ACN Educational Program: Leading Change Through Trauma, Resiliency, and Recovery: How Consultants Can Lend Support

Leading Change Through Trauma, Resiliency, and Recovery: How Consultants Can Lend Support 
October 18, 2021
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm CST

ACN Members Free
Nonprofit Leaders and Forefront Consultants - $10
Nonmember Consultants - $15

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments are still responding to this prolonged crisis, which has impacted—and sometimes traumatized—each member of the workforce in unique ways. Did you know almost 70% of adults in the US have experienced some kind of a traumatic event in their lifetime? In other words, in an organization of 100 employees, up to 70 team members may be managing personal trauma. Leading/managing dynamic organizations is already difficult but it's even harder to launch an organizational-wide change effort when navigating through disclosed or undisclosed trauma experienced by staff.

Asking organizations with high collective levels of personal trauma to take on high-stakes initiatives or transformational change may increase staff resistance, dissension, burnout, secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma, resignations or overall apathy to any new organizational projects. Trauma informed organizations understand there is an emotional world of experiences that runs deep within each of us. When these emotional responses are triggered in the workplace, especially during times of change, each person responds to organizational change according to the extent of their emotional scars, traumas and emotional strengths. Rather than creating a workplace culture that asks, "What's wrong with you?" "Why are you so resistant to change?" We should be asking, "What happened to you? "What matters to you?” “How can we accomplish this together?"

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this session, you will better understand:

1. Organizational Design / Leadership Theory / Change Management 
2. The intersection of Trauma, Leadership and Change Management 
3. How to Identify, Understand and Mitigate Risks, Resistance, and Barriers Associated with Change Initiatives
4. How to Design a Trauma Informed Leadership / Change Culture 

PRESENTER:

Dr. Dawn Emerick delivers trauma-informed leadership and change management training to small and medium-sized, public and private organizations. Over a span of 25 years, she has crafted her leadership, organizational development and engagement skills at various private, government, and non-profit organizations in Florida, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, and Texas. She is a former nonprofit CEO and county/city government executive who has successfully planned, managed and executed several enterprise-wide, complex organizational restructuring efforts using organizational design and change management theory, employee engagement, and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Additionally, she is the host of the “Leadership Uncensored” podcast, a public policy researcher for the Jacksonville Civic Council, a founding member of the AttaGirl Giving Circle, a national speaker on organizational design and change management, and a proven transformational leader who works to find innovative solutions to problems, placing people at the center of the process.