Hi! I'm Stephanie! I'm passionate about building impactful partnerships, enabling businesses to grow, and making sure the social impact community thrives. With over a decade of consistently generating seven and eight figure annual revenue for companies, I understand what it takes to drive success.

Over the last 15 years working with non-profit, government and for profit businesses, I've developed a unique process for building community and generating revenue through a partnership growth mindset. I've been fortunate to develop programs and partnerships that have touched lives across the globe, from India to the United States and beyond. I've created thousands of ecosystems and opportunities that unite governments, educators, employers, and donors to make tangible change.

I believe that together we can achieve great things and am committed to paving the way for a more inclusive, impactful future.

Stephanie Wilson

This weekend I’m spending time at the ISET National Gathering, and I want to name how meaningful it is to be here.

Being in this space is a reminder that workforce development is not just about programs, funding, or outcomes on paper. It’s about people, place, and self-determination. Indigenous communities have been doing this work for generations, building pathways rooted in culture, community knowledge, and lived experience.

What stands out most is the care and intentionality behind the conversations. 

Listening comes first. 
Relationships come before solutions. 
Progress is measured not just by numbers, but by trust, relevance, and long-term impact.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn, to listen, and to be present in a space led by Indigenous voices and priorities. 

Moments like this quietly reshape how you think about the work and how you show up when you return home.

#ISETNationalGathering #ISETGathering2026 #Indigenous #WorkforceDevelopment #Community

Thanks to Jelly Academy for organizing such a collaborative space and to Digital Moment | Moment numérique for the opportunity.

Cross-Sector Growth Strategist | $100M+ in Government & Partner Funding Secured | Nonprofit • Tech • Education • SaaS | Founder – The Uplift Collective

The last five days have been full.

Full in the sense of listening carefully, asking questions, and sitting in rooms where people are genuinely trying to figure out how we do this work better.

Across different events, sectors, and conversations, the thread has been consistent.

How do we build systems that actually serve people, not just programs?

How do we prepare for the future of work without losing sight of the humans navigating it right now?

How do we move past performative solutions and into ones that are grounded, inclusive, and durable?

There’s also a reality I’m hearing more clearly now than ever.

Funding is tight. Budgets have been cut. Teams that once sent three or four people to conferences are now sending one. Many are attending virtually, not by choice, but by necessity.

I’m genuinely grateful to conferences and organizers who make that possible. Access matters. So does recognizing that for many organizations, showing up at all right now takes intention and sacrifice.

What that’s changed is the weight of being in the room.

More people are carrying insights back to their teams. 

More responsibility to listen well, synthesize, and translate what matters into action. Fewer spectators. More stewards.

The conversations I’ve been part of haven’t been about trends for the sake of trends. They’ve been about tradeoffs. Priorities. What we protect when resources are constrained.

Spending this time with practitioners, funders, educators, Indigenous leaders, and workforce builders has been a reminder of why this work matters to me.

Not because the answers are easy.

But because when conditions are tight, clarity matters even more.

It was so great to reconnect, meet new people and learn from so many amazing individuals! Until next time friends!
Wendy Baker Darian Kovacs ♾️ Allain Lauzon Mary Stack, BA, CPHR Jasmeen Sidhu, Ph.D. Allan Govender Virginia Gluska Ulrike Bahr-Gedalia Eleanor Hawkins Nausheen Ali Fatima Saadeddine, MBA,PMP,CHRP,ESPT  Jade (Jadelyn) Psutka Allison Bear BComm Barbara Wilson,🍁CCDP® Lisa Stephenson-MBA, CRSP Kelly Johnson

It was unfortunate that so many people had travel cancelled so they couldn't attend after all - I see you!

#Cannexus2026 #ISETGathering2026 #Community #NonProfit #EmploymentServices #Indigenous #Learning

We have a beautiful owl that lives in the trees near our driveway. Usually across the way. Easy to admire from a distance.

Last night, I went out to grab wood for the stove before bed and nearly jumped out of my skin. 

He was sitting right on the front porch railing. Completely still. Just watching. Probably hunting. Definitely unbothered by me.

I froze. Slowly backed into the house. Turned off the lights.

Then I stood in the dining room, in the dark, and watched him for a while.
No noise. 

Just this quiet, unexpected moment of sharing space with something wild and calm and entirely unconcerned with my plans for the evening.

It was incredible.

Sometimes the best moments are the ones that do not mean anything more than exactly what they are.

#Wildlife #NotAPhotographer #CountryLife 

Alyx Parks and Stephanie Martin - I thought of both of you immediately after it happened.

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The Uplift Collective

https://www.upliftcollective.ca/the-partnership-blueprint-five-proven-steps-for-forging-successful-partnerships

the-uplift-collective

I grew up in a small town in rural eastern Ontario.

When I finished high school, I had no idea what I wanted to be. I just knew one thing very clearly. I did not like school the way it was structured. Sitting still. Being talked at. Memorizing instead of doing.

So I took a year off after high school to try to find my way.

It felt uncomfortable. Most of my friends knew exactly what they wanted to do. Everyone was heading off to university. I felt behind. A little lost. Like I had missed some memo everyone else received.

After that year, I still did not know what I wanted to be “when I grew up.” But I did know I needed some form of post secondary education. I needed skills. I needed momentum.

I chose college and enrolled in executive administration.

It was hands on. Practical. I learned a lot. I worked three jobs to cover rent and school. I learned how to manage money because I had to. Those years shaped my work ethic and my sense of responsibility in ways I still carry with me.

After graduating, I got a job working for a municipal councillor. What started as a role turned into six formative years. It exposed me to government, policy, community, and how decisions actually get made. That path eventually led me into the nonprofit world, where I found my purpose. That part of the story is for another day.

For a long time, I was embarrassed to say I did not have a university degree.

I was screened out of jobs automatically because it was mandatory. I questioned myself more times than I can count.

Do I regret not going to university?

Yes and no.

No, because I do not think I would have thrived there at that point in my life.

Yes, because there were real opportunities I never got access to because I did not have that piece of paper.

Both things can be true.

I am sharing this because I see so many people feeling pressure to follow a single definition of success. A single path. A single timeline.

Education matters. Credentials matter. But lived experience matters too.

Learning by doing counts. Working your way through school counts. Taking a longer or different route counts.

There is no one right way to build a career.

Chart your own path. Pay attention to what energizes you, not just what looks good on paper. 

Choose the pathway that works for how you learn, how you move, and who you are becoming.

#CareerPath #Employment #FindYourOwnPath #NonProfit #Education

Photo is me from 2008, still trying to figure things out.

Some of the most valuable parts of my work live in the things I no longer consciously think about.

After years of building, reviewing, defending, and negotiating government budgets, so much of what I do has become instinctive. 

You stop noticing the hundreds of small decisions you make because you have internalized how funders think, where flexibility actually lives, and which details quietly matter most.

Recently, I had the chance to sit with that experience and write it all down. 

Not the big frameworks or the obvious rules, but the small things you only learn by doing the work. 

The wording choices that reduce scrutiny. 

The assumptions that do not need to be over engineered. 

The places where people think they are locked in, but are not.

There was something unexpectedly grounding about translating years of lived experience into something clear and usable for a client. 

Not to impress. 
Not to overcomplicate. 
Just to make the work easier and less stressful for the people doing it.

This kind of work reminds me why I enjoy what I do. 

Helping smart teams feel more confident, more capable, and less constrained by rules that often feel heavier than they actually are.

If you have ever felt weighed down by process or rules that seemed immovable, I promise there is often more room to breathe than it appears.

#BudgetDevelopment #ProposalDevelopment #NonProfit #GovernmentFunding

One thing I think everyone should try at least once is learning someone else’s job.

Not the polished version. The real, day to day work. The setup. The decisions no one talks about. The small things that keep everything moving quietly in the background.

When you work in teams, so much of that effort becomes invisible. Systems run. Tools connect. Processes exist. You rarely stop to think about how much experience and judgment it takes to make things feel that seamless.

Until those people are not there.

And you have to do one small piece yourself.

You realize how many choices live inside what once looked simple.

Lately, I am spending an absurd amount of time learning tools.
Not the exciting kind. The tiny, fiddly ones. Payment systems. Tool connections. Settings I did not even know existed.

Learning to do something you have never done before, or something that was always someone else’s role, builds more than skills.

It builds appreciation.

It changes how you show up the next time.

#ProfessionalDevelopment #GrowthMindset #Entrepreneurship

I really hate getting a no.

Not because I expect everything to work out, but because I put a lot into the work. Time. Thought. Energy. And more than that, belief. I care deeply about what I do and about the teams and ideas behind every proposal. That makes the no’s land harder than people realize.

Early on, I took them personally. Every declined submission felt like a judgment, not just of the work, but of the care behind it. And honestly, I still feel that sometimes. Loving the work makes you more exposed, not less.

What changed over time was not the feeling. It was what I did with it.

I started sitting with the no’s longer. Looking for patterns. Paying attention to what funders questioned, what they ignored, and what clarity actually meant in practice. Every no taught me something I could not have learned any other way.

That learning adds up. Today, more than 40 percent of what I work on gets approved. Not because the no’s stopped hurting, but because I stayed curious instead of shutting down.

Lately, there have been a lot of yes’s for clients. And I feel genuinely excited for them every single time. 

I also know the no’s will come again. They always do.

When they do, I will feel them. And then I will learn from them.

Because caring about the work is not a weakness. It is the reason the yes’s mean so much when they arrive.

#GovernmentFunding #BusinessDevelopment #ProposalDevelopment

I’ve learned that authenticity isn’t about having a fixed identity. It’s about staying honest as things shift.

I have spent years being the reliable one. 

The person who could hold a lot, absorb uncertainty, and keep moving anyway.

That works. Until it does not.

Because eventually you realize how much energy it takes to live up to a version of yourself that was built for other people’s expectations.

Letting go of who you think you are supposed to be does not mean losing drive or ambition. It means releasing the pressure to look a certain way while you are building something real.

Authenticity is not a reveal or a brand decision.

It is a daily choice to show up aligned, even when that alignment keeps evolving.

And that choice changes everything.

#BeTrueToYourself #Authenticity #Leadership #NonProfit #StartUp

One of the best parts of a panel on AI and the next generation at the AI Policy Conference yesterday was that it did not try to wrap anything up neatly.
Instead, it named the complexity.

AI is already embedded in education, work, and daily life. Young people are forming relationships with systems that shape how they think, learn, and see themselves. Institutions are trying to respond in real time, often without data, shared frameworks, or room to pause.

At the same time, many of the loudest predictions about jobs and disruption have not fully materialized. Change is happening, but unevenly. Slowly in some places. Abruptly in others.

What emerged was a quieter but more useful set of questions.

How do we equip young people to be creators, not just users?

How do we protect without pretending we can stop what is already here?

How do we build literacy, judgment, and human skills that remain valuable no matter how tools evolve?

There was no single answer, and that felt right.

This is long-term work. It requires humility, collaboration across disciplines, and a willingness to sit with uncertainty without defaulting to fear or hype.

If there was a through-line, it was this: the future will be shaped less by the tools themselves and more by how thoughtfully we choose to integrate them.

Panel participants:
Justin Hendrix, Tech Policy Press
Shingai Manjengwa, Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute
Namir Anani, P.Eng., ICTC-CTIC
Laurent Charlin, Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute
André Côté, The Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University 

Thankful to Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute for access to the AI Policy Conference and for putting together such a great event!

#AIPolicy #YouthAndAI #Talent #GovernmentofCanada

Creativity is my word for 2026.

Creativity in how I approach work, rest, and everything in between.

Creative problem solving.
Creative contracting.
Creative time off.
Creative experiences.

Creativity is what lets you ask better questions instead of accepting the default answer. It is how you find options where others see constraints. It is how you design work and life in ways that actually fit.

In 2026, the only box is that there is no box.

More room to experiment.

More permission to rethink how things are done.

More trust in the idea that there is almost always another way.

Here is to a year of curiosity, flexibility, and building something that feels as good as it works.

#Focus #GrowthMindset #HeresTo2026

I never thought I would be an entrepreneur.

In fact, quite the opposite. I was convinced I did not have the “it” that founders and leaders are supposed to have. 

I wanted stability. The person who imagined working for others my whole life and being perfectly content doing that.

And for a long time, that made sense.

What I did not realize then is that entrepreneurship does not always look like taking big risks. Sometimes it looks like taking responsibility. For your values. For your time. For the kind of work you want to put into the world.

I did not wake up one day wanting to start something of my own. I arrived here slowly, through experience, through necessity, and through a growing understanding of what I needed in order to feel grounded and aligned.

Entrepreneurship was not a goal. It was a response.

And maybe that is the part we do not talk about enough. Not everyone sets out to build something. 

Some of us end up here because staying the same stopped being an option.

Did you ever picture yourself doing what you are doing now?

#Entrepreneuship #CareerFocus

Woke up to a weirdly satisfying thing this morning.

I’ve had a watch since July that tracks something called body battery. 

I’ve seen it end the day at five more times than I’d like to admit.

Today I woke up at one hundred. First time ever.

That’s it. That’s the post.

#WeekendVibes #QuietWins #SlowDown

READ THE QUOTE IN THE IMAGE!

Now read it again!

Who. You. TRULY. Are

NOT the version that feels easiest to explain.

NOT the version that keeps everyone comfortable.

NOT the version that fits neatly into a role you learned to play well.

Being yourself is not about being loud or visible all the time.
It is about being honest. With your values. With your limits. With what actually matters to you now, not who you were five years ago.

I have learned that the more energy you spend trying to meet expectations that are not yours, the dimmer everything feels. The work. The relationships. Even the wins.

The moments where things start to open up again usually come from a small shift. 

Saying no when you would normally say yes. Choosing alignment over approval. 

Letting yourself evolve without needing to justify it.

Your light is not something you manufacture.
It is something that shows up naturally when you stop hiding parts of yourself to fit the room.

And the right rooms do not require you to dim it in the first place.

#BeYourself #BeAuthentic #ISeeYou #Leadership #Teamwork #BetterTogether

One thing I keep coming back to in conversations lately is timing.

A lot of organizations are doing the right work. Strong ideas. Capable teams. Real demand. And still, things are not moving the way they expected.

Not because they are doing something wrong.

Because the system itself is in motion.

Calls are delayed or quietly reworked.
Programs get folded into other initiatives.
Priorities shift before anything ever reaches a public intake.

From the outside, it can feel confusing. Like you misread the landscape or missed a signal. In reality, the rules are still being rewritten.

This is where patience becomes strategic.

Not passive patience. Active patience. The kind where you keep preparing, strengthening, and paying attention while resisting the urge to force momentum.

A lot of the work right now is helping teams sit with that uncertainty without spiraling. Adjusting plans without abandoning them. Staying ready without trying to rush a system that is not ready yet.

Sometimes the smartest move is not to push harder, but to hold steady until the timing catches up to the work.

#FundingStrategy #GovernmentFunding #NonprofitLeadership
 #StrategicPlanning #SystemsThinking

Join an upcoming FREE workshops to better prepare for what's coming!  https://lnkd.in/e_KQt4jg

Stop beating yourself up!!!

Don’t think you do that?
Here’s what it actually looks like in real life:
- Replaying a conversation on the drive home.
- Second-guessing a decision you already made with the information you had.
 - Assuming a mistake says something about who you are, not just what happened.
 - Feeling like you should have known better, been faster, clearer, stronger.

Sound familiar?

We’ve been taught that self-criticism equals accountability.
That if we’re hard on ourselves, we’ll improve faster.
That pressure produces excellence.

But more often, it just produces exhaustion.

Beating yourself up usually shows up when expectations are high, outcomes are uncertain, and you’re carrying more responsibility than anyone sees.

It’s a signal.
The problem is that self-criticism rarely makes us better.
It just makes us smaller.

So how do you stop when you catch yourself doing it?

1️⃣  Name what’s actually happening.
 Instead of “I screwed this up,” try “This didn’t go the way I hoped.”
 Facts calm the nervous system. Stories inflame it.

2️⃣ Separate intent from outcome.
You can have good intentions and imperfect results at the same time.
Both can be true. Only one needs fixing.

3️⃣  Ask one forward-looking question.
Not “What’s wrong with me?”
But “What’s the next small adjustment I’d make if this came up again?”
That’s it. No spiral required.

If you’re trying to be a good person and you try to do the right thing, that's all that matters.

Growth doesn’t require punishment.

It requires honesty, rest, and the willingness to keep going.

And if you’re reading this thinking, “This sounds like me” then it probably is.
You’re not alone, and you’re not doing it wrong.
Be a little kinder to yourself today.

#BeKind #PersonalGrowth #FallingNotFailing #SelfImprovement #Leadership #Teamwork

You may not control the events that happen to you
 but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

That choice is one I see leaders, founders, and builders struggle with more than almost anything else.

Because a setback can quietly turn into a story about who you are.
A hard moment can shrink your confidence if you let it.
One decision, one missed opportunity, one tough season can start to feel permanent.

But it isn’t.

You’re allowed to be impacted without being defined.

You can acknowledge what hurt without letting it harden you.

You can learn from something without carrying it as proof that you’re not enough.

Resilience isn’t pretending things didn’t affect you.

It’s choosing not to let them take more than they already have.

If you’re in the middle of something heavy right now, this is your reminder

You’re still standing.
You’re still growing.

And YOU get to decide what this chapter means next.

#NonProfit #Leadership #StartUp #GrowthMindset #Resilience #NonProfitLeadership

I watched a video and could not stop thinking about how early we learn to edit ourselves.

Kids start out loud, curious, unapologetic. They ask strange questions. They take up space. They are fully themselves without checking the room first. And then, slowly, they learn when to quiet down. When to blend in. When to stop standing out.

What stayed with me is how familiar that feels in the professional world.

At some point, many of us learn the same lesson.

Tone it down.

Stick to the playbook.

Do not be the odd one out.

Over time, that sparkle does not disappear. It just gets managed. Contained. Brought out only when it feels safe or appropriate.

And yet, the work that actually moves things forward is almost always shaped by people who think differently. 

The ones who question defaults. 

The ones who see patterns others miss. 

The ones willing to sound a little strange before they sound right.

If you have ever felt yourself shrinking to fit a role, a title, or an industry norm, consider this a reminder. 

That part of you is still there. It has just been waiting for space.

BRING BACK THE SPARKLE!!

Step off the well worn path.

Nothing meaningful has ever been built by people who only followed the herd.

https://lnkd.in/emWvkws2 
His Youtube Channel to give him a follow: https://lnkd.in/ehb-AESd [I couldn't find the above video on the channel]

#BringBackTheSparkle #BeYourself #BeAuthentic

If you have ever hit a word limit halfway through answering a funder’s question, this is for you.

One of the hardest parts of writing proposals is answering every part of a funder’s question while staying inside a tight word or character limit.

Especially when appendices or extra attachments are not allowed.

You cannot skip components. You also cannot explain everything.

So when space is tight, here is a rule that helps.

Every sentence must do more than one job. Ideally three.

A strong sentence should:

 1 describe what you are actually going to do

 2 signal eligibility and alignment to the funder’s priorities

 3 imply milestones, outcomes, or credibility

If a sentence only does one of those things, it is a candidate for removal or compression.

This is how you stay compliant and persuasive without running out of room.

It is not about writing less.

It is about making every sentence work harder.

If you have ever hit a word limit and wondered what to cut, start here.

#ProposalDevelopment #GovernmentFunding #NonProfit #Charity

Growth is what you do with what happens.

That is how better decisions get made over time.

#WednesdayWisdom #GrowthMindset

One thing I wish more people understood about funded projects is how messy they usually are behind the scenes.

From the outside, a successful contribution agreement looks clean.

A defined plan. 
A neat timeline. 

It gives the impression that everything is stable and predictable.

That is almost NEVER the case.

Most funded projects are delivered while markets are shifting. 
Project timelines wobble. 
Plans get pulled forward or pushed back. 
Teams make trade offs in real time, often without the luxury of perfect information.

What funders are really assessing in those moments is not whether risk exists. It is how it is understood and managed.

Strong applications and delivery organizations are not the ones pretending everything is fine. 

They are the ones that show judgment.
An ability to adapt without overreacting. 
A plan that can flex while still holding together.

There is a skill in knowing what to surface and what to hold steady. 
In demonstrating resilience without amplifying uncertainty. 
In showing that the work will continue even when conditions are not ideal.

Funding success is rarely about having a flawless story.
It is about proving you can keep moving when the story changes.

#Resilience #NonProfit #GrowthMindset #StartUp #GovernmentFunding

I help organizations turn people data into meaningful action.

With 12+ years of experience leading People & Culture strategy, I focus on aligning employee experience with business growth. My work spans startups, agencies, and enterprise teams. I partner closely with revenue and client-facing leaders to build systems that support engagement, communication, and performance.

Through Quokka Hub, I use tools like Quarterly Pulse Checks, DISC assessments, and tailored leadership workshops to surface insights on culture, engagement, and team dynamics. 

But data alone isn’t the solution... It’s what you do with it. 

That’s why I partner with leaders to translate results into clear strategies:
⇢ Designing performance & feedback systems that drive accountability
⇢ Supporting leaders of growth and delivery teams through org design and scale
⇢ Building cultures where people stay, grow, and contribute at their best

Whether inside an organization as Head of People or through short-term consulting, my approach is consistent: combine insight, strategy, and execution to create measurable impact.

Michael Franco

AI adoption is moving fast.
What isn’t?

Manager capability

Tools are being added to teams
that were already unclear on:
-priorities
-ownership
-expectations

So automation is creating overload
Not leverage

The risk with AI isn’t just fear or resistance
Leaders are not being equipped to redesign work as it changes

Most performance issues here aren’t technical
They’re managerial

As an individual
⇢Name the issues instead of working around them

As a leader
⇢Clarify roles and expectations BEFORE adding new tools

As a company
⇢Invest as much in change leadership as you do in technology


Start here
Priorities: What matters
Expectations: What good looks like
Ownership: Who's responsible for what


❓What usually lags behind when new tools get introduced?

–
♻️ Repost if this sparked something
📩 Subscribe to my newsletter via the link at the top of my profile

#ChangeLeadership #AIAdoption

Head of People | Global HR & People Operations | Multi-Region Execution (US, Europe, LATAM, APAC)

Illustration of a bicycle with a large jet engine strapped to the frame, blasting forward while the bike itself is broken—loose chain, missing gears, parts scattered on the ground. Text above reads: “AI won’t fix a broken process.” The image conveys that adding powerful technology doesn’t solve underlying process or system issues.

Watch what gets rewarded under pressure

Thats the culture

Culture doesn’t behave like a set of values
It behaves like an incentive system

We talk about psychological safety in all-hands
Then rush through 1:1s because there are “more urgent” things

We celebrate work-life balance in newsletters
Then praise whoever responds fastest at 9 pm

We say people are the priority
Then promote based on who never says no

As an individual
⇢Notice where words and behavior consistently diverge

As a leader
⇢Pressure reveals what matters more than any statement

As a company
⇢Reinforced behaviors will become your company culture

The gap between what we say
And what we reward
Is the culture

❓What behaviors tend to rise to the top under pressure?

–
♻️ Repost if this sparked something
📩 Subscribe to my newsletter via the link at the top of my profile

#PeopleAndCulture #WorkplaceCulture

Split-screen sketch illustration showing a contrast between stated values and lived culture. On the left, a bright office scene with smiling colleagues under the text “We value work-life balance.” On the right, a darker late-night scene at 11:47 PM showing a tired employee at a laptop, a message praising late work, and a red “PROMOTED” stamp. A crack divides the two sides, with the caption: “Watch what gets rewarded under pressure. That’s the culture.”

Most organizational failures don’t start with poor performance

It starts with tolerated behavior

Ignored feedback
Delayed conversations
Signs leaders didn’t want to see yet

By the time issues show up publicly
They’ve been normalized internally for a while

Culture risk is cumulative
And it’s almost always visible early
If someone is willing to look…

As an individual
⇢Notice what keeps getting excused

As a leader
⇢Address the misalignment when it's still small

As a company
⇢Treat behavior patterns and engagement data as risk data


❓What's one early warning sign leaders often miss?

-
♻️ Repost if this sparked something
📩 Subscribe to my newsletter via the link at the top of my profile

#PeopleAndCulture #leadership

Hand-drawn pencil sketch of a long boardroom table with a line of dominoes stretching across it. One domino at the front has begun to tip while the rest remain standing, suggesting a chain reaction. The room is empty, and the caption “It starts small.” appears beneath the illustration, symbolizing how small, overlooked issues can escalate into larger organizational problems.

I’m not a tech expert
But I’ve worked in tech long enough to notice something…

AI is incredible at things I don’t know

But
When it touches my area of expertise
it becomes… average

It finds the midpoint
The safest answer
The common solution

I’ve heard the same thing from engineers
AI is great at rebuilding what already exists
But struggles when it’s a new idea

I am not saying it isn’t useful
It’s just not where differentiation comes from

Our originality
Our extensive experience
In the fields we have worked to become experts in
Is where the value is

AI is an opportunity to become an architect

To design entire systems
Procedures, programs 
Whatever it is you do
But with your unique thinking
And your unique solutions
At its core

AI will not lead you
But it can support you

The advantage is still human thinking
Especially when it’s uncomfortable, opinionated, or new


❓Do you find your expertise doesn't usually give the safe answer?

–
♻️ Repost if this sparked something
📩 More People & Culture talk? Subscribe to my newsletter

#FutureOfWork #Strategy

Split illustration titled “AI is an opportunity to become an architect.” On the left, a human professional sits at a desk using a computer, thinking “What should I do…”. On the right, a futuristic, armored AI figure interacts with complex digital systems, thinking “I have a solution. Give me data on…”. The image contrasts human judgment and expertise with AI’s data-driven problem solving.

Could disengagement be misread right now?

What if people aren’t checked out?
They’re conserving energy

When context is missing
When decisions don’t connect
When priorities keep changing

People don’t always push back
Some pull inward

They do exactly what’s asked
They ask fewer questions
They take less initiative

People don’t slow down for no reason
They slow down when moving feels risky

As an individual
⇢Ask where your focus belongs

As a leader
⇢Keep your team aligned to the goal

As a company
⇢People move faster when the destination is set


❓What helps people give their best effort?

–
♻️ Repost if this sparked something
 DM Michael Franco for People & Culture strategy

 #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture

Illustration of three runners crouched at a starting line on a track with many intersecting lanes, paused before the race begins. A faint word “GOAL” appears in the distance, suggesting hesitation and uncertainty before moving forward.

Most work problems don’t have one-size-fits-all fixes
But companies keep applying them anyway

Work feels harder
Delivery gets messy

So leaders reach for something universal
Mandates
Policies
Tools
RTO

But issues are usually uneven
-Some teams lack decision ownership
-Others lose work in the handoffs
-Some get stuck in approvals
-Others are overloaded

The mistake is not remote work
It’s treating every team like they have the same problem

Complex systems don’t break uniformly
So why would they be fixed uniformly?

As an individual
⇢Ask how success is defined before adjusting how you work

As a leader
⇢Fix the bottlenecks before adding new policies

As a company
⇢Design for variability instead of enforcing uniformity


❓What kinds of problems get oversimplified most often?

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Illustration showing a single policy causing four different issues: no clear owner (people pointing at each other), stuck in approvals (overflowing paperwork and a clock), overloaded (person carrying too many boxes), and lost in handoffs (papers falling between hands). Caption reads: “One policy. Four different problems.” and “Complex systems don’t break evenly.”

Top 5 people mistakes growing teams make

Growth is exciting
More pressure
More revenue
More scope

And that’s when these problems usually come up:

1) Adding tools before fixing workflows
→Tools scale confusion before they scale clarity

2)Promoting people without changing how they’re supported
→New roles need new skills, not just new titles

3)Treating engagement as an annual event
→Early warnings will show up before performance drops

4)Expecting alignment without documenting decisions
→If it’s not documented or systemized, it doesn’t scale

5)Avoiding hard conversations to keep things moving
→What you delay now becomes a bigger issue later

Scale fails when systems & communication lag behind growth

As an individual
⇢Show risks early before they become rework

As a leader
⇢Develop and empower people before the next stage demands it

As a company
⇢Systems first. Tools second. Headcount last. 


❓What other growing pains have you seen?

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Top_5_people_mistakes

Does your company want innovation?
Are you looking for your team to innovate?
Then stop hiring people who think exactly like everyone else

There is a difference between culture fit
And culture add

Culture does not improve through sameness

Create some productive tension
Find someone who notices what others stopped questioning

Companies & Leaders: 
⇢Hire for shared standards, not shared personalities
⇢Look for people who challenge how the work gets done
⇢Diverse experience, diverse background, and diverse thinking

If your culture cannot handle respectful disagreement
It sits on a fragile foundation


❓When has not fitting in helped your team?

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Minimal illustration showing a row of identical outlined squares in black, followed by one green hexagon connected to a glowing green lightbulb. Text reads: “Sameness may feel safe but… It doesn’t innovate.” The image emphasizes how difference and new thinking drive innovation.

Companies collect a lot of employee data
But what is done with it?

Employee experience platforms are a multi-billion-dollar market now
Yet engagement scores remain flat across many industries

If you do nothing with the data
Surveys are useless
Why?

Because data does not improve experience
Leadership behavior does
Taking action does

If the data points to an opportunity to improve
It is so important to take it

Otherwise…
The data quality will diminish

Because why be honest
If nothing ever changes

As an individual
⇢Don’t wait for a survey to suggest improvements

As a leader
⇢Act on the data, acknowledge feedback, plan the action

As a company
⇢Get regular data and act on it to ensure the data quality remains


❓What decision has your people data changed recently?

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Illustrated graphic showing a large pipe pouring icons representing surveys, charts, messages, and metrics into a trash can labeled “Employee Data,” under the headline “Why collect it if you won’t use it?”, symbolizing employee feedback and data being collected but discarded without action.

Only 64% of employees say they can comfortably cope with their workload

That means 1 in 3 people aren't thriving at work
They’re enduring

Has coping become acceptable?

Not sustainable capacity
Not healthy performance
Just… getting through it

When systems ask people to absorb what should be redesigned

That’s not resilience
That’s normalization

As an individual
⇢Notice where you're compensating for broken processes

As a leader
⇢Protect your team's capacity like you protect the budget

As a company
⇢Pay attention to where “coping” has replaced capacity planning

The question isn't whether people can cope
It's whether we should be asking them to


❓What’s often mistaken for doing fine when it’s really just coping?

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A visual metaphor of the "invisible weight" of disjointed tools: a man struggling under a heavy load of broken office equipment and error messages, illustrating how system failure impacts human capacity.

Work changes
Roles change with it

Sometimes redefining roles does create clarity
Clear progression can motivate people
Architecture can drive growth

Title changes are not an issue, But…

If you add new titles
You’ll also need a new structure
And then have to redesign success

If not
-Ownership is unclear
-Expectations become lost
-People are unsure of what good looks like

And this can cause frustration
And a drop in productivity

Effective role redesign requires 3 things:
⇢Clear success metrics for the role as it exists today
⇢Explicit ownership of decisions and outcomes
⇢Aligned expectations on what should be done

Title changes can support growth 
But only when they are paired with clarity

A new title can be exciting

But they need to understand
“What am I accountable for?”
“What does success look like here?”
“What comes next if I do this well?”


❓What kind of clarity has helped you grow in a role?


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Hand-drawn sketch-style diagram showing role redesign. Job titles (Specialist, Lead, Manager) connect to Ownership, which flows into green-highlighted elements: Success, Accountability, Decision Authority, Responsibilities, and Support. These link to Success Metrics, Expectations, and Outcomes. A hand is sketching the system, reinforcing that clarity and structure, not titles alone, define success.

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