This year we are seeing a significant amount of conversation around terms like, “the future of work”, “back to the office” and “hybrid working”. Of course, this is all because of the unprecedented impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic and the way that forced a hard and fast move to working from home for an enormous number of people.

I am now seeing a significant tension in the workforce. A situation where one side is pulling to stay at home forever, and the other side pulling for the return to the way things were before. However, this significant shift, should also reflect upon all those workers in essential services and core workers, who carried on working in their usual space.

An empty office

I’m recognizing that we have a continuum for working space. On one side is the fully remote, working at home situation, at the other end we have fully in the workspace all working hours. The first may be some of the technology development and administrative heavy organizations and the latter being a hospital or retailer. It’s a fascinating spectacle to watch organizations working through the swings of their pendulum between these two extremes and discover their balance point somewhere along this. This takes time and it cannot be a singular decision, in fact for many multifunctional large workforce organizations, it may vary by working division.

Now I’m exploring this topic here, because I’ve noticed something very, very interesting. The use of change management, leadership, and support mechanisms to aid this workplace change, differs from entity to entity. However, I’ve made a discovery, the closer to the centre of this continuum that the workplace is landing the more likely that entity is to be deploying change facilitation and people guidance systems and engagement mechanisms. Its almost like there is a recognition that at the central, fully blended experience, there is a recognized need for the most support. Whereas those closest to either end of the range; a fully at home or fully in the workplace approach, need the least amount of support.

I am impressed with this realization and recognition. I feel that its taken a pandemic and maybe one of the biggest upheaval in the working environment, but at last the value of change management is being recognized for something that isn’t an IT implementation.

A busy office

So, what does this change management activity look like in this central space. The most common word for this space is “hybrid“ but this of itself covers a multitude of experiences. Typically, it covers a variant where both at home and in the workplace, activity takes place with each making up the whole of the expected working commitment. This can range from 2 or 3 days in the office with 2 or 3 days at home each week, with variations that can also include off site visit days, meeting days and collaboration days mixed in for collegial and customer focused interactions. Pulling away to the one side of the spectrum we see the amount of “at the office” reduced to one or two a month in some cases while at the other end of the scale we see those occasional days to work from home are permitted but with a greater expectation of being at work more or less all the time.

Now apart from the obvious cost savings of less footprint space for the lower end of the “in office” group, there are certain elements of leadership and cultural shifts that are evident from this approach. We can see there is greater empowerment, trust and flexibility with the greater level of work at home. Something that confirms a level of agile leadership practice here. Yet the other end of the scale is probably the fight for control and not the mindset I would encourage from a leadership (or bad leadership) role model. I think its indicative of the poor leadership at the controlling end of the scale, that doesn’t recognise the change experience for individuals who have spent the best part of two years at home, being jolted into back to office set ups – they probably need a little support or they will become a statistic of the great resignation, no doubt.

Where does the change management, support and guidance come into play for these workplace changes. Its not actually that different from any good quality support. Work with the individuals to recognize their pain (i.e., fear) points and build strategies to prepare for the new, alleviate the discomfort through the change and guide the adoption of the new – a bit of a William Bridges model to approach, if you want to tie it to something specific. Within these strategies for the journey, recognizing that not everyone will be the same is key and having a flexible space for those who are slower to gain the trust of the new systems set up, and I mean actual space. Some people will make mistakes when they are due inhouse and at home, so if they turn up on the wrong day, let them stay and help them understand. For many large organizations I think this is going to take 6-12 months of support and coaxing to get fully understood and onboard. Learning new protocols for connecting, understanding how to be disciplined to not work 24/7 and take mental health into consideration throughout the experience, is key.

William Bridges Transition Model

Its not going to be easy to embrace the future way of working, but at least we have change enablement mechanisms to support it. I want to leave you with something to ponder as I close… if you think hybrid working is new, think back to the days of the traveling salesman, who was out on the road all day and only dropped into the office for meetings and the like… wasn’t that the pioneer of hybrid working? Oh and there are still large numbers of people who continue that model of working right up to today!

As we move forward into 2022, we may feel a range of emotions related to the current health and resultant community challenges. I reflected on similar hope at the start of 2021 as I do now. This will be the year when things restart, when engagement is enriched by in person contact and more in person opportunities. I will get to the future aspirations in blog posts in the coming weeks, but for now I’m going to focus on the year that is now behind us.

While navigating the challenges of the pandemic and almost half a year of local lockdown restrictions, I’m very grateful for the progress that’s been made, the continued  both personally and professionally at Capillary.

If you know me well, I have been very transparent that I found the first part of the year emotionally challenging and had to take good care of my health. It was a time of feeling trapped and contained, of churning through the same as before and trying to respond to opportunities as best I could while keeping my energy tried to match. It progressed well through the year until I was able to light the spark and truly embrace a way forward with my usual gusto!  

I am pleased with all the achievements of Capillary in 2021. We started to bring Certified Change Agent Partners on board, and we now have providers in several geographies developing change thinking. I launched the organizational design qualification that I’d worked on over the past year. Developed the CARL model more and looked to present this several times. I’ve also been thrilled that we have been engaged in several meaningful consultations this year, supporting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts within cultures that need progressing this area.

I’m always enthusiastically sharing my knowledge with anyone who will listen to me and I’ve personally enjoyed speaking at conferences (even if they were virtual). These have followed the theme of CARL in the main and I’m so pleased to have such positive feedback on my virtual delivery approach.

A highlight for me, is the election to the ACMP Board of Directors in September. I am honoured and excited to serve and I currently sit as treasurer for the organization. That follows the successful work leading the formation of ACMP Ontario in the first half of the year and they are strengthening every week that goes by.

Toronto Change Days 2021 was a tremendous success, and everyone involved did an awesome job. Special thanks to all the volunteers, Dani & Giulio for hosting, Michelle, Fede, Kelly, David & Hilton. It was great to see past faced attend again and new faces join and engage with us.

In December, I was feeling very positive about the achievement. I’d delivered my first in person workshops in over 18 months and I’d had traveled internationally, with two trips to the UK for workshop delivery. The Certified Facilitator in Organizational Design (CFOD) was a highlight of delivery at that time and 2022 was looking rosy.

It wouldn’t be a blog post from me without some reference to change. I think I’ve really been able to empathize and feel compassion for folks going through such an amount of disruptive change this year. Its reflective how the lift of anticipated change can so easily be negated when the expectation doesn’t happen. This makes me consider the number of times a promised success doesn’t materialize and the excitement for the next best thing is deflated quickly when things don’t arrive as planned. I will reflect on my hopes and aspirations for the coming year in my next post. I ask you to share how the year was for you? What were your wins and what were discomforts? How did you navigate another year of disruptive change?

  • I am feeling joy.
  • I am feeling encouraged.
  • I am feeling… grateful.

The above three emotions were the result of a short future focused self reflection for me, using the Emotional Culture Deck (ECD). How are you feeling today? How are you really feeling? What emotions are you connecting with today?


I have been on a six-month learning journey and I’m reflection and future spying on the impact of the ECD to me and my approach professionally and personally. I have played the game many times now, with individuals and teams and I’m about to share its approach with a group of individuals who are not a team, but I want to see the ECD and the opportunities for it. As I prepare for this session – and I think there may be more – I thought it would be good to summarize my discoveries.

  1. People confuse their real emotions with those expected of them by others. There is often a belief that people are expected to show a certain emotion in a situation but want to express something else. Consider the challenge of a person who wants to laugh when fearful, or does not want to say how challenged they feel, for fear of belittling by others.
  2. Leadership teams often struggle to understand their organization because they lack the empathy to address the emotions present. This causes disconnects and a challenge to be successfully aligned.
  3. It is equally important to recognize the emotions you readily embrace and the emotions you don’t want to see but know are there. When you look at both sides of the coin, its easier to understand the why and how of the emotional responses.
  4. A focus on emotional responses to a situation, give you the power to accept, manage and direct that situation to a desired outcome. Emotion based action planning can be highly effective.
  5. Emotions are the fuel that energizes the culture of an organization. Culture is driven by the how and why of the relationships within an organization and understanding this network of pushes and pulls are part of the construct of the culture.
  6. Giving space to talk emotions can help build a psychologically safe space where it previously doesn’t exist. When people can talk freely about emotions, in front of others, in collaboration with others, and gently challenge choices with meaningful and respectful dialogue, then they are prepared to move to the more difficult conversations.
  7. Its ok to draw a blank! Sometimes you can’t find the right words to express an emotion and so going with the closest or more resonating can help to fine tune. Sometimes, you just can’t get the right words to express yourself and I’m ok with that.
  8. Never be surprised how much can be achieved in a short time when emotions are in play! I’ve undertaken 60-minute sessions and over half day sessions and found myself always surprised at the pace and amount of discovery happening through the time.

The ECD is an incredibly powerful tool that helps you build a great action plan, canvas or strategy for development of a whole range of areas. The past 6 months have been an amazing journey – great to connect (and reconnect in some cases) with some amazing people who think so cleverly about the human centred situation. I look forward to many more journeys with this little game, and fun times exploring its potential … now to hack the pack!

If you are interested in experiencing the Emotional Culture Deck, see our page here

Here are a few ways you can learn more about The Emotional Culture Deck:

  • Visit www.theemotionalculturedeck.com
  • Download a free Lo-fi PDF version of the deck at the website, click here
  • Complete The Emotional Culture Deck Online Masterclass course like I did here
  • If you still have questions, feel free to contact me here for a chat

#emotionalculturedeck #proelephantrider #ridersandelephants #emotionalculture

Ever wondered how it would feel if you could box up all your emotions and hide them away? It’s strange how we are driven, led or even coaxed down pathways we wouldn’t normally travel, just because of an emotion? We can decide the excitement of the new is greater than the fear of the unknown.  We move the limits of confidence because of commitment, and we peer into the uncomfortable because of the joy the result may bring.

The Emotional Culture Deck (ECD)

If you have read my previous blogs, you will know that I am currently undertaking a deeper exploration of emotions and their role in achieving workplace cultural success. This journey is prompting me to go through a range of different activities with individuals and groups, playing with the Emotional Culture Deck (ECD) to discover and develop a range of activities.

I recently undertook one of these ECD workshops with a leadership team at a purpose driven non-profit organization.  They are not a large team, with a variation of skills and experience. I was exploring their leadership capacity and focus for the organization achieving its potential. As I prepared for the workshop I reflected upon recent conversations that had taken place between myself and the executive director. I had undertaken some leadership assessments as part of the bigger professional development journey for them. I was confident that all this insight into the team would make me fully prepared for the few hours we would spend together. I was very wrong!

ECD in Action

When it comes to emotions and discussions about their presence, not even I was prepared for the variation of responses within the group on the day. There were those that leapt at the chance to share while there were those that were a more reserved. Fortunately, I have many years experience in facilitation, and I was able to judge the group dynamic pretty fast, even with this being online. It quickly became apparent that one individual was out of step with the rest of the group and what I first thought was reserve was actually a passive resistance.

Exploring the emotions that leaders lean into and shy away from brings to the surface some interesting observations. There are people willing to sacrifice their own wellbeing for the greater good of their organization. Others, only want what is good for them. These latter people are often square pegs trying to fit in the proverbial round hole. They may lack a certain authenticity and watching their team dynamic is a confirmation of this. Unfortunately, the situation I was in today, showed our passive resistor to be disingenuous and lacking authenticity in supporting the purpose of their organization. A situation that I had to navigate, while still allowing the others to contribute in a safe way.

This was not an easy session, but it was a valuable discussion. The outcome of the experience was that the team discovered they were not the team they thought they were. The follow up required some difficult conversations and the resultant self realization was acceptance of poor fit and eventually a resignation by the misaligned individual.

This was the outcome of playing a card game. Yes, it was an emotional card game but an important one of reflection and candid conversation. The result of the commitment statements I concluded the game with, is a better organization, with a more cohesive and stronger leadership team. I’ll take that as a good result!

If you are interested in experiencing the Emotional Culture Deck, see our page here

Here are a few ways you can learn more about The Emotional Culture Deck:

  • Visit www.theemotionalculturedeck.com
  • Download a free Lo-fi PDF version of the deck at the website, click here
  • Complete The Emotional Culture Deck Online Masterclass course like I did here
  • If you still have questions, feel free to contact me here for a chat

#emotionalculturedeck #proelephantrider #ridersandelephants #emotionalculture

How are you feeling today? I know we are just celebrating (or commiserating) one year of pandemic, but otherwise what is your mood today? Happy? Sad? Confused? Engaged? Challenged? How present have you been today? How disconnected are you now? Any other words or phrases come to mind to explain your feelings in this moment?

Emotions are funny ole’ things. We have them, we can lean into them, we may use them to our advantage, we express them through our actions, occasionally we shout out that we now own them, but it seems more frequently we hide, cover, stop, or push them aside. Are they good things to have or bad baggage? It does not matter, because you have them irrespective of whether you want them. You can’t choose to not be emotional, at best you can choose to manage the level of visibility or response you generate from them. Some people may be skilled at hiding their emotions, but really, they are just hiding the way the express them to others – it doesn’t mean they don’t exist – psychological conditions excluded.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been playing with emotional responses to change and bringing my somewhat limited experience with the Emotional Culture Deck (ECD) into play. I use it as reference in discovering or just identifying what that emotional response is for people going through a change or even just considering it. As I now embark on becoming a pro-facilitator for the ECD I am struck by my own preconceptions, those of others around me and some of the research that prompted the fantastic Jeremy Dean to develop this wonderous thought provoking little deck of cards. These are the Best weight loss pills for women.

I’m first reassured then intrigued to read in the Harvard Business Review article of January 2016 that, “Every organization has an emotional culture, even if it’s one of suppression.” It got me thinking – is emotion just and indicator of the culture or is it the driver that may inform the culture of an organization. Can we use it as an indicator of the organization’s maturity, progressiveness, or approach to employee engagement? If we challenge the referenced statement above to explore an organization of suppressing emotion, I am taken in two differing directions of thought. Is it describing a mindset that encourages emotions to be curtailed, avoided, and prevented or is it more about emotional expressions being held down and kept inside? I make the difference, not because I think either is better than the other, but to reflect upon the consequences of each within organizational culture.

Prevention tactics can cause individuals to associate emotions with wrongdoing, the removal of individuality, and the organization’s desire to have each employee be just a numbered robot in the big machine. It negates the person(ality) for who they are and does not recognize them for any individual strengths they may bring to their work. Effectively everyone becomes everyone else and in so doing nobody is really anybody – apologies for the mind pausing sentence!

Now if the alternate is to bottle up emotions and just not show them, this has a health impact on individuals. The challenge here is that emotional responses are contained, not the emotions themselves. The effects are then turned inward, and the folks can make themselves ill with internal wrestling what they cannot express.

Let us move away from health impacts and robots without emotions and bring a focus on to how these may represent the culture dynamic. Consider your perceptions or expectations of culture. What is a good culture? What is a bad culture? Do we say that a good culture is one that is driven by values and pk

I have worked with too many organizations that shout out about their culture, but it is just a conformist culture, devoid of emotional resonance and focused on task delivery with rewards given for compliant and monochrome response mechanisms. I am choosing to challenge the success of these organizations. The need to address the role of emotions within their entities and the potential evolution of their culture by working with the emotions they find.

I think organizations grow when they embrace the potential of their culture. I feel that cultural potential can only be discovered when emotions are made accessible, recognizable and the commitment is to work with them rather than against. Like all good change, success happens when you do change with people, similarly cultural transformation is successful when you work with emotions of all involved..

©2021 Rich Batchelor for Capillary Consulting Inc.

This is the first in a series of upcoming blogs as I progress through my Emotional Culture Deck pro certification.

Here are a few ways you can learn more about The Emotional Culture Deck:

  • Visit www.theemotionalculturedeck.com
  • Download a free Lo-fi PDF version of the deck at the website, click here
  • Complete The Emotional Culture Deck Online Masterclass course like I did here
  • If you still have questions, feel free to contact me here for a chat

#emotionalculturedeck #proelephantrider #ridersandelephants #emotionalculture

This ever-growing portfolio of transformation needs change professionals to keep adding capabilities to their toolbox, developing deeper intervention practice and broader approaches to engage in these new and exciting spaces. I do not use the word exciting lightly. I think that we are in exciting times for change, but this means that the way many people successfully deliver also needs to evolve.

Are you ready to see what’s outside?

There was a time when the primary focus of change management practice was rooted activities surrounding technology implementations. Times have changed. The focus for change support has broadened with an increase in activity for culture shifts, strategy development, organizational design, and workspace reorganization, to name but a few new spaces of change.

It has been many years since I did a technology implementation, but I speak to many in the change community who are still primarily doing this work. It concerns me that the desired approach of their organizations is a template driven project managed change management. This style doesn’t create a good fit for the change but rather forces a fit to an approach. I know many of these practitioners are frustrated by the confines this expectation places on them. There is a time and place for document driven change, but its not the panacea to all change. These practitioners want to give so much more than a few documents inside a project delivery. When you work in supporting people’s responses to the new, different, and strange, you want to have meaningful engagement with them that delivers solutions to their pain points. This means expanding the offerings you give to meet the greater needs and expectations being placed.

It was approximately 4 years ago that I was at a change management conference and I said organizational design is part of change management. I pushed for someone to come up with a case study or paper at the following year’s conference, I think I even offered to buy them a drink if they did. However, it did not happen, and I am still to see an organizational design reflection at a change conference. I have taken an organizational design journey of discovery these past few years. Adding to my existing knowledge and bringing myself up to date with current practice and approaches in the organizational design space; I found the commonality is significant. The activities needed for organizational design is definitely overlapping and complimentary to change management and no more or less than I see with project management or organization development. I do strongly believe that change professionals need to add the organizational design skillset within their portfolio to better meet the needs of their clients or leadership expectations. There is no gain to be had in helping to implement a change with the confines of a badly shaped organization.

I have been a coach for many years and have been utilising the skills throughout my change engagements. I truly find that taking a coaching approach helps me to build trust, find the true cause of responses and understand the needs of anyone experiencing change. In the past couple of years, I’ve seen more connection between coaching practice and change delivery, but its still evolving. I recommend that coaching skills are developed for every practitioner to understand their communications style, language choices and engagement techniques. Coaching is often seen as a 1-1 arrangement, but every organization is made up of individuals and the best way to change an organization is to change the individual’s relationship with that organization.

Where will you find your next tools?

I am fascinated to see how other disciplines and areas of practice influence the future of change delivery in the coming years. I’m intrigued by the potential for ergonomics and physiotherapy are going to influence the how we approach changing workspaces, particularly given the impact of Covid-19.  I am excited to see the evolution of Agile and agile within change, the links to process improvement practices and continued connect to the learning and development space. Neuroscience and psychology have long played a part in explaining change responses, but now we seem them being flipped to work on supporting others through the change. There are more than just these area that can connect to change management, but these are just the few that come to front of mind.

If you are interested in learning with me to gain deeper skills in change delivery, organizational design and coaching for change I have a number of advanced courses coming up.

The Certified Change Leader includes agile, strategy, culture and more – read more here: https://capillarylearning.com/qualifications/certified-change-leader-ccl/

Understanding Organizational Design provides a foundation in the practice and good examples to gain the fundamentals – read more here: https://capillarylearning.com/workshops/understanding-organizational-design/

The Delivering Organizational Design Program guides you through the practical requirements with assessment tools, formulating plans and real time activities to practice – read more here: https://capillarylearning.com/workshops/delivering-organizational-design/

Developing Coaching Skills for Change is a robust workshop that helps align change and coaching practice with an easy to follow approach and plenty of opportunity to practice – read more here: https://capillarylearning.com/workshops/developing-coaching-skills-for-change/

I am very aware that change has significantly affected everyone this year. It’s been a tough 2020. The conversations I’ve been having, discuss how so many organizations and individuals have been pushed sideways (and many other directions) by the impact of Covid-19. We need to start thinking how we recover, reshape and prepare for the after-effects of this massively disruptive change!

Like many businesses, my springtime pivots probably looked like pirouettes! Far to much reaction and not enough proactiveness. I recently chatted with a business owner who said that their biggest pivot in 2020 had nothing to do with the lay-offs and reduced revenue, but actually their personal realization that now its time to focus on what I need to survive this. He no longer has the freedom to try out and spend on the hope that it works.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot and realise that maybe its also time to pivot how we apply our change skillsets. The need is no longer about delivering change but how to make the right responses to the changes, how to sustain the impacts and how to move ahead in supporting businesses recovering from the aftermath of change. There will be needs for further changes to do this – consider organizational shape and size, process and workplace modifications and a whole raft of needs to refocus direction. Organizations are now going to need change practitioners to help them move forward from the change and not sit back hoping for a return to what was before. That isn’t an option!

We are fortunate to be well supported by government financial plans here but these will not last forever and by the fall of 2020, like many other businesses, will have to be self-sufficient and ready to move forward with our new approaches. Capillary has refocused a number of activities to be better placed for this time. We have we reshaped functions and roles, flexed strategic plans for new priorities and are in the midst of designing a number of more efficient processes to compliment more virtual working and a new kind of physical workspace in the months ahead.

In doing this for Capillary I realized these are things we’ve being doing for years as part of our consulting engagements. المتاهلين يورو 2024 And is something we can offer other growing organizations at this time of challenge. العاب الفواكه

I have created a business recovery program that brings all these tools and techniques together. كازينو (فيلم) With two fixed price options, businesses know how much they are spending and what they are getting. The cashflow is tight right now and gone are the days of open-ended consulting activity. If you are a growing or developing organization that needs help in building your recovery strategy, let us help you. More information can be found here: BUSINESS RESTART PROGRAM

If you just want to talk about options or you are struggling to find your way clear of the current disruption, just get in touch and lets have a conversation – for free! I want to see us turn the negative impact into positive opportunity and reflect on making the possible come true.

This is a very personal take on the current state of the world. I do not apologize for its content but respect differences of opinion. However, those different opinions are not excuses for ignorance. Please think on these comments and observations and recognize what you can do to make a difference.

Change is tough for anyone. Changing your behaviours, beliefs or values is really tough. The current state of the world is asking people to take on these really tough changes. We have spent 4 months navigating the Covid-19 physical distancing, mask wearing, isolation and restricted contact in public. This is a huge behavioural shift, and as a someone with an understanding of cultural and behavioural change challenges, I can see why its been so hard for so many people. The world has been undergoing a global change management experiment and I’m not sure what we are truly learning.

Compounding the impact of Covid-19, the last week or two, my emotions have been challenged even more seeing the disintegration of society on the grounds of skin colour and the ideocracy of law enforcement to play power and trust games without care for consequences.

When a significant proportion of a community are seen to be demonstrating a certain behaviour, there comes a point when the whole of that community is seen to be acting that way because the tipping point has been reached. In North America I am seeing that tipping point passed for police forces and the way they interact with people of colour. Too many instances of outright wrongdoing have now made the whole be seen that way. Institutionalized is the common word, because these attitudes and behaviours have embedded themselves within the culture so much so that they are seen as the norms and expectations – in effect giving themselves the confirmation to be right in these beliefs because they have been there for so long.

I want to diverge from the passion of those words to give a little reference piece or two. During my teen years I lived in Zimbabwe and Botswana for 3 years and at the time to go to Highschool I was given the option to go to school in South Africa. A country which was still embedded to apartheid rule where the ideology was that white was superior to all others. This was a belief system I could not condone, support or live with and I refused. I could just not bring myself to live in a space that separated me from people based on how they look – the colour of they skin – their ethnic background – who they are. The outcome was that my parents arranged for me to move to the UK for schooling and stay with family, but my time living in Africa and my strong held beliefs of equity and values of diversity as a strength have stayed with me throughout my life.

Fast forward many years and my reference points to other backgrounds were limited. I remember as a team leader in my early twenties having the conversation with the rest of the team because one member was observing fasting for Ramadan. The comments I won’t repeat here, but sufficient to say it was not the nicest of responses. I dealt with this as best I could, but I was working in a white dominant organization that just didn’t get why I was “making a fuss”.

I moved to Toronto just over 10 years ago. One of the key attractions of moving here was the diversity and acceptance of difference. Yes I am part of another minority as one half of a same sex couple, but I still have privilege, white privilege that on the surface I am seen as being part of the “norm” the “usual” the “typical” the “expected” and I am able to live my life with very little fear of others perceptions of me, unless I choose to let them into that part of my life. My time in the country has also allowed me to recognize that just because its done with an apology or a smile, it doesn’t mean that racism isn’t presence here. It is present in Toronto and Canada. White privilege still prevails and treatment of others is less.

It makes my stomach turn over to see the way that Black people are perceived, treated and thought of by many. A recent example brought it home to me the most. A guy loses his keys and can’t get into his car, so tries to jimmy the window to get into his car, parked outside his own house. The guy is black and is now reported for breaking into a car, warnings sent around the neighbourhood and police alerted. If that guy was white, he’d have probably had 3 neighbours ask if they could help! I watched BlackkKlannsman for the first time last weekend and the saddest part of that movie was that it was set 40+ years ago, yet the content was as relevant today as ever.

Society needs to change its belief systems, behaviours and attitudes and the “law enforcement” culture needs radical overhaul. Its not going to be easy, but I think change practitioners have a responsibility to help move the needle on this stuff and work to help shift this forward. If there is anyone in my community who would like to educate me on their experiences I want to learn and if I can help you learn about making behavioural change happen, get in touch. This is a conversation we need to have in the open and not be a game of ping pong until one side remains.

The points expressed in this post are my personal views and I hold myself personally responsible for this content – Rich.

I recently shared my thoughts on the change space, via video, with the audience at https://www.forandringsledning.com/konferens – a Swedish change management conference held earlier in February. You can see my video here: https://youtu.be/4zo1q4aTi0o  but the big question that came from it was whether you do hard or soft change management? I have to thank a conversation at a Spark Conference with Luc Galoppin a few years back for making the challenge of hard and soft change approaches drill into my subconscious as I consider the future of the space. Do you need a digital scale? The professionals from scaleszen are ready to give you best advises to find the best scale.

Now I’ve never been afraid to challenge the term change management as counterproductive to the purpose of the activity. It really is a sucky term, but it’s probably the most familiar term we have. Now in 2020 and beyond, I think it will stay around and continue to be challenged by terms like change leadership – because the behaviours of successful change management are found in leadership behaviours. We also have the continued stand off with project management, use of the terms change communications, change delivery, transformation and implementation coming into the mix and still forcing confusion. My sense is that there will be a divergence of approach into those that do tactical, operation change management activity and those that develop change strategy, advisory approaches and facilitate interventions. I think at the core of this is that as now, we will continue to have technology-based change and non-technology-based change.

Technology changes, whether by traditional or agile approaches in project management, will be very operational and tactically delivered and I feel the change management will align. This worries me a little because of all the tall of implementing digital transformation. Too many times I am seeing this used as a framing of “big tech roll-out” or “lots of new apps” or some other term that relates to organizations throwing a lot of technology out there. We have to realise that digital transformation is a cultural journey for people to embrace, adopt and adapt to new technologies and the tools they bring – not just the deliver of such tools. If you are looking for the latest coupons and offers available online, in Coupons Collector you can find a wide range of coupons that you can uses to buy what you need.

I’m writing this as we are now into a deep and unnerving time brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. With many people in quarantine and everyone recommended to practice physical distancing and stay at home, we have entered a period of disruptive change unlike any other. I saw the graphic below posted across LinkedIn and someone should be credited for it, hats off to the recognition. However, forced use of technology is not the same as a digital transformation. I’ve been supporting several organizations who employ people using virtual workspaces for the very first time. What we are seeing is the digital equivalent of learning to swim by being thrown in the deep end of the pool. Its sink or swim time! Get with the tech or go back to sleep! The way we work is going to fundamentally change going forward but lets remember we need physical interaction and we are not going to be plugged into the matrix for ever more. I do see us embracing these digital opportunities and blending them with traditional and progress techniques. I’m loving the exploration of opportunities but I’m also self checking to remember the majority are not at the front of the adoption curve like myself. I am still having conversations with people who are getting excited over seeing people in other places and being able to talk with them through the magic of the interwebs!

So what else can the future hold? I honestly don’t know if I dare predict given the current state of the world. For me, I am moving workshops I thought could never be delivered online, into an online space. I’m challenging coaching clients to meet virtually and recognize their own limitations in success and most of all, just reminding people that change is always changing – so we better get used to it.

As part of my commitment to support others through this challenging time. See opportunities for free learning here: https://www.capillaryconsulting.com/coping-in-a-crisis-resources-dedicated-to-support-you-through-these-difficult-times/

I’ve started this blog post 3 times already but playing with the ups and downs of the year is a big challenge. We are now halfway through January and I am ready at last to reflect objectively on the year… A year of first time awards, recognitions and achievements but also a year with the unexpected thrown my way and some true VUCA (more about that below) experiential learning moments.

I want to start with my observations of the change space in 2019. Some of this is manifestation of stuff that started in 2018 and earlier years but there are two areas that have bubbled to the surface for me this past year – Culture and VUCA.

Culture I saw come back into the change space properly after many years of being a sidebar or peripheral consideration. Occasionally a topic talked about by the strange touchy-feely people and not those “driving” change forward! The idea that change is only “driven” successfully when following a process or set methodology has always been an anathema to me! Now I must confess that the work on Toronto Change Days has prompted the culture conversation to come to greater prominence. The 2019 theme for the event was Living Values and so it really encapsulated a lot of culture focus. Now the idea, that the way people behave, will influence the success of a change initiative, is finally taking root and I’m pleased that the bigger, more holistic views are taking shape around this. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the culture space – shaping, changing, even identifying it style, needs to gain some maturity but like so many other aspects of change it starts with a willingness to bring it to the centre of the conversation is fantastically important. Hat’s off to evangelists in this space like Jeremy Dean, Hilton Barbour, Jackie Lauer and Tynan Allan

The other subject is VUCA (Vulnerable, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) which as a term is finally having a renaissance moment these last year or two. After a rise to prominence several years back, the term went into the lower levels of conversation for several years. I think that the increasing pace of the unpredictability of technological evolution and the continuous flux of society this past little while has brought a need to label and after some early reference to disruption and disruptive change – and attachment to the 4th industrial revolution, describe this state of existence seems to have settle on the VUCA term. Now it was 2 years ago I was fortunate enough to engage with a deep dive on this work and my thanks to Rik Berbé for the great work he’s been doing in promoting the benefits of recognizing and working in the VUCA space. This has been my theme of public speaking engagements in 2019 and with a little help of some Lego® , has been a great sharing experience over the past year.

The year also included some great learning for me. I set myself the challenge of learning at least one new thing each year and 2019 was the Emotional Culture Deck early in the year. This was a great experience that made me realise that we have so much potential from understanding the nuances of human interaction and the emotional drivers for everything we do. I had a busy year professionally and was fortunate enough to attend the ACMP “Change Management 2019” conference in Florida – and captcha some R&R time too! I was thrilled to be included in their Ignitors group of “experts, gurus and luminaries”, moving the needle on the discipline of Change Management, with many good friends and heroes of the space in that group too. I’m also pleased to be part of the community reviewing the Standard for Change Management.

My learning continued with a trip to the amazing Berlin Change Days which was a precursor to us hosting  the second Toronto Change Days non-conference. With a theme of Living Values we knew it was going to be a challenge for participants to feel safe to explore their values and I tip my hat to the honesty of the participants, facilitators and volunteers who jumped in to make this an amazing experience for all. I was particularly thrilled to see the event be featured by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 5 conferences in 2020 for educators and entrepreneurs.

Although the start of the year was bumpy for Capillary with clients suddenly ending engagements and continued fall out from the government changes in the province.  I’m thrilled that we roared back in the latter half of the year. Its personally very reassuring to see people embrace the learning style and content we offer and provide great feedback on the experiences. We delivered in new locations – taking the experience to Sudbury and Ottawa as well as delivering in the UK, all places we will return to in 2020. I also finally addressed some of the challenge pieces posed by Certified Change Agent Attendees – where do I go to next? 2019 saw me launch 2 new  workshops – the first was a connection of Lego Serious Play and the change space, with my Certified Lego Serious Play Change Facilitator credential, but the second was perhaps even more impactful as I launched the Certified Change Leader credential – a deeper exploration of change management, leadership, culture and more!

I wanted to end my reflection of the year on a high. This was the first year I was invited to pitch the company at an international conference, having been nominated for an award. In September I was invited to the International Trade Council Go Global Awards to give short overview of the company as we were shortlisted for an award. And yes, we won the award for 2019 Business of the Year – Professional Services a truly amazing achievement for us!

This blog post is the first of a series of three January entries, reflecting on the past year, past decade and future of the community we serve!