Ashley Welch of Interaction Associates conducted a timely conversation with her colleague from the Interaction Institute for Social Change, Melinda Weekes (pictured below left). They discussed Strategies for Designing Social Change, exploring ways leaders in any sector can succeed when leading change.

Over the years, a handy term has come into use in organizational literature and conversation, borrowed from psychotherapy: resistance to change. This phrase reminds me of some of the other psychological terms we use all the time to label troubling behavior in others: “passive aggressive”, “ADHD”, “manic depressive”.

This is the year — 2009 — that Interaction Associates celebrates its 40th anniversary as an innovator of solutions grounded in the discipline of collaboration that helps drive organizational performance. That's 40 years of helping clients use collaboration for strategic ends — including developing leaders, navigating change, developing powerful teams, and achieving critical growth goals.

An economy in distress, recession, lay-offs and cut backs, investment markets in turmoil - times are tough and getting tougher for lots of people in lots of industries. Business climates like these present us two big questions:

- How can I deal with the personal consequences difficult times may cause me as an individual?
- How can I, as a leader of my company, help the organization continue to fulfill our mission?

I'm certainly not alone in reflecting on how much Tuesday’s election was a defining, galvanizing moment in American history — and in the perception of the United States around the world.

I was intrigued by the recent New York Times article "An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified." It seems the State Department --- not exactly famous for its openness and lack of bureaucracy --- has adopted the free-wheeling collaborative tool to keep abreast of everything from meeting agendas and biographies to how best to get lunch delivered.

As pharmaceutical companies have grown and globalized, they have faced increased challenges to sustain innovation with global teams and to be nimble and stay ahead of ever more diverse competitors. They are constantly challenged to accelerate the process of bringing new drugs to the market that are medically effective and differentiated from the competition. While trying to meet these challenges, they must continuously manage the very difficult balance between market driven "need for speed" and the absolute need for scientific rigor and safety.

It’s no secret there has been a major shift in Human Resources in the last decade. HR leaders are grappling with deep cultural, functional, and operational changes – commonly referred to as "HR transformation." As transactional HR operations are made more efficient through process streamlining, technology, and outsourcing, HR is linking itself to corporate strategy, and discovering new ways to create business value.