Learn@Lunch: Understanding Team Needs During Change
January 13, 2026, 11:30 am
– 01:00 pm
Origin Hotel Austin, Austin, TX
Why is Everyone Freaking Out? Understanding Team Needs During Change
Nonprofits and associations are experiencing rapid transformation–from shifting member expectations and economic uncertainty to evolving workforce dynamics and organizational restructuring. In times like these, the way leaders support and guide their teams becomes the critical determinant of whether an organization moves forward with resilience or gets stuck in disruption.
In this engaging session, seasoned association leaders Michelle Smith and JJ Colburn explore how leaders can create the clarity, stability, and motivation their teams need during periods of significant change. Drawing on lived experiences and established frameworks, they’ll offer practical strategies for anticipating how people respond to uncertainty and helping staff feel grounded and equipped to thrive.
Learning Objectives
- Explore a framework for understanding how your team, peers, and even friends/family experience uncertainty, change, and shifting expectations.
- Learn techniques for reducing fear and defensiveness while increasing clarity, autonomy, and motivation within teams.
- Gain communication approaches that foster psychological safety and trust during transitions.
About the Speakers
Michelle Smith, PhD, Interim CEO at Every Texan, brings deep experience in nonprofit leadership, advocacy, and public policy and has spent her career championing policies that improve education and economic opportunity across Texas. She currently specializes in stabilizing nonprofits during transitions, uncertainty, or rapid change. Prior to her focus on interim leadership, Michelle served as the executive director of Raise Your Hand Texas and the Fast Growth School Coalition.
JJ Colburn, CAE, Co-CEO of Strategic Association Management, provides executive leadership and strategic counsel, mentors and develops staff, and helps identify and grow business opportunities. Over his 20-year career in association management, he has served as the executive director of the Science Teachers Association of Texas and the Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented, and as the director of the Texas Association of Student Councils. JJ is an active member of the Texas Society of Association Executives, where he served as the 2016-2017 TSAE Board Chair and was honored in 2019 with the TSAE Distinguished Executive Award.
Sponsored By:
