Michelle Pipes
When the Map Breaks: Measuring the Human Side of Uncharted Change
Dr. Michelle Pipes is an organizational development, change management, and strategic communications specialist with two decades of experience helping leaders, teams, and organizations navigate complexity with greater coherence, clarity, and humanity. Her work spans K–12 education, higher education, and professional development, primarily in STEM-related environments, where she has led and supported communication, change, learning, and transformation efforts across diverse audiences and systems. She has been Prosci certified since 2002 and also served as a consultant on Prosci’s first book, giving her long-standing roots in both the theory and practice of change management.
Michelle is the creator of Joyful Change, an evidence-informed approach that helps organizations move beyond rollout-and-resistance thinking toward change that is more measurable, participatory, and sustainable. As an author, speaker, and practitioner, she is known for blending academic rigor with practical tools and lively facilitation. She also publishes daily LinkedIn writing on change that is scientifically grounded and delightfully human, reflecting the same voice and perspective she brings to workshops, presentations, and leadership conversations.
Her workshop –
In uncharted change, organizations often measure the visible mechanics of transformation while missing the human signals that determine whether change actually lands. When the map no longer matches reality, leaders and practitioners need better ways to sense what people are experiencing in real time—not just whether milestones are being checked off.
This interactive workshop introduces the Joyful Change Quotient (JCQ), a practical diagnostic that helps practitioners assess the human conditions that make change more livable, workable, and sustainable. Rather than treating friction as simple “resistance,” the JCQ helps surface whether people are struggling with Meaning, Safety, Belonging, Progress, Recognition, or Play.
Participants will take part in a live, conference-friendly JCQ demo, reflect on what the data reveals, and explore how these signals can reshape facilitation, communication, sponsorship, and shared ownership in uncertain environments. The session blends evidence-informed framing with participatory sensemaking, giving attendees both language and tools for navigating complexity more humanely.
Participants will leave with:
a new lens for understanding why change efforts wobble
experience using a practical human-centered diagnostic
a way to move beyond checkbox change metrics
ideas for how to make change more measurable and more human in their own contexts
The main message is simple: when the map disappears, human signals matter even more. If we can read them better, we can lead change better.
