This is the final episode of “Learning Unbound”. We are not going anywhere! We are simply rebranding our content series to “The Science of Excellence”. Stay tuned as we broaden our focus to how individuals, teams, and organizations build and sustain excellence (of course, learning will necessarily remain as a big component!).
In this episode of Learning Unbound, we welcome Dr. Jason Cisneros-Steinert, an expert in organizational change and leadership development.
Jason holds a Ph.D. in Psychology and has over a decade of experience working with organizations from startups to established corporations. He specializes in the human aspects of organizational transformation, leading initiatives that stress the importance of employee engagement and collaboration.
Our conversation centers around how L&D can be used as a function to drive change. Jason discusses the necessity of things like communal understanding and the significance of empathetic leadership during times of transition.
Be sure to listen to the full episode and read on below to see how you can better navigate change management by engaging employees every step of the way.
Breaking Down Silos By Embracing Flexibility
In Dr. Jason Cisneros-Steinert’s Words:
"Organizations are broken up into swim lanes more often than not. And those swim lanes operate relatively independently of one another until they can't, right? Until there's an overlap... Why not create that overlap or recognize that overlap earlier?"
One barrier to successful change is how organizations separate naturally connected work into isolated streams. Jason points to HR as an example - performance management often operates independently from L&D, event though both are core to employee growth. How can we effectively evaluate performance without understanding what someone has learned or needs to learn next? This challenge extends across organizations, where teams complete their phases in isolation rather than maintaining ongoing communication. Without regular dialogue between overlapping areas, opportunities to create cohesive employee experiences are missed. The solution isn't to stop breaking down complex work, but to proactively recognize where these overlaps exist and ensure continuous communication from the start.
Building Trust as Connective Tissue
In Dr. Jason Cisneros-Steinert's Words:
"When you form relationships with somebody, connections with somebody, the strength of those connections is based on the time that you take to establish that relationship... Collaboration works best when there's trust, when there's a partnership, when there's an understanding of your role, my role."
While clear top-down messaging is important, sustainable change requires something more fundamental: human relationships. Jason challenges us to see organizations not as hierarchical machines but as collections of people, which naturally humanizes change efforts. The "connective tissue" that makes change stick is the trust and partnerships built through taking time to establish genuine relationships. Without this human foundation, even well-structured initiatives can fail to resonate with the people they're meant to serve.
Genuine Engagement Through Small Groups
In Dr. Jason Cisneros-Steinert’s Words:
"Multimodal communication is critical... the idea of simply getting in front of an organization and its entire population and saying, 'hey, we're doing this, now ask your questions,' it's not realistic... But where I think the traction happens is when we break it down into those smaller group kinds of settings... That's where you can start to get into more candid conversations where you can ask people what they're truly thinking.”
When change is presented as a directive rather than a discussion, employees feel disconnected from its purpose. While town halls can introduce initiatives, real engagement happens in smaller, more intimate settings where people feel safe to speak openly. These conversations allow leaders to understand concerns directly from those most impacted by change, who often say they were simply told what to do without understanding why. This not only surfaces valuable feedback that improves planned changes but helps employees see their role in shaping the path forward.
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