Design and implement strategies for change.

Employees thrive when they are given agency.

Leaders need to take action via people, process and culture.

“It’s not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.” – Miles Davis 

Experience

 

What do you get when you have the guidance of an experienced change management, employee engagement, and organizational behavior professional? My work history in marketing and communications has helped companies in many industries navigate the communications revolution, harness the behaviors of the Social Age, build audiences, and modernize their employee engagement practices. 

Since 2007, empathy and active listening have guided how I create and manage organizational change. In a world where 70% of change programs fail, and creativity is the most-needed skill for a changing future of business, I’m here to help you shift your employee relationships beyond the transactional and hierarchical. I use storytelling, authentic connection, and community management principles to bring about your nascent organizational superpowers.  

Work with me! I am exuberant about the future of your organization and its impending transformations.

Change management, collaboration, and culture

How does your company function? What’s the culture like? What are the shared points of delight or friction for your employees? By being curious, I find most companies fail to plan for the holistic picture. They forge ahead intending to save money/time with something they can control and measure (a technology solution) and are shocked when efficiency and productivity don’t increase. This methods accrues organizational “change debt” and fosters exhausted workforces.

Employee ecosystems and organizational leaders need can be coached by someone with high emotional intelligence on how to create and facilitate change with grace and balance.

Whether you’re trying to make your team more agile, or respond internally to external and market forces, your people probably already have the answers. Using a design thinking approach, I can help you uncover and implement them. 

Community & audience building

Feeling connected with other people because of a shared profession or passion is powerful. I blend analytical and behavioral inquisitiveness so businesses make the most of their online investments, build their audiences and foster healthy employee community. 

I organically create audiences using social media and storytelling best practices, combined with behavioral science principles. Strategic communications practices leave positive impacts on internal communications. The result is a more aligned and unified workforce.

Services I Offer

Change management initiative design, planning, communications, and implementation/operationalization
Employee focus group facilitation
Leader interviews and communications coaching
Design thinking workshops focusing on: employee engagement, product development, culture-building

Technology education and learning design
Community design and building
Virtual education events 

Internal communications planning and strategy
Content development and planning
Train-the-trainer workshops
Audience building and digital engagement
Employee recognition programs
Strategic communications and community outreach

Education

My college degree is in journalism and psychology. The combination gives me a love of finding root causes and storytelling (isn’t it interesting how those things are sometimes at cross-purposes?!). Once the digging is over and a scope is defined, I rely on my cumulative expertise working with organizations to define services that fit your company’s challenges.

I am a Prosci Certified change practitioner and I hold an Organizational Development Process Certification (ODPC) from the Institute of Organizational Development as well as a LUMA Institute Design Thinking practitioner certification. I also incorporate formal training in mediation and conflict resolution, as well as Non-violent communication (NVC) principles into how I work.

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Luma Institute Certified Practitioner badge, human figure logo
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What People Say

 

In our 4+ years working together, Rachel has been invaluable for projects where the employee experience vis a vis technology and communications was at the core. Clients deeply trust Rachel, which means our projects have always been collaborative and meaningful. I highly recommend Rachel as a partner or leader for engagements where companies need thoughtful, experienced, creative, honest advice to ensure that tech and people work well together for the long term.

Carrie Marshall
Founder
Talk Social to Me and Basecamp Lassen

Rachel can be comfortable in a variety of situations. She’s naturally observant, insightful and a clear communicator who is able to apply those talents to help inspire organizations and individuals grow and evolve. What I appreciated most about working with Rachel was her ability to, almost instantly, explain complex topics in a relatable way. Every time she engaged, whether with leaders for buy-in or with collaborators for ‘retraining,’ Rachel brought fact-based and very compelling counsel.

Kat Mereigh
Client who worked with Rachel

Rachel joined the HR Strategy Forum as a committee member to add outreach to the group’s collective skills. Within a few weeks, the board recognized her unique contributions as an advocate for the interests of senior HR professionals and chose to promote her to a Board Member at Large so she could bring even more value to the organization. Rachel is an expert at fostering interactive relationships her leadership has helped HRSF challenge the way we think about our mission to build community and collaboration.

Craig Ramsay
Board President
HR Strategy Forum

Rachel stepped into a leadership role for our 2019 annual fundraising event. Her skills as a communicator, strategist, as well as in analyzing and working with data from past year’s events helped her to mobilize our community. She led a professional result from idea to implementation hat exceeded the prior year’s fundraising achievements. Rachel is a pleasure to work with and takes initiative, always finding ways to innovate and add value to the bigger picture.

Paloma Baquerizo, Director of Development
Escuela Bilingüe Internacional

Fun Facts About Me

I am unquenchably creative and resourceful. I think “outside the box” and take action with ideas wisdom and savvy relevant to the environment or situation. The arts have always helped me keep my perspective and method fresh, creative and unencumbered.

I’m a portmanteausiast (“portmanteau” + “enthusiast” combined into a new word) who loves hybrids, mashups, extemporaneously rewriting songs, dance, and singing. I produce a podcast and blog about sound in the performing arts called Agile Vocalist. I come from a long line of horse-lovers.

Thinking & Aspiring

Culture, Collaboration and Community:  Reimagine Work

Culture, Collaboration and Community: Reimagine Work

As companies reimagine work, there are powerful forces continually impacting how we craft that new future. The employee voice has risen in power, and for many the workplace will never go totally back to the way it was. We continue to emerge from a...

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What’s in Your Organizational Closet?

What’s in Your Organizational Closet?

As companies rebuild and re-design corporate culture, pre-pandemic organizational phenomena may lend a clue as to where and how to start so that change is not only accepted by employees–it’s designed by them. Find and capture the wisdom inside your own workforce.

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Let’s change your world.

Work with me! I am exuberant about the future of your business and its impending  transformations. My experience with organizations of all sizes and in diverse sectors are my lens of organizational experience.

Creating meaningful change is a journey. Let my design-thinking  approach be your guide and trusted partner.

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