Lindsey Caplan’s Post

Some people do writing retreats in a remote cabin in the woods. I do mine in NYC at my absolutely favorite cafe, Fairfax. I’m grateful to be spending the next week here, refilling my cup and rewriting the same pages over and over again.

Have you clarified the effect? When we find that employees aren't attending our gatherings or change programs, a culprit might be how we are communicating it. Communicate the "so what" (the effect), not only the "what" (the topic)... - What will be different because of our time together? - Can you clarify the before and after? - Can you paint a real and concrete picture of the future state? Employees are weighing the risk versus the reward of where they spend their time and effort. Make it easier on them (and ourselves) by marketing the effect, instead of simply the topic.

"Can you share this with the entire company? Or all of our managers at once?". While requests like these are always welcome, they also raise an important challenge: How do we scale content typically shared in smaller settings to a larger audience?... In my latest blog post, I dive into three strategies for transforming those one-on-one experiences into impactful, large-scale gatherings. How can we maintain that personal touch, even when addressing thousands?

We don't change because of content. We change because of our connection to the content. That's one reason debriefs and group discussions can be so powerful, whether it's during a Town Hall, or in this 3,000-person Esther Perel lecture... Gatherings that lead towards engagement (versus compliance, informing, or entertaining) hand the gathering BACK to the audience so they develop ownership and more commitment. Small prompts, discussions, and debriefs are the equivalent of throwing a fishing line out to our audience. They may not connect to the content but we want to allow them to try.

Ever left a conference buzzing with ideas but utterly exhausted? You’re not alone! Here's my hunch as to why this is -- and how to fix it... The Culprit: Cognitive overload caused my too many breakout sessions. With multiple breakout sessions, the sheer number of choices can overwhelm us and the constant decision-making can sap our mental energy. Here’s How to Reduce Cognitive Load: 1. Plan Ahead: Start the conference with dedicated time for attendees to select their sessions. This way, you can thoughtfully choose what resonates most with you. 2. Clear Session Titles: Use descriptive names that convey what each session is about. This clarity helps our brains relax, minimizing the energy spent on deciphering options. 3. Define Takeaways: Clearly outline what attendees will gain or the questions each session will answer. This sets expectations and helps in making informed choices. 4. Organize by Tracks: Group sessions into thematic tracks (e.g., Innovation, Leadership) to provide a mental guidepost. This structure simplifies decision-making and reduces uncertainty. Each of these choices helps reduce risk and increase certainty that we made the right choice. It lets our brains relax and hopefully frees up some brainpower to absorb and integrate all the great content we came for.

How do you take an experience that is typically 1-on-1 and turn it into 1-on-3,000? How do you make a gathering feel personal -- even at scale? It's possible! Just ask renowned therapist Esther Perel... I was struck by her small choices that turned a lecture into a conversation: 1. We entered the theater with prompts on the screen, "Why are you here", and "What do you hope to learn". These small invitations immediately pulled us in and helped us personalize the experience in our context. 2. "How many of you....", "Who is here..." - Esther asked us to raise our hands, or our phone flashlights to collect data, but more importantly to unite the room to show us what we all have in common. 3. She slowly asked for more vulnerability - inviting us during one especially meaningful section to connect with a small group of people to discuss additional prompts on the screen 4. While she did do an extended Q&A, it was a little different. She collected ~10 questions at once and then lumped and themed her answers together. It's easy to tune out as an audience member when the question isn't relevant to us. This choice helped us stay present and reminded us what these questions (and underlying needs) all have in common. Personalizing a gathering is possible -- even at scale. The biggest effect of all? Reminding us we are not alone.

Looking forward to facilitating at the upcoming Responsive Conference this week! This is the first time I've seen a conference enact something I've been advocating for years, and I'm so excited about it... With so many great speakers, tracks, and sessions at our conferences, it can be challenging to digest it all or informally learn from other participants. It can also be overwhelming to attend a conference, especially as an introvert. Because of this, Responsive has set aside specific breaks in the day for facilitated small groups to come together, reflect on what they learned, make connections, and help each other put content into action! It's a small choice with a (hopefully) large effect. We don't need to wildly change our programming to help our attendees engage. Instead, we can make small, deliberate choices like these that put attendees in the lead role. I'm excited to see the gathering effect! Curious to learn more? Here are the details for this in person event in Oakland, California. https://lnkd.in/gRVezWyz

Cohort learning programs are very popular, and for good reason! But how do we know if our internal learning programs should be cohort-based (same people, same time, guided experience) or not? Here are 3 questions to ask... 1. What is your desired effect? On the spectrum of compliance to engagement, where does your desired effect fall? Save cohort learning for when you need true buy-in, ownership, and behavior change vs. simply completing a task or taking an action. 2. What is the common need? I find that cohort programs are most effective when people are going through a similar transition or moment of need (i.e. joining a company, becoming a manager, etc). Instead of creating a cohort program based solely on training a skill, consider leveraging this style of learning for specific moments in an employee's journey. 3. How do employees get the most out of learning with others? Just because we put people together into a learning experience it doesn't guarantee it will be more effective. Connection doesn't just happen, we often need to create the conditions for it. For example - if we feel pressed for time to make sure employees learn key concepts and can't dedicate time and space for them to share stories, and examples, and build connections then we have missed one of the biggest benefits of cohort programs which, besides accountability, is social learning.

"Can I borrow a knife? Can you help me cut a slice of cake?" In our organizations, we tend to talk about the tool instead of what we want the tool to do. Whether you're launching a training, HR tech, an email, or a change program, ask yourself... What do you need from the people you’re trying to affect? 1. Compliance - for employees to take action 2. Informing - for employees to internalize information 3. Entertaining - to bring about a sense of delight 4. Engaging - to generate buy-in and behavior change If we don't know, our employees won’t know either. Once our desired effect is clear, we can THEN select and strategize how to use the tool. Try this: at your next town hall, lump your compliance asks (for example, sign up for benefits) into one slide instead of sprinkled throughout the hour. This will make it easy for employees to know what to do or pay attention to.

This summer I've been fortunate to not only be a consultant to my clients but to also be on the other side, as a buyer of professional services. Not only has it been an incredible and worthwhile investment but it's also given me an incredible amount of empathy for those in the buyer's seat... Here's some of what I've learned: 1. Even if we despise it, having a weekly meeting on the calendar is often necessary for accountability and progress 2. The client has more on their plate than just us and our project 3. We go on a journey from thinking a consultant will solve all our problems and magically change everything, to realizing hey, they're human too, and then back to thinking they will solve all of our problems. You will dance this dance. 4. Buyers want less risk and more reward in the buying process. This one seems obvious. How can we make them look great? Shout out to two amazing partners Allison Davis and Emily Crookston, Ghostwriter who are both joys to play with on Zoom and furthering my big dreams of getting The Gathering Effect into bookstores soon.