On May 15, the Women’s Leadership Initiative convened a panel to discuss leadership and cultural change within organizations. By design, the panel included two senior leaders – Yolanda Cole of Hicock Cole Architects and Barbara Mullenex of Perkins Eastman – alongside two emerging leaders – Caroline Kenney of Urban Atlantic and Katie Bucklew of Edens. Audrey Taylor, an expert on organizational change and leadership from Gartner, moderated the session.

Audrey started by inviting the audience to share a few thoughts with their neighbors about why they had chosen to come to the morning’s event. The volume of conversation in the room rose quickly – and in a testament to the importance of the topic, it took some work to call everyone back to order. Participants were interested in success stories for hiring and retention; navigating change; and how to make aspirations of diversity a reality.

The panelists took some time to describe their experiences with organizational culture: is it top-down or bottom-up? Is it organic or does it require formal “visioning” processes? The answer seemed to be all of the above. Yolanda and Barbara both talked about the importance of listening and resisting saying “no” to new ideas– as principals, you may not know what the experience is of staff at other levels, and you likely have a lot to learn. Audrey shared a case study from Paypal, where executives enlisted “cultural journalists” to report back on what was going on in the organization – and were shocked at the results.

Caroline shared the success that her firm has had in working with outside consultants to inform organizational decisions and changes – they can often make the business case better, and push back more firmly on tradition, than junior-level staff within an organization. Urban Atlantic has also sought feedback from peers and colleagues about their organization, which has been valuable in shaping their identity and areas for growth.

Katie described the exciting changes when Edens moved from a traditional office building to their new space near Union Market – people are talking and collaborating and enjoying the workplace more, which is critical to hiring and retention. Space matters, was her point. She pushed back on the idea that a flexible workplace is simply attractive for young people or for women– this is clearly something every employee wants and benefits from.

The topic of career anxiety among emerging leaders came up, with some differing opinions on the panel and in the audience about whether the competition is fiercer now than in generations past. Regardless, Katie observed, organizations owe it to their employees to give honest feedback, highlight strengths, and provide a clear growth path, and Barbara agreed. She advocated that emerging leaders seek out coaching and mentoring with an anecdote: in a sink-or-swim environment, yes, you may have made it across that swimming pool successfully, but wouldn’t swim lessons have helped?

Caroline helped close the discussion with some advice everyone agreed with: that finding what you are good at and passionate about, and putting 90% of your effort there, is a recipe for success. Leadership is just plain hard; but if you concentrate on what you love, Yolanda said, “the game will come to you.”