting just how bad, and why these two challenges are fundamentally connected. Understanding that connection is where the real opportunity for change lies. A comprehensive 2025 review of research spanning from 1999 to 2024 reveals something we’ve long suspected: the way most organizations approach “resistance to change” is broken. The classic framing where employees resist, and leadership overcomes, is overly simplistic and fundamentally misunderstands what’s actually happening.
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What 1400 Women Tell Us About Meaningful Work and the Future of Organizations
When 90% of women report feeling depleted at least some of the time, and rate their overall wellbeing at 6.6 out of 10 (not terrible, but certainly not thriving) we’re looking at more than individual burnout. We’re seeing a systemic signal about how work is working (or not working) for women right now.
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How to Turn Workplace Empathy Into Results
Have you ever been in a meeting where leadership sits in a circle of chairs (or on a video), nodding solemnly as employees share stories of pay inequity, microaggressions, or burnout? The CEO tears up while someone takes notes. At the end, leadership says “This has been so valuable. We really hear you.” Then nothing changes. Welcome to the empathy trap, where understanding becomes a performance, compassion gets confused with action, and “listening” becomes an organizational end goal rather than a starting point. We’re Stuck in Empathy Theater While 87% of U.S.
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How to Get Ready for the Future of Work
The future of work is now, and it feels like everything is shifting at once. AI might be getting the most headlines, but it’s just one piece of a much bigger transformation happening across how we work, where we work, who gets to participate, and what we value in the workplace. AI is reshaping how we work and who does the work. We’re in the early stages of figuring out what tasks humans should continue to own, what should be delegated to machines, and what gets lost in the process.
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Unpacking Coded Language in the Workplace
“Let’s keep this civil.” “That’s not very professional.” “We need to maintain a professional tone here.” These types of phrases echo through conference rooms and Slack channels daily, often delivered with apparent good intentions. After all, who doesn’t want a respectful, professional workplace? Yet for many employees, particularly those from marginalized communities, these seemingly neutral terms carry a hidden weight that can silence authentic voices and perpetuate exclusion. The challenge isn’t that civility and professionalism are inherently bad concepts.
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Rethinking Power at Work: What Happens When We Build “With” Instead of “Over”
Most of us have experienced that invisible hierarchy in a workplace where decisions flow one way, power is guarded at the top, and collaboration is a buzzword more than a reality. The traditional “power-over” approach is so baked into our systems that it can feel inevitable. It’s the assumption that leaders must control, employees must comply, and the measure of success is who comes out on top. And the feeling is clearer now more than ever, as more workers are awakening to how power works in practical terms. But there’s another way to think about power at work: power-with.
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The Missing Middle: Why Most Change Efforts Fail at the People Level
When organizations go through change, whether it’s a new strategy, technology rollout, or restructuring, most of the focus goes to plans, timelines, and processes. The people side of change often gets overlooked, yet it’s the most important factor in whether the change sticks. This is what we call the “missing middle.” It’s the human layer of change, the part where fear, uncertainty, and identity shifts live. It’s where employees are asking: When this middle layer is ignored, even the most carefully planned initiatives can stall. Lasting change requires more than strategy and execution.
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How to Move from Resistance to Resilience in Times of Change
Change is messy. Even when it promises better outcomes, it’s often met with resistance that can manifest as hesitation, skepticism, and fear. But resistance isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a sign that people are paying attention and that they care about the impact of what’s happening. The real opportunity for leaders isn’t to bulldoze through resistance but to transform it into resilience. Resilient organizations don’t avoid change. Instead, they adapt, learn, and strengthen through it. They recognize that people’s initial pushback often holds valuable insight about what needs to be clarified, communicated, or aligned.
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What Is Invisible Labor at Work and Why Does It Matter?
Every workplace has that person. The one who makes sure new hires feel like more than just a name on an org chart. The one who checks in when someone goes quiet on Slack. The one who volunteers to facilitate the hard conversations, or gently calls people in when things get tense. This is the glue that keeps workplace culture from cracking. And yet, it’s rarely listed in a job description, measured in performance reviews, or compensated in promotion cycles. We call it invisible labor. But its impact is anything but. What Is Invisible Labor at Work?