The Only Constant - A Playbook for Change Leaders

We've all heard that phrase "work smarter, not harder." But has anyone actually told you what that means in practice? For those of us leading change and transformation, the gap between working ourselves to the bone and actually creating impact can feel frustratingly wide.

This week, Nellie speaks to Chris Hirst, former Global CEO of Havas Creative, and author of ‘No Bullshit Change’, ‘No Bullshit Leadership’, and the upcoming ‘Indispensable: The No Bullshit Guide to Career Success’. Chris reveals a startling reality: most change leaders deliver 80% of their actual value in just 20% of their time. The rest? It's what he calls "fluff and filler" that's eating our productivity alive.

Chris tackles a provocative idea – that identifying and focusing on the vital 20% doesn't require special talent, just deliberate practice and clear priorities. You'll learn practical approaches to reclaim your calendar (including his Monday morning 10% rule), run meetings that actually accomplish something, create presentations that engage rather than bore, and communicate in ways that drive action.

Whether you're leading organizational change and transformation or building your own career, these straightforward techniques for leadership, clarity, and execution will help you stop wasting time and become truly indispensable.

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Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected] 

Find Chris’ upcoming book here.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Indispensable-Seven-Ways-Thrive-Workplace/dp/1529051754

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Whenever change initiatives are being presented within senior leadership meetings, many times leaders nod enthusiastically, but privately harbor doubts about changes. After all, a comfortable lie is often easier than an uncomfortable truth, but this is why change initiatives often derail despite executive sponsorship.

Join Barbara Roos (Director of Change Centre of Excellence at Intel Corporation) and Nellie Wartoft as Barbara reveals her secret weapon to combat this problem: a workshop that surfaces leadership misalignment without pointing fingers.

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Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected]

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Breathe by RYGO | https://soundcloud.com/francesco-rigolon

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Nellie Wartoft and Aric Wood tackle a critical question: Why do we treat marketing with precision and personalization, but neglect these strategies in change communications? Discover how personalization, multi-channel engagement, and innovative technologies can revolutionize change campaigns in organizations. 

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Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected]

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Breathe by RYGO | https://soundcloud.com/francesco-rigolon

Everything You Need Is By Your Side by Vlad Gluschenko |

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Change is constant. But how do you turn it into action? Too often, leaders overcomplicate the process, losing engagement along the way. Join Greg and Nellie Wartoft as they break down how to get teams unstuck, the eight essential coaching questions that move people from idea to execution, and why real leadership means telling someone when they have spinach in their teeth. 

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Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected]

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Breathe by RYGO | https://soundcloud.com/francesco-rigolon

Everything You Need Is By Your Side by Vlad Gluschenko |

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Creative Commons / Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)

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Change is ever-present, but how do leaders navigate when the change itself keeps changing? Join Nellie Wartoft and Farrar Frazee as they dive into the turbulent world of change management. Discover the personal and organizational strategies to handle continuous change, how to maintain credibility and trust, and why transparency and self-care are crucial for change leaders. 

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Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected]

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Breathe by RYGO | https://soundcloud.com/francesco-rigolon

Everything You Need Is By Your Side by Vlad Gluschenko |

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Creative Commons / Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)

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Driving change in a large organization is like driving down a slippery road. You shouldn’t break (or brake) the news of a change all at once; instead, success comes from breaking the news gradually to different levels of your organization, allowing each level to intellectually and emotionally process the transformation before they face questions from their team. 

Join Barbara Roos (Director, Program, Acquisition & Change CoE - Intel Sales and Marketing Group, Intel) and Nellie Wartoft as they unpack the art and science of gradual change communications, exploring how corporate culture, targeted messaging, and strategic timing work together to create lasting organizational transformations.

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Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected] 

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Key Topics & Timestamps

Avoiding Common Change Management Pitfalls (1:20 - 3:57)

• Understanding organizational culture
• Moving beyond "ivory tower" decision-making
• Why single communications fail

The Waterfall Communication Approach (5:51 - 8:24)

• Leadership alignment strategies
• Timing considerations for different organizational levels
• Processing time for leadership teams

Managing Time-Sensitive Changes (9:05 - 12:02)

• Fast-follow communication strategies
• Handling confidential changes
• Balancing speed with effectiveness

Communication Strategy Best Practices (14:46 - 17:34)

• Choosing effective message senders
• Implementing dual voice strategy
• Creating feedback channels

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Breathe by RYGO | https://soundcloud.com/francesco-rigolon

Everything You Need Is By Your Side by Vlad Gluschenko |

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Creative Commons / Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)

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After a weekend of TikTok and Netflix, why do we expect employees to pay attention to emails and SharePoints? The bar for engaging content is high, and if you want to engage your workforce, you shouldn’t miss this episode with Aric Wood (CSO, Tigerhall). Join Aric and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss how to think like a marketer to activate change at scale, how to build strong two-way feedback loops, and create organization-wide movement around change. 

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Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected] 

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Key Topics & Timestamps:

[00:01:30] Introduction and Background

How Nellie and Aric connected through Aric’s book “Strategy Activation Playbook”

Aric’s transition to becoming Chief Strategy Officer at Tigerhall

[00:05:00] The Problem with Email-Based Change Communication

Discussion of email overload in organizations

Example of a bank sending 800,000 emails daily for change initiatives

Research showing email communication can actually make transformations less effective

[00:07:30] Marketing Approach to Change

Importance of treating change like a marketing campaign

Need for two-way communication instead of broadcast approaches

Why modern engagement methods matter in the workplace

[00:16:00] ROI and Success Metrics

McKinsey research on engagement levels needed for successful transformation

2% typical initial engagement

7% minimum for positive returns

30% needed for high success rate

Need for 24+ different activation touchpoints for 78% success rate

[00:22:30] Making the Business Case

How to communicate value to CFOs

Understanding the activation curve

Importance of both qualitative and quantitative metrics

[00:29:10] Practical Implementation

Example of UPS’s culture change approach using “meeting in a box”

Importance of team-level implementation

Making commitments public and visible

[00:31:50] Technology’s Role in Personalization Three key data layers for personalization:

Static Data (40%)

Tenure, seniority, geography

Basic organizational context

Transformation Metadata (20%)

Stage of transformation

Individual progress

Workflow timing

Response Data (40%)

Sentiment analysis

Individual drivers

Engagement levels

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Breathe by RYGO | https://soundcloud.com/francesco-rigolon

Everything You Need Is By Your Side by Vlad Gluschenko |

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

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“Everyone knows how to communicate.” So, then why do so many change initiatives fail? Is it due to poor communication or are other factors at play? Join Andreina Martinez (SVP Business Transformation Leader, IPG) and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss the key roles that soft skills and middle management play in successful transformations. 

Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected] 

Breathe by RYGO | https://soundcloud.com/francesco-rigolon

Everything You Need Is By Your Side by Vlad Gluschenko |

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Creative Commons / Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)

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The water is nice and warm… but is it getting too hot? In Chris Hirst’s experience (as the former CEO of Havas), businesses do realize when they are frogs in boiling water but they often act too late to keep their organization safe. Join Chris Hirst and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss identifying what’s actually under your control as a leader and breaking old patterns by making new mistakes instead of old ones. 

Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected]

Breathe by RYGO | https://soundcloud.com/francesco-rigolon

Everything You Need Is By Your Side by Vlad Gluschenko |

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Creative Commons / Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Hosted on Acast. See ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠acast.com/privacy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more information.

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Are you ready for “How to Win Friends and Influence People” turned corporate? Join Farrar Frazee, former SVP of Transformation, Change, and Program Management at AssuredPartners, and Nellie Wartoft as they discuss influence in the workplace and the framework that Farrar developed to oversee the all-important relationships with key stakeholders: the Influence-Attitude Matrix. 

Connect with:

Nellie Wartoft

CEO of Tigerhall

Chair of the Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC)

[email protected]

Music:

Breathe by RYGO | https://soundcloud.com/francesco-rigolon

Everything You Need Is By Your Side by Vlad Gluschenko |

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Creative Commons / Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Hosted on Acast. See ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠acast.com/privacy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more information.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://soundcloud.com/vgl9⁠