September DLT Monthly Meeting Summary - “Moving Beyond Traditional Change Management"
We had a rich discussion at the September DLT meeting exploring the topic of "Moving Beyond Traditional Change Management" with your peers and a few experts. Below is a recap of that session:
I. DLT MEETING KEY GUEST SPEAKERS (AND SLIDES)
* We were joined by two experts in change management:
Shannon Lucas, Co-CEO of Catalyst Constellations, and author of "Move Fast. Break Shit. Burn Out. The Catalyst's Guide to Working Well"
Shannon's slides are here.
II. TAKEAWAYS
We had a wide range of discussions with a number of salient points shared:
* Global pressures: We heard about shifting tariffs, supply chain disruptions, AI-driven uncertainty. Change is constant and multi-layered: organizations are being called to adapt to polycrisis environments.
* AI: AI introduces both opportunity and fear - leaders must address psychological impacts as well as strategic benefits.
* Responses: controlling the controllables, keeping teams engaged in meaningful work, and maintaining transparent communication.
* Understanding culture: a couple of member companies have been operating for over 90 years. Their cultures are stable, but sometimes resistant to transformation - especially around large technology replacements. Finding the balance of agile rollouts with formal change management was a repeated theme during the call. Leadership changes may be required when individuals couldn't adapt to the new pace of transformation.
* Communications and empathy: one member shared about a large-scale multi-factor authentication deployment and communication and empathy was required more than imposing IT mandates. This member shared how they utilized a "Digital Champions" program where 300 non-IT employees embedded throughout the organization were instrumental as advocates for change.
* Hybrid change management: Large-scale projects may require sequential approaches, but tech like AI demands faster, iterative methods. But concerns about "change saturation" can emerge and building emotional resilience within teams is critical.
* Adaptive strategies: We heard about the need for developing adaptive strategies, outcome flexibility, and leadership modeling of resilience. Identifying and empowering 'catalysts'—employees who are natural change agents—to accelerate transformation can be crucial. And outdated KPIs and misaligned incentives that discourage innovation can compromise your goals.
* Neuroscience: Humans are driven by fight-flight-freeze-fawn responses. These states manifest as resistance, avoidance, disengagement, or over-agreeableness. Leaders must first regulate themselves before guiding others. By fostering psychological safety and creating steady, calm communication, leaders can help teams move from survival states to engaged, resilient states.
* Reframing: Can change be reframed as an opportunity rather than a threat? And some employees with imposter syndrome often become top performers when coached effectively.
* Leaders and Change Agent Burn-out: “A burnt out Catalyst creates no change at all.” Sometimes we won’t take the time to recharge for ourselves, but we might do it in service of the change we’re trying to drive.
III. RESOURCES MENTIONED
* Workvivo - a social intranet platform to encourage daily engagement and create a culture of recognition. This replaced top-down communications with a more interactive approach, boosting morale and trust at one company.
* Samudra Wisdom Exchange video on "The Science of Human Performance" - presented by the Samudra member from Exos.
* The Conflict Intelligent Leader: https://hbr.org/2025/07/the-conflict-intelligent-leader
We would like to especially thank our two guest speakers and all attendees for their sharing and participation!
