Keynotes & Training Programs
- The Change Artist - Author reading and Q&A
- The Art of Reinvention: 3 Ways Manifest the Next Stage of Your Life
- The Artistry of Change: The Top 5 Skills of Amazingly Resilient People
- The Power of Laughter: Managing Change with a Sense of Humor
- Creative Resolutions: The Art of Healthy Communication
- Opening People's Minds to Your Ideas
- Leading in the 21st Century: How to Avoid the Top 6 Mistakes Change Leaders Make
- Coaching and Consulting
The Change Artist -
Author reading and Q&A
The Change Artist is an award winning story of one woman's journey to find her voice in the face of corporate crime, family secrets, and racism. Inspired by the true story of a woman who discovered her father had changed his identity twice in his life, The Change Artist is a compelling suspense novel that provides a message of acceptance, growth and hope for the human condition. Written by innovation and change expert, Carla Rieger, The Change Artist takes you on a gripping and unpredictable adventure. From present day Vancouver to Nazi Germany of the past to a band of carnival entertainers, the Change Artist blends tools for finding your leadership voice with compelling storytelling. This presentation is a very personal and thought provoking voyage into the trials and errors of what it means to be a woman trying to lead with integrity in a world on the brink of massive change.
The Art of Reinvention:
3 Ways Manifest the Next Stage of Your Life
This program is for anyone who is in transition, having left behind:
- a job or career (e.g. being a consultant)
- a relationship (e.g. a marriage)
- a role (e.g. parent)
- a sense of ability or of self (e.g. younger or more able bodied)
and has not yet fully gotten clear and comfortable with what is next. According to the US Department of Labor the average person today changes careers 10 to 14 times in their life and primary relationships 3 times in their life. In addition, many of the careers, causes, and roles in society today didn't even exist 6 years ago.
In other words, people are reinventing themselves and their worlds at a rate never before seen in recorded history … and its growing exponentially. Yet, few people have had a good role model for reinventing themselves over and over again with ease. Previous generations often stayed in the same career, same home, same relationship their entire adult lives. As a result, there exists a greater proportion of people feeling perpetually in transition and entirely challenged about how to deal with it.
In particular, there are cycles in everyone's life when it feels barren, like nothing is happening, like the great harvest you experienced before in your life will never happen again. This is the winter season of change, when the old identities have died away and the new one has yet to arrive. Despair, depression, sadness often come forward at this time. Because during this time a subterranean part of your psyche is replenishing itself and getting you ready for what's next. This is the time in your cycle of growth as a person when you need the most support.
During this experiential and inspiring program you will discover:
- How to create a sense of comfort and ease with the winter of change
- How to use this time to make yourself truly ready for what is next
- How to discover what you really want (beyond your limiting beliefs)
- How to take action on your next life purpose in a practical and sustainable way
Experience the joy of moving through transitions with ease and clarity.
The Artistry of Change:
The Top 5 Skills of Amazingly Resilient People
The ability to creatively handle constant change will be the most sought after skill in the 21st Century.
- Alvin Toffler, Futurist
Everyone is born an artist. The trick is to re-capture that innate ability as an adult and put it into all aspects of life.
- Pablo Piccaso
- Is never-ending change hard on you or your team?
- Does resistance to change undermine good will in your organization?
- Are you finding communication around change initiatives less than effective?
…then this program might be for you. The most indispensable people on the job these days are those who can lead, adapt, innovate, and communicate while facing constant change. Most of us understand the common wisdom around change:
- Embrace that which you cannot change.
- Proactively respond to the things you can change.
- Develop the wisdom to know the difference.
However, it’s another thing to practice this wisdom on a daily basis.
After 10 years of research we have identified the top 5 habits of people who actually practice this wisdom every day. We call these people “Change Artists”. The skills of a Change Artist don’t even need to be learned. They are innate skills that people just need to remember to access. These habits require hardly any extra time during your day, and simply train your brain to stay in a higher performance state no matter what is going on around you.
During this engaging and practical program your group will discover how to:
- add more tools to your innovation toolkit
- be in a position to uniquely benefit from the changes that affect your work
- design a creative thinking process customized for you and your work setting
- create a culture of innovation in which employee engagement is the norm
The Artistry of Change® is an innovative system that blends diverse fields such as educational kinesiology, western and eastern psychology, change management theory, creative process models, and neuroscience. Witness how these fields are merging in exciting ways to produce the new 'workplace artistry'.
The Power of Laughter:
Managing Change with a Sense of Humor
At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.
- Jean Houston
Is your working environment too serious? Has overwhelming change made the Grump-O-Meter go up? Are people at work afflicted with AADS (Acquired Amusement Deficiency Syndrome)? Constructive fun at work contributes to employee engagement, customer loyalty and improved productivity. It activates your ability to successfully navigate the white water of constant change. During this practical, entertaining and inspiring presentation, your group will discover how fun can:
- build rapport
- manage stress
- improve innovative thinking
- increase energy and productivity
- enhance daily enjoyment of work
- make your workplace more attractive to top employees
Experience the joy of laughing and playing together, a celebration of people and life.
Creative Resolutions:
The Art of Healthy Communication
Conflict is like fire: too much causes damage to people and property; too little and no transformation can occur.
In today's global marketplace, costly communication breakdowns often happen because of simple misunderstandings. Discover a variety of innovative tools to instantly impart an intention of goodwill and to find an outcome that serves everyone. During this engaging and interactive session attendees will discover how to:
- communicate your needs in a way that people can understand
- win back trust and create an opening for goodwill
- switch from a destructive argument to a "healthy disagreement"
- develop habits that prevent unwanted communication breakdowns
- gain the courage to have those important conversations
- implement a 5 step easy-to-follow process for finding mutually satisfying solutions
Experience the joy of making open communication a part of your daily work life.
Opening People's Minds to Your Ideas:
6 Mistakes to Avoid When Implementing New Ideas at Work
Are you afraid of the people who roll their eyes or slam every new idea? If your workplace is 'change challenged' or addicted to franticness, it can be tricky to shift that.
Of course, all new ideas need what Edward DeBono calls “black hat thinking” or a discerning eye to make sure it makes sense. However, most people employ “black hat thinking” far too early in the process, leaving brilliant ideas on the cutting room floor. If you’ve ever tried to initiative a new approach to something and it failed, probably one of these mistakes happened. You were:
- Not paying attention to intention
- Starting with something too complicated or risky
- Giving no prior warning or purpose for the idea
- Being too vague or conceptual
- Starting but not finishing
- Giving up too quickly
During this interactive, energizing and fun program you will discover tips for preventing these problems from occurring, and ensuring the good ideas get a chance to make a difference in your organization.
Leading in the 21st Century:
How to Avoid the Top 6 Mistakes Change Leaders Make
"The ability to creatively handle constant change will be the most sought after skill in the 21st Century." - Alvin Toffler, Futurist
Looking at the common mistakes of change leaders is a great entry into this topic because people often only achieve success through its opposite: failure. Those who follow leaders no longer have blind faith in them because of the free flow of information. They see leaders making mistake and only want to follow those who learn from them, have integrity, and are committed to growing as a leader.
Yet, people don't spontaneously just become a high integrity leader
Society and our organizations may be demanding it but that doesn't mean it's going to manifest. It takes skill building over time and that starts with assessing the current situation (or mistakes) and redesigning leadership in terms of everyday success habits.
Leaders too often get chastised for making mistakes
Too often people enter leadership roles with no training and then get chastised for making mistakes. Good leadership thrives in an environment where you are allowed to make mistakes and then are encouraged to deconstruct them and create a new plan of action continually.
These top 6 mistakes are based on 21 years of surveying and working with change leaders and those affected by their decisions. Using the metaphor of the growing cycle, below are the top mistakes and the resulting success habits of effective change leaders:
| Mistake | Success Habit |
| 1. Planting your idea in barren soil | 1. Transmuting resistance and getting buy in |
| 2. Planting the wrong kind of seed | 2. Setting the right intention for the change |
| 3. Lack of watering | 3. Assigning on-going management of the change |
| 4. Letting the weeds take over | 4. Persisting through obstacles |
| 5. Lack of pruning | 5. Streamlining & focusing on one thing at a time |
| 6. Letting it go to seed | 6. Celebrating successes |
Coaching and Consulting:
You can receive any aspect of Carla’s Keynotes and Programs as a coaching program for individuals or small groups, or as a consultative process for your organization. Find out more.