A conversation with Jessie Punia on organizational change

Many years ago, I was fortunate enough to get introduced to Jessie Punia , a partner at Brooklyn-based consulting firm?August . When we first connected, I was living 3,000 miles away in Los Angles, and now we're a short walk away from each other in Brooklyn (in fact, it was over a recent weekday breakfast that I convinced her to partake in this interview).

Jessie has always worked in the field of organizational change and is passionate about making organizations a place where great ideas come to life. Before joining August, Jessie worked at IBM and Undercurrent as an organizational change consultant for large global companies across various industries, including Financial Services, Energy and Utilities, CPG, and Retail.

Jessie enjoys working with the world's most influential organizations to help them build stellar teams capable of greatness. She's a born and raised Londoner who loves getting outside and playing new golf courses.

My conversation with Jessie has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How did you get started in the field of organizational change?

My journey in organizational change started with a fascination with technology. My dad worked in tech, and from a very young age, I had a fascination with technology and how humans interact with it. Over time, I learned a valuable lesson - humans, technology, and organizations can be very unpredictable. You can have the best-laid structures and great organizational change processes, but things still don't always go according to plan. The most unpredictable part are humans! There's a part of me that loves and enjoys working in those kinds of environments.

Why is the ability to sense and adapt to change so important right now?

Most organizations were designed in a time when everything was predictable. Companies that were built around that predictability were successful. However, times have changed, and work is becoming more uncertain. Unfortunately, old organizational structures still exist. Yes, you could redesign existing structures to be more fluid. But the truth is that we need to work differently. We need to make organizations that support the unpredictable nature of our work.

Think of all the changes we've seen happen in the past couple of years from Brexit, to the great resignation, to quiet quitting - the world of work is changing. And not to sound cheesy, but change truly is a constant. I hope leaders understand that gone are the days when you can simply design and manage things and then forget about them. Change management today is not something you do once. Organizations must build the muscle of being able to sense and adapt to change all the time.

Let's talk about agility – it's become a bit of a buzzword in the field. How do you define it and how does it manifest in your work at?August?

In the early days of doing this work, we tried to steer clear of agility. Our corporate clients hadn't picked up on it, and it wasn't a buzzword yet. So we tried to use words with less baggage, like responsive organizations, responsive leaders, or adaptivity. But now that the term agility has grown and everybody's talking about it, I'm clear with the people I work with that agility doesn't mean fast. Agility is not a leader coming into a meeting and sending the team off in a different direction under the guise of, "Oh, look at me, I'm being agile." No, that is not agility. Let's call out what that is - that's changing your mind.

Agility is about?speed to learning. The most important step is taking action so you can learn from it. People often mistake agility to mean just the first part, taking action. But the real value is in an organization’s ability to metabolize the learnings from that action. And here's the thing, I'm not saying to take action with the biggest steps you possibly can. I'm a fan of taking small steps; we learn from them, and then we keep iterating through that process.

August talks about "helping people act into a new way of thinking." How do you do this?

Many of my early days in consulting were spent going into organizations and trying to be the smartest person in the room; trying to convince people to do things differently or my way. But what I found is that convincing people of your ideas is a slow process because everyone is motivated to change through different angles. Some people are more analytical; some people are more relational. So you have to figure out how to interact with them. Changing minds is hard, long, and slow. And now, every leader has heard about agility, but they're not exactly clear about the actual things that they have to do differently on a day-to-day basis to make it happen.

I read a study recently that said 88% of leaders know that they need to change how they do their work, but only 11% of them know what they need to do differently. So at August, changing minds isn't where we spend most of our time. We spend most of our time codifying simple practices that anyone across the organization can do. They then do them several times over a set period with a defined and repeatable cadence. At the end, they look back and go, "Wow! We just took action."

I often share the quote with clients that we need to ‘act ourselves into a new way of thinking rather than think ourselves into a new way of acting’ and after giving our practices a go, it tends to resonate.

What are some of the biggest obstacles you face with clients?

Two things come to mind. One of our beliefs at August is that nothing is done alone. The team is the unit that gets things done. The team is the unit of change. However, the obstacle is that not everyone is always on board with the need to change - not everyone sees that something is broken. Sometimes we challenge the things that make people successful, which doesn't make sense to some folks.

The other obstacle is that business leaders are really informed about agility. They’ve read articles, have all the materials, and know all the lingo. So it can be challenging to invite them to change how they do their work, because many think they’re already doing it. They see themselves as the servant leader or an enlightened leader who's different from the person down the hallway who's doing it the old-fashioned way. And sometimes this mindset can be difficult to push against because we're challenging how they see themselves. But what I've seen is that leaders are usually more than willing to get on board; it's just a matter of building trust to be able to enter those conversations and invite them to think about how they do their work.

What is August's approach to equity and inclusion and how do you operationalize them inside of companies?

Equity has always been an important principle of ours since our founding. All of the practices and tools we bring to organizations also increase equity and inclusion at these organizations.

For example, one practice that most people will have heard of is called a retrospective. This is where we add a regular pause into our processes, and with carefully worded questions, we reflect on our work so we can improve it going forward. Everyone gets to see the learning happen. Everyone has a forum to share ideas and improve the work, but it also happens that it’s a practice that builds inclusion.

Typically, when we think about how we improve and change organizations, it comes from the top. We wait until the leader tells us to do something. But with the retrospective, the whole team comes together and does it. These small micro-moments happen every four to six weeks so that even the most junior person feels included and that they belong and are a member of the team. In my experience, the junior people on my teams typically have the best ideas. They really want to get in on the action where the rubber hits the road.

Plus, a more inclusive and equitable organization is just a better way of doing business. It's our job as leaders to build better organizations that work for everyone.

How do you stay informed and continue learning?

The answer is short and cheesy, but it's who I surround myself with. For me, I work with fantastic colleagues. At August, we get together three times a year, we put aside client work, and we spend a whole week reflecting and thinking about our business.

Being in a room or on Zoom with my colleagues who have the psychological safety and space to say things and share half-baked thoughts without judgment is phenomenal. There's so much wisdom when people with different perspectives and viewpoints come together to share their knowledge. I enjoy learning from others. I also pour over the internet and scroll through TikTok and Twitter, so I’m definitely more of a snack learner than I am an in-depth learner.

Where can people learn more about August?

Find us at?aug.co ?or email us [email protected]. We welcome all and any emails!