Creating Culture & Shaping Change

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It’s been quite a journey since I last shared an update about my book. For those of you who have been wondering what happened, I’m thrilled to announce that I am in the final stages of completing it and on track to publish by year end. Writing this book has been a deeply transformative experience for me. As someone who historically struggled to take up space and tell my personal stories—especially my professional accomplishments and learnings—this process has allowed me to reclaim my stories and share them with the world. I've poured my heart into sharing the principles that guide my work and the immense personal growth I’ve experienced as an enterprise Fortune 50 manager, flight test engineer, parent, artist, and culture change facilitator.

Embracing Vulnerability and Overcoming Challenges

Approaching the final stages of this book, I feel nervous, excited, and relieved. One recent challenge I faced was coming up with the title. It’s a book that connects many core concepts—culture, systems thinking, systems of power, and empathy, somatic awareness as a tool for systems change. I finally settled on "Creating Culture" as it touches on how culture creation is at the heart of systems change—an embodied act that moves across the personal, interpersonal, and institutional layers. For those of you who contributed to my crowdfunding campaign, thank you for your support and patience as I have worked through multiple iterations of this book, so I can feel proud and confident sharing it with the world.

Recent Highlights: Workshops on Music and Nonviolent Communication

Since Covid and our times of social upheaval, many of us struggle with mental health, loneliness, and burnout. While we are increasingly aware of the role that systems play in our daily lives, we often lack the practice and tools to consistently take meaningful action. My workshops have evolved to give people a chance to play and practice frameworks and tools—not just teaching, but trying, failing, and sharing feedback so we can integrate what we are learning into our day-to-day lives.

DJing has taken a primary role in my life since I began hosting a show on listener powered, KEXP. What started as a hobby is now a powerful tool in my facilitation toolkit. I recently facilitated an emotional intelligence keynote at the World Trade Center Seattle for their spring member mixer. Music and emotions help us process human experiences across cultural divides. You can see some of the moments we captured on my WTC social media post which highlights the innovative ways music is used in my toolkit.

Nonviolent communication (NVC) workshops have also been in high demand. NVC helps people approach critical conversations and get the outcomes they need and want. It's especially useful for women leaders, BIPOC leaders, creatives, introverts, and anyone who struggles to get their voices heard. Its also incredibly useful for executives and managers to hone their listening and coaching skills, so that they empower folks on their teams. Many of our societal norms around communication are ineffective, and NVC is a powerful tool to improve how we relate. We have a plethora of content and interactive roleplaying activities that deliver value you can use immediately.

Participant Feedback and Success Stories

The response to these workshops has been overwhelmingly positive. Here are some quotes from participants:

• "Everything was perfect, to a 'T.' I really believe this needs to be further evangelized throughout the organization. Thank you so very much!"
• "This course provided me a few effective tools that I may be able to use in my day-to-day work to be more effective in communicating with a team to get things done."
• "Amazing course. Learned a lot and wouldn’t mind taking it again."
• "I wish this course was longer! Delivery was great in the time provided. I would re-take as a 3-4 day course if I could. Excellent cadence—fun. I felt I bonded with the group."

Connecting Themes: Play, Creativity, and Cultural Perspectives

The underlying message in both my book and recent workshops is clear: play and creativity are essential for personal and professional growth. Stress and fear are creativity killers and affect our ability to create cultures and healthy systems. We need co-creative methods and distributed organization and power, rather than centralized. Trust and safety with leaders are crucial. Those who have been systematically disempowered have experiences that help us see the whole system, and their perspectives need to be safely shared in rooms where decisions are made. My passion and strengths are helping you create the culture you and your teams need to be their most creative & motivated selves.

Call to Action: Get in Touch

I’m currently accepting bookings for the fall and winter. If you’re interested in a team workshop, talk or employee retreat, please reach out. Check out my case studies on L&D and employee experience consulting on my website, and stay tuned up for my newsletter updates for more insights.

Playfully yours,

Jyoti Jani Patel

Principal and Founder at Spille: Play

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