Inclusion often shows up in the smallest moments. This article explores how a simple language shift, replacing “but” with “and,” can change how people feel heard, valued, and included in everyday conversations.

Active listening is one of the most powerful and underrated leadership skills. This article explores how open-ended questions can build trust, deepen understanding, and create more human-centred conversations at work.

Some of the earliest signs of progress aren’t found in dashboards or reports, but in the questions people begin to ask. This piece explores how small shifts in curiosity can signal deeper change in how teams think, reflect, and approach their work.

In this three-part Back to Basics Reset series, I’ve explored why taking time to revisit the forms, workflows, and everyday practices that shape how we work can be such a powerful step for organizations at the start of a new year. We began with why this work matters, then moved into where to start, looking at practical ways to review templates, workflows, and internal language through a DEIBCA lens so the systems supporting our work reflect the values we stand for. In this final instalment, the focus shifts to the next question many teams ask: how to implement these changes thoughtfully and make them stick without overwhelming the people doing the work.

As fiscal year-end approaches, many organizations begin their annual “spring cleaning” by reviewing budgets, priorities, and tools. But social policy needs a reset, too. For decades, responses to food insecurity have focused on charity and food distribution rather than the root cause: inadequate income. What if spring cleaning meant clearing out outdated narratives and making space for policy solutions that address the real problem?

As spring approaches and fiscal year-end draws near, many organizations find themselves reflecting on what comes next. Strategic planning can feel overwhelming, especially when teams are balancing reporting, shifting priorities, and an evolving landscape. But what if strategy wasn’t about producing the perfect roadmap, and instead about aligning around a shared compass that helps guide decisions through uncertainty?

Rest is not a luxury, a reward, or a productivity hack. It is a refusal to accept systems that demand constant output at the expense of our bodies, our communities, and our humanity. Rooted in Black liberation, rest as resistance asks us to slow down, ask harder questions, and reclaim our right to be human in a world that was never built for our softness or our survival.

A Back to Basics Reset doesn’t start with sweeping change. It starts by looking closely at the everyday systems we rely on - - forms, workflows, and language - - and asking whether they still reflect who we are and what we value. In Part 2 of this series, I explore where to begin and how a DEIBCA lens can help turn small, practical changes into meaningful shifts in how people experience work.

What we often call burnout doesn’t fully capture the weight many care workers are carrying. Moral injury names the harm that occurs when people are forced to act against their ethics because of systemic constraints. This article explores why naming moral injury matters — and how solidarity, not isolation, helps us resist it.

2026 already feels heavy. In this piece, Amy reflects on burnout, moral distress, and the quiet work of bearing witness. She explores the three Cs of change - - connection, care, and collective liberation - - as a path toward sustaining ourselves and our movements.

The title of this article is intended to be provocative. Yet, our team conversations, conference discussions, and partner engagements have consistently grappled with questions relating to changing political and societal landscapes, both locally and globally. Many leaders are now asked to work differently, pivot,  and to reframe their “heart work” in ways that create a tension between providing services and maintaining values. Decisions often feel heavier in today’s context; strategic or operational decisions that once felt technical now feel like they carry greater consequences for people’s safety, dignity, and belonging. In this context what is “good work”?

Over the next few months, I’ll be sharing a three-part reflection on something I’ve seen make a real difference in organizations of all sizes: taking the time to reset the foundations we often take for granted.

This series isn’t about sweeping change or shiny new systems. It’s about slowing down just enough to ask whether the forms, workflows, and practices we rely on every day still reflect who we are, how we work, and what we value — especially as we step into a new year.

In this first piece, I’m focusing on why a Back to Basics Reset matters and why now is such a powerful moment to do it.