New year, new beginnings

This is a much-delayed update. You'll notice from this website's update that I'm no longer in the Washington, Maryland, Virginia (DMV) area. I've moved back to the Midwest, to Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania, where I began my professional career. 

I love the start of the new year. Everything slows or even entirely stops for a few days. The break from working for many creates a space to wind down from the year, focus on family, well-being/ self-care, and reflect on what the new year may bring. But since the pandemic, I depend on this time away from work not just to recharge and hopefully recuperate from a busy, hectic year but also to think and plan for the future. The new year is an exciting blank slate, where I can review the past, plan for the future, and move forward with those plans.

And though I love the start of the new year, I'm still adjusting to the fact that we're in 2024. As difficult as it may be to type out two thousand and twenty-four, we're all working in and through difficult times and managing complex changes in organizations under rapid for nearly four years. This continuous change can take a toll both on people and the system. The struggle of managing significant changes becomes an opportunity to create pockets of spaces for dialogue through tough times. This type of intentional effort builds organizational trust and supports the creation of safe spaces for challenging conversations. Conversations, where we gather together (virtual or in-person), are needed as we reconnect to our work, personal, professional, and organizational goals. We need spaces for unencumbered dialogue where we reconnect to our goals and share ideas and differing points of view.

These steps can support an organization in rebuilding and reconnecting after the last four rather challenging pandemic years. As organizations, this requires intentional program design, identifying goals, and ideally facilitated engagement, as well as follow-up and follow-through. Connect with me if you'd like support in this work in the new year. Thanks for stopping by, and good health ~nikhat jehan

Organizational change and team building

The numerous turning point events of the two-plus years have been challenging for everyone for various reasons. These events have left us impacted and left us forever changed. Whether we are managing loss, changes in familial or personal circumstances, daily personal safety, or work-related organizational changes - one commonality is that going back to the way things were is not altogether possible and may never again happen for many. 

With so many of us managing such a high degree of uncertainty, we look for areas of stability and routine to help us move forward in this changing environment. One area that organizations can work on is rebuilding connections lost during our time working in the COVID-19 pandemic. The significant disconnect that organizations are currently managing is challenging but doing the intentional work of realigning a system to organizational goals as well as acknowledging the ongoing challenges both in life and work are necessary discussions to have not just at the leadership level but across a system.

Team building efforts make space for acknowledging that folks are not okay and that their life experiences impact who they are now going forward. Recognition and dialogue are steps toward a common understanding of difficult experiences but also an opportunity to build new experiences together. That is where organizational growth has the potential to create a shared understanding and knowledge of our experience and new agreed-upon organizational goals in light of the events that continue to impact our work environment and how we are living through these ongoing difficult times. Engagement in these conversations can be complex, but the organizations that create space for these experiences will build trust with their employees. These organizations are working to understand individual experiences and how employees will contribute to not just pandemic stalled strategic directions but also new initiatives identified over the last few years.

As more organizations return to the workplace in part or in full, it is advantageous for leadership to take this opportunity to engage your system, to give people the space to reconnect and rebuild rapport lost over the few years while we were at Zoom meetings and realign to strategic efforts of your organization. Thanks for stopping by, and good health ~nikhat jehan

Why organization development (OD) consulting?

I've had this personal goal of earning a 2nd masters for several years. I can no longer remember when this goal began, but it's been a solid part of my consciousness for many years. Timing and situations were never right for me to make graduate school and my full-time job work out. When I moved to the greater Washington, DC area, the timing and opportunity worked itself out. Managing a full-time job that didn't always conclude at 5 pm was difficult for me, so was graduate school, for many reasons, but it got done. One aspect of graduate school that I enjoyed throughout the program was consultancy. It was this component that would help me grow into consulting work. Five years later this year, I formalized this consulting work with this new website under my middle name, Jehan. 

The meaning of Jehan (pronounced Juh-haa) is 'world.' This same middle name belongs to three generations of women in my family, including my late mother. The start of the new year also includes my mother's birthday, so it felt appropriate to begin this new journey of this website, to move forward and remain connected to my mother's strength, kindness, and humor with her name, my name. 

Making this formal web presence official was tough for me. It's a significant personal and professional change. It took standing still in a pandemic and loss to help me to move forward with my own goals. I enjoy being a librarian, yet I knew that I could not let this second degree sit idle when I could also be helping organizations grow and change. Despite the unprecedented last year, I have enjoyed the challenge of doing OD, equity, and inclusion work virtually and seeing my work's positive impact.

I am excited about the future where I can do more of this work with organizations, particularly a post-vaccination world where it's safe to gather and discuss the more profound issues holding back organizations from being effective and inclusive.

Stay tuned for occasional updates here. Thanks for stopping by and good health ~nikhat jehan