In this episode of Change Leader Insights, Jessica Crow speaks with Dr. Jen Frahm, the co-founder of The Agile Change Leadership Institute, speaker, and three-time author, about her career journey and passion for change, the value (and importance) of change leadership, and how to lean into courage to move beyond feeling stuck.

Jen has over 30 years of experience in change management and builds change capability in organizations through The Agile Change Leadership Institute. She is a global expert on organizational change, communication, and transformation, a tamer of ambiguity, a speaker of truths, and a solver of problems. She’s the author of Change. Leader: The changes you need to make first (2021) and Conversations of Change: A guide to workplace change (2017), and co-author of The Agile Change Playbook (2020).

During the conversation, Jessica and Jen discussed the critical significance of change leadership in leading successful change. Change managers alone can’t implement and sustain effective change, and Jen emphasized the role leaders play and the changes they need to make to become fit to lead change. Says Jen, “You can have the best change manager in the world. You can have the best change plan, and communications [can be] absolutely brilliant. And [the change] will only succeed or fail based on the quality and caliber of the leader who is in front of you.”

Highlights from the conversation include:

☑️ Understanding change leadership and the pivotal role it plays in leading successful change

☑️ How courage (to try new things and be uncomfortable) and self-compassion can propel leaders forward

☑️ Ways to feed your curiosity as a change leader to grow your knowledge and abilities

In this episode of Change Leader Insights, Jessica Crow speaks with Mark Green, CEO and Founder of Change Rebellion, about his career path, having fun at work (and why we should), and the role of perspective in life and change.

Mark, who has over 22 years of experience, launched Change Rebellion last year, where honesty meets empathy and Change Management returns to its practical roots to support workplace transformations. Through his work at Change Rebellion, Mark is on a mission to challenge the complexity of consulting and change management and prioritizes well-being and empathy to sell human-centric change.

During the conversation, Jessica and Mark discussed strategies for individuals within organizations leading or supporting change to bring more fun (and themselves!) into their work. Encourages Mark, “If you're in a change management role, [and] you don’t think you’d be listened to, you don’t think it’s going well, or you’ve got some frustrations, just try incrementally bringing a little bit of you into the workplace, whatever that looks like.”

Highlights from the conversation include:

☑️ How to help organizations and teams navigate a change while making it fun
☑️ Strategies for engaging with and getting to know people on a deeper level to help drive change
☑️ Ways individuals within organizations leading change can bring more fun, creativity, and a willingness to try new things into their work

If you’ve ever wondered how you might be able to lead change and have fun while doing it, be sure to tune in and hear what Mark has to say!

If you’ve ever wondered how you might be able to lead change and have fun while doing it, be sure to tune in and hear what Mark has to say!

In this episode of Change Leader Insights, Jessica Crow speaks with Wendy Hirsch, a change management coach and advisor, about evidence-based change management, fairness (or lack thereof) in change, and effectively coaching or consulting clients struggling to get their organization on board with change.

Wendy has over two decades of experience in change leadership across the non-profit, for-profit, and government sectors in the U.S. and abroad. Her work is informed by over twenty years in strategy and operations roles reporting directly to C-suite executives and supported by certifications in change management, project management, coaching, and meditation instruction. In addition to helping organizations and individuals master the art and science of change, Wendy published a book, The Implementer's Starter Kit, which introduces a simple framework for each stage of the implementation process, drawing on 20 years of hands-on experience.

During the conversation, Jessica and Wendy discussed the term “evidence-based” regarding change management. Says Wendy, “When I say evidence-based approach, we often think about just journal articles, but it is about thinking more broadly of, other than my gut feeling or my opinion, what are the other things I can bring to bear on maybe what's the best way of making this work.”

Highlights from the conversation include:

☑️ How Wendy supports change leadership without ever having held the title of “Change Manager”

☑️ Ways to think about applying frameworks in change management

☑️ Strategies for coaching or consulting a client struggling to rally their organization behind a change

If you’ve ever considered a career in consulting with organizations leveraging your own framework or want fresh ideas on how to approach leading change through evidence, be sure to tune in and hear what Wendy has to say!