Join Brandi and James as they sit down with Kimberly Drage to explore the complexities of organizational change. Kimberly highlights the crucial distinction between change and transition, noting that every transition inevitably involves some form of loss. She emphasizes that, while organizations often devote substantial energy and resources to managing change, the process of navigating transitions requires a different approach. With a grace-filled perspective, Kimberly offers practical insights into facing these challenges effectively.

Kimberly Drage is passionate about the well-being of cross-cultural workers. From her own experience serving in a closed country in Asia for 11 years and in Europe for another 8 years, where she currently serves, she has seen, first-hand, the connection between organizational practices and mental health for people on the field. After becoming a coach, she began evaluating the models of care and support for cross-cultural workers and started asking, “what it would take to truly empower global workers to thrive in their work and lives?” This question eventually led her to study management at the University of St Andrews. She currently serves as the Deputy Director of the John Powell Institute (JPI) at Mission Training International. JPI is working to connect research on well-being for cross-cultural workers to policy and practice for organizations. It is her hope that her work will inspire conversation and resource organizations when it comes to the central role organizations play in the well-being of cross-cultural workers, not just in member care services but in organizational culture as a whole. Empowering organizations to be their best for those serving in them is vital to both global workers and the Great Commission, for we cannot honor the mission without upholding the people who are carrying it out.

Resources

• William Bridges Managing Transitions Well
• https://www.mti.org/sharedfoundationsinitiative
• [email protected]