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Peaceful Change Management Consulting
Change management consulting helps organizations navigate downsizing, growth, restructuring, new systems, and other significant transitions while supporting the people experiencing them. Even when change is necessary, it can bring uncertainty, frustration, and conflict as employees adjust to new expectations and ways of working. Pollack Peacebuilding Systems (PPS) helps leaders and employees navigate the human side of change by understanding the concerns, relationships, and conflict that can surface during a transition. Our approach is transformative, interest-based, and grounded in the psychology of conflict.
Founded by social psychologist Dr. Jeremy Pollack, PPS brings together a nationwide team of Peacebuilders with backgrounds in psychology, mediation, and organizational work. Our approach draws on interest-based and transformative conflict resolution to help organizations address the human dynamics that can surface during periods of change.
What Is Peaceful Change Management?
Peaceful change management is a change management consulting approach that helps organizations navigate the human dynamics of change alongside the practical transition taking place. It can support people through focused team-level changes as well as larger organizational transitions, including restructuring, downsizing, growth, and the introduction of new systems or processes.
Organizational change can bring uncertainty, frustration, and questions about what comes next. PPS helps leaders and employees work through those responses through facilitated dialogue, conflict coaching, and training that supports clearer communication and helps people navigate conflict more constructively throughout the transition.
Our approach is grounded in behavioral change management, an understanding of how people actually experience and respond to transition. We look beyond immediate positions and reactions to better understand the needs, interests, emotions, and concerns influencing them. This gives organizations a way to address the human dynamics of change alongside the plans, timelines, and systems involved.
What a Change Management Consultant Does
A change management consultant helps leaders and employees navigate the people-related challenges that can arise during organizational change. At PPS, that work focuses on the communication, conflict, relationships, and human responses surrounding the transition. Depending on your organization’s needs, a Peacebuilder may help you:
- Assess readiness for change: Talk with leaders and key stakeholders to understand the goals behind the transition, how different groups may be affected, and where concerns, uncertainty, or conflict may surface.
- Strengthen communication around the change: Help leaders communicate what is changing and why in ways that account for the questions, interests, concerns, and perspectives of the people affected.
- Create space for honest dialogue: Facilitate structured conversations where employees can raise concerns, ask questions, and talk through difficult reactions without turning disagreement into an “us versus them” dynamic.
- Coach individuals and teams through difficult moments: Provide one-on-one or small-group conflict coaching for people navigating strained relationships, challenging conversations, concerns about the change, or other interpersonal challenges connected to the transition.
- Address conflict as the transition unfolds: Stay engaged as changes take effect, helping leaders and employees recognize emerging tensions, work through communication breakdowns, and respond constructively when new challenges arise.
How Peaceful Change Management Works
Organizational changes affect people differently, so the support they need can vary as well. We begin by understanding what is changing, what your organization is working toward, and where communication, relationships, or conflict may need additional attention. From there, we shape the overall program around your goals, drawing from facilitated dialogue, training, coaching, or a combination of services based on the support your people need.
Consult With Your Leadership Team
We start by understanding the change taking place, what you hope to accomplish, and how it may affect different groups across the organization. We also look at what employees have already been told and where questions, concerns, or tension may be emerging.
Facilitate Team Dialogue and Training
Peacebuilders may facilitate structured conversations where employees can ask questions, voice concerns, and better understand different perspectives. Training can also strengthen the communication and conflict-management skills people need to navigate difficult conversations and changing expectations.
Support Your People With Coaching
Some leaders, employees, or teams may need more individualized support as the transition unfolds. Conflict coaching gives them space to work through specific challenges, better understand their responses to the change, and prepare for difficult conversations or relationship dynamics that may be affecting how they move forward.
Our Approach to Change Management
Organizational change happens at more than one level. A new direction may be set across the organization, but people still experience that change individually, within their teams, and through the work they do every day. Our approach combines an understanding of conflict and human behavior with practical support at each of those levels, complementing the broader change management strategies an organization may use to guide the transition.
Rather than focusing only on plans, timelines, and processes, we pay attention to how people are experiencing the transition: what they understand, what concerns they have, where relationships may be strained, and what may be making the change harder to navigate. That understanding helps us address the communication and conflict challenges people are actually experiencing while supporting leaders and employees as they work through the change together.
Change Management for Individuals
Individual support helps leaders and employees understand their own responses to change and navigate the conversations, relationships, or new expectations that come with it. Through coaching and targeted training, participants can strengthen self-awareness, communication, and conflict-management skills as they adjust to the transition.
Change Management for Projects and Initiatives
When a change centers on a particular project or initiative, we work with the people involved to identify communication challenges, interpersonal friction, or concerns that may be affecting how the team moves forward. Facilitated dialogue, training, and coaching can help people work through those challenges while continuing to collaborate around the goals of the initiative.
Enterprise Change Management
During broader organizational change, PPS can support leaders and teams across different levels of the organization as they navigate the transition. The focus remains on the people side of the change, strengthening communication, creating opportunities for dialogue, and addressing conflict or relationship challenges as they emerge.
How We Support Your Team Through Organizational Change
Organizational change can affect communication, relationships, leadership, and the way people work together. PPS helps organizations address those human dynamics throughout the transition, with support shaped around the challenges your people and teams are facing.
Align Your Leaders Around the Change
Leaders often carry much of the responsibility for communicating change while navigating their own questions and concerns about what comes next. We help leadership teams develop greater alignment around how they understand and communicate the change, work through areas of disagreement, and prepare for challenging conversations that may arise during the transition.
Communicate With Your People’s Needs in Mind
The same change can affect different groups in very different ways. We help leaders understand the interests, concerns, and perspectives that may shape how people experience and respond to organizational change, then bring that understanding into how the change is communicated. This can make communication more relevant and responsive, while creating room for people to ask questions, voice concerns, and better understand what the transition means for them.
Prioritize and Manage Change Initiatives
When several changes are happening at once, employees may be adjusting to different expectations, priorities, and ways of working at the same time. We help leaders understand where those changes may be creating confusion, competing demands, or strain across teams, and identify where communication, dialogue, or additional support may be needed.
Support Your Culture Through Transformation
Organizational change can affect more than roles and processes. It can also change how people communicate, relate to one another, and experience the workplace. We help leaders and teams recognize those shifts, address conflict or communication challenges that may emerge, and strengthen the ways people work together as they adjust to new expectations.
Navigate Staffing and Role Changes With Care
Changes involving roles, teams, or staffing can affect not only the people directly involved, but also employees and leaders throughout the organization. We help organizations navigate these transitions with awareness of the emotions, relationships, and communication challenges involved, creating space for concerns to be addressed with care and respect. How these moments are handled can shape how people experience the transition and relate to one another through it.
Support Your People Through the Transition
A transition doesn’t end once a new structure, system, or way of working is introduced. As people begin adjusting, questions and challenges may emerge that weren’t apparent earlier. Ongoing support gives leaders and employees opportunities to address concerns, work through communication or relationship challenges, and continue adapting as new ways of working become part of day-to-day life.
Formats and Logistics
Peaceful change management can be delivered on-site at your workplace or live virtually over Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Dialogue and training sessions typically include 8 to 25 participants at a time, with multiple sessions or cohorts available when larger groups need to participate. Coaching is available one-on-one or in small groups.
The cadence of your program is shaped around the transition rather than a fixed schedule. Some organizations may need a short, focused series of sessions around a particular announcement or change. Others may benefit from steady support across several months of a larger rollout. Your Program Director will help determine the mix of leadership consultations, facilitated dialogue, training, and coaching based on the pace of the transition and the support your people need along the way.
Throughout the engagement, continuity with your PPS team allows your Peacebuilders to stay familiar with the people and challenges involved, follow how concerns evolve, and adjust the support when needed. We also keep you informed throughout the process so you understand what’s happening at each stage and why.
1. Discovery
We begin with a free consultation to understand the change your organization is navigating, the challenges you’re seeing, and what you’re hoping to accomplish. Together, we’ll clarify what your organization needs and identify the services and approach that best support your goals.
2. Customized Proposal
Your Program Director then develops a proposal around your organization’s goals, outlining the recommended services, structure, and scope of support. You’ll see how the different pieces of the program come together before deciding whether to move forward.
3. Initiation
Once you’re ready to move forward, your Program Director coordinates the launch of your program and connects you with your dedicated Peacebuilders or coaches. We’ll review the plan, timing, and next steps with you so everyone is clear on what to expect as the work begins.
Meet Our Change Management Consultants
People can experience the same organizational change in very different ways, bringing different concerns, questions, and challenges to the transition. Our change management consultants bring experience in psychology, conflict resolution, coaching, and facilitation to help organizations navigate those challenges with understanding and care.
Meet some of the people behind that work.
Dr. Jeremy Pollack
As the founder of PPS, Dr. Pollack is a social psychologist focused on uniting diverse perspectives and approaching conflict constructively. He leads as a principal change management consultant, grounding each engagement in understanding and respect.
Emily Machin-Mayes
A Program Director and seasoned Peacebuilder, Emily manages and facilitates our peace services, supporting both clients and Peacebuilders so every program runs with precision and care.
Leila Bidad, M.D.R.
Leila brings a deep understanding of transformative change to her work, supporting professional and productive behavior within organizations through periods of transition.
Luke Wiesner, M.S., P.C.C.
With a background in psychology and certified professional coaching, Luke helps individuals and teams navigate change in ways that align their needs with organizational goals.
What Our Clients Say About Working With PPS
Organizational change can bring interpersonal challenges that are difficult to work through internally. Clients often come to PPS when conflict, communication, or workplace relationships need additional attention. Here’s what a few of them have shared about their experience working with us.
“I hired PPS to help with some interpersonal conflicts at work. The conflicts affected the organization to the point that valuable employees might quit, or have to be let go. In just a few sessions, our Peacebuilder guided us through a process that turned things around.”
Simone McGinnis, General Manager, Val Vista Lakes Community Association
“PPS was a big help in an HR issue where we felt we needed third party objectivity without the heavy hand of a lawyer or investigator. PPS was able to assess the situation and gain the trust of both the employee and management and accurately assessed a workable path forward. Our organization learned much from an experience that ultimately resulted in a more peaceful, harmonious workplace.”
Peter Connery, Vice President, Applied Survey Research
“As the CEO of a growing business, PPS has helped my corporation in so many ways…all of which have translated into positive factors such as elevated productivity, a more contented and productive work environment and, most importantly, a reduction of conflict and hostility.”
Alan Sitomer, CEO, Mastery Coding
Change Management Consulting FAQs
Change management consulting helps organizations navigate the people-related challenges that can arise during organizational change. A consultant may support leaders and employees through communication, facilitated dialogue, training, and coaching as they adjust to changes such as restructuring, growth, downsizing, new systems, or shifts in how the organization operates.
A change management consultant helps leaders and employees navigate the human dynamics surrounding organizational change. At PPS, that can include helping leaders communicate change thoughtfully, facilitating dialogue, identifying where conflict or communication challenges may be emerging, and providing training or coaching when additional support is needed.
Organizations may use change management consulting during restructuring, downsizing, rapid growth, mergers or acquisitions, leadership transitions, new systems or processes, and other significant workplace changes. It can be especially useful when a transition is affecting communication, workplace relationships, or how people are working together.
Change management consulting can help organizations navigate conflict by addressing the uncertainty, communication breakdowns, and competing concerns that can surface during organizational change. PPS helps leaders communicate more clearly while creating structured opportunities for employees to ask questions, voice concerns, and understand different perspectives. When tension does arise, we help people address it directly and constructively rather than allowing misunderstandings or unresolved concerns to create deeper divisions.
Behavioral change management consulting focuses on the people experiencing the change, not only the plans, systems, and processes behind it. At PPS, we look at the needs, interests, emotions, and concerns influencing how people respond to a transition. This helps leaders better understand what may be behind resistance, uncertainty, or conflict and respond with clearer communication, more productive dialogue, and support that reflects the challenges their people are facing.
PPS approaches change management through the psychology of conflict and human behavior. Our transformative, interest-based approach looks beneath positions and immediate reactions to understand the needs, interests, and concerns influencing how people experience change. We help leaders and employees work through communication challenges, strained relationships, resistance, and conflict through facilitated dialogue, coaching, training, and consultation. The goal is not simply to implement a change, but to help people navigate the human challenges that come with it.
A company may benefit from a change management consultant when a significant transition is affecting how people communicate, work together, or understand what is expected of them. This can be especially valuable during restructuring, downsizing, rapid growth, leadership changes, or the introduction of new systems and processes. Bringing in support early can give leaders and employees more opportunities to address concerns, clarify communication, and work through conflict as the transition unfolds.
The choice depends on the kind of support your organization needs. Large consulting firms may provide broad operational or enterprise transformation services, while a specialist can bring deeper focus to a particular area of the change. PPS specializes in workplace conflict resolution, with a nationwide team of Peacebuilders focused on the communication, relationships, and human dynamics that can make organizational change difficult to navigate.
Success should be measured against the goals established for the change management program. Depending on the engagement, that may include how effectively leaders are communicating, whether concerns and conflicts are being addressed constructively, how teams are working together through the transition, and feedback from the people involved. The most useful measures are the ones tied to the specific challenges the organization brought to the work.
Yes. Layoffs and restructuring can create uncertainty, difficult emotions, and strain across an organization, not only for the people directly affected, but also for the leaders and employees navigating what follows. PPS can help leaders communicate thoughtfully, create space for questions and concerns, and support individuals and teams through the conflict, communication, and relationship challenges that may arise.
The cost of change management consulting depends on the scope of the engagement, the number of people involved, and the mix of services your organization needs. We start with a free consultation to understand the change you’re navigating and the challenges you’re facing. Your Program Director will then develop a customized proposal outlining the recommended services, scope, and pricing so you have a clear understanding of the program before moving forward.
The length of a change management engagement depends on the size, complexity, and pace of the transition. Some organizations need a short, focused series of sessions around a particular change or announcement, while larger transitions may call for ongoing support over several months. We shape the cadence of the program around what your organization is navigating rather than using a fixed timeline.
Yes. Peaceful change management services can be delivered on-site or live virtually through Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Dialogue and training sessions typically include 8 to 25 participants at a time, with multiple sessions or cohorts available for larger groups. Coaching can be provided one-on-one or in small groups. The delivery format can be structured around your organization’s location, workforce, and the type of support involved.
Navigate Organizational Change With Your People in Mind
Change is a normal part of organizational life, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy for the people experiencing it. When communication breaks down, concerns go unaddressed, or relationships become strained, even necessary change can become harder to navigate.
PPS helps leaders and employees address the communication, conflict, and relationship challenges that can make organizational change harder to navigate. Through facilitated dialogue, training, coaching, and consultation, we help your people work through those challenges with greater understanding and clearer communication.
Start with a free consultation. We’ll learn about the change your organization is navigating, the challenges you’re seeing, and the support your people need. Your Program Director will then outline the recommended services, scope, and next steps based on your organization’s goals.
