Grief and Loss in Organizational Change

Design means change and change means loss of the old. Even if a new design is better in every way, there is no design so perfect that you can "flip a switch" and step into the new instantaneously. Change takes time. And in that space between the old and the new there is a sense of loss. I've been doing my own work around trauma and healing it, and I couldn't agree with more with Bree Groff's sentiment that "Sometimes you have to step into the darkness with people" in order to heal things. Don't fear the pain and loss, anticipate it, embrace it, design for it.

Today's episode features Bree Groff, who at the time of the recording was transitioning from CEO of Nobl, an organizational change consultancy to Principal at SY Partners, a transformation agency based in NYC and SF.

Our conversation focused on a few key ideas around organizational design. Design, in the end always seems to require deep empathy and co-creation for it to be a success. Bree points out that the conversation about Org design should include as many people as possible, in order to make the change process as co-creative as possible. If you haven't checked out the IAP2 spectrum, I'll link to that in the notes.

Bree has identified six key types of loss to consider when designing organizational change:

Loss of Control

Loss of Pride

Loss of Narrative

Loss of Time

Loss of Competence

Loss of Familiarity

I really love this framework to help focus our attention on the key needs of people we're designing change for.

I highly recommend you also check out Krista Tippet's interview with Pauline Boss on ambiguous loss to learn more about loss and how to process it. I'll link to it in the show notes.

I'm also really excited to be working with Bree on a special project: She'll be joining the Innovation Leadership Accelerator as a guest mentor. The ILA is a 12 week intensive workshop and coaching experience to help you grow as an organizational leader. I'll link to the application in the notes as well.

Enjoy the show!

Bree's Website

br.ee

finite and infinite games by James Carse

https://jamescarse.com/wp/?page_id=61

"anyone who must play cannot play"

The IAP2 Spectrum of Power in Collaboration

https://www.iap2.org/

On feedback:

Adam Connor & Adam Irizarry

Designing a Culture of Critique

http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2018/9/2/culture-of-critique