Upcoming talk: How to lead through change

On May 9th, 2013 in Baltimore, MD I will be presenting my research and (preliminary) findings at the Eastern Academy of Management conference. My presentation, "Trust as a method for moderating uncertainty and stress during organizational change", gives leaders and managers an understanding of why employees experience stress along with some preliminary findings and implications for leaders.  This talk is valuable for researchers and practitioners alike.

This talk covers the origins of the problem, why I used a methodology which is not traditionally used, and how this uncovered some new and exciting ideas. There are a lot of valuable lessons for researchers and leaders in this presentation. Since the publication of the abstract, I have performed my initial synthesis of research and speak to those findings. 

For those who have read Covey's 'Speed of Trust' - this talk fills in the gaps which have frustrated organizations as they try and develop a trusting culture: What is trust really, how does it work, why does it work, and who does it work for in what situations.


Abstract of talk:
Organizational change is widely recognized as disruptive and potentially distressful to employees leading to diminished performance and organizational commitment. This paper represents a work in progress investigating whether trust can moderate the negative experiences associated with change. By way of systematic review, the author proposes that the stress experienced during organizational change is a manifestation of uncertainty leading to anxiety. Under continuous change, this manifestation reaches a breaking point resulting in employee psychological and physiological distress. To counter this, the author also proposes that a trusting environment can increase the certainty in an organization and decrease stress during change.