Meaningful Connection in a Virtual World: Leading Hybrid Workplace Change
Post-pandemic, leaders of organizations have taken a variety of approaches for the role the physical office should play in how people get work done and connect to company culture. Although hybrid work is preferred by most employees, it's also the most complex to get right from an engagement, productivity, and wellness perspective and change management has a huge roll to play.
Creating a workplace strategy and vision post-Covid is more critical than ever and having a robust change management and employee engagement effort for implementation is vital to success. From an employee engagement perspective, people managers and front-line employees need guidance and support, as they have new challenges working and leading in the hybrid environment, including navigating more options and choices from flexible time to flexible seating.
In this session, we will focus on lessons learned and best practices in implementing workplace change management in the hybrid landscape. Participants will receive the tools to assess the clarity of an organization's workplace vision, the readiness of leaders to guide and manage in the hybrid environment, and a roadmap for supporting front-line employees through change.
About the Speakers:
Carly Flapper
Carly Flapper is a Consulting Director on the global Total Workplace team at Cushman & Wakefield. Carly is deeply experienced in developing workplace, change management, communication and employee engagement strategies that aid clients in producing positive outcomes for the workforce. Over the last 10 years, Carly has worked closely with executives, managers, front-line employees, Operations, Human Resources, designers and design and construction project teams to coordinate activities that are impactful to the change journey. Because of her work, Carly’s clients experience the benefits of productivity improvements, engagement score improvements, and workplace delivery process improvements. Before corporate real estate, Carly had a 10-year career in the performing arts, focused on arts administration, acting, directing, teaching, and producing. Her expertise in working with performers in physical space lends a unique perspective to the arena of the workplace and the business of people.
Dawn Ford
Dawn Ford joined the Total Workplace team at Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) in 2022. She is a Prosci Certified Change Practitioner as of 2019, with extensive experience in the development and implementation of change management and communication plans. Dawn provides hands-on leadership for projects focused primarily on change management related to new workplace strategies and other client-focused activities. An experienced program leader, Dawn works closely with clients to implement communications, engagement activities and procedures in support of changes in the work environment and culture across the organization.
Prior to joining Total Workplace, Dawn was a Global Transition Program Leader for C&W’s Global Occupier Services (GOS) since 2013. Dawn provided subject matter expertise for transition from engagement in the RFP process to strategic oversight and leadership of transition projects coordinating all workstreams to provide successful outcomes for new and existing clients. Her responsibilities included overall coordination, execution and reporting during transition including the establishment of communication forums during transition, risk mitigation, and regular reporting and monitoring of the transition process.
Dawn has a proven track record of leading complex multi-service projects with both global and domestic client operations. She establishes solid relationships with clients and strategic partners across multiple organizational levels. Dawn’s multifaceted career spans more than 25 years and includes 10 years of small business ownership as well as various financial manager roles providing expertise in accounting, budgeting, forecasting, and strategic analysis across multiple service lines.
