How We

Make Shift

Happen

Our philosophy and framework:
Mindset + Methodology = Movement

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Facing hard truths about change

If you’ve spent any time investigating the field of change management then you’ve no doubt been exposed to the montage of research indicating that the overwhelming majority of change initiatives fail.

From strategic planning to new product roll outs, organizational restructuring or just new year’s resolutions, statistics reveal that between 35-75 percent of efforts to make sweeping changes often fall short of their goal. This can be pretty disheartening when you’re the one tasked with or needing to personally make Shift happen.

It certainly was for our founder, Marissa Q. Paine, in the early years of our history.

As a social worker with deep leadership experience and training in the most regarded change management principles available, Marissa started our firm expecting to empower, to impact, to Shift; but training-after-training, gig-after-gig, she eventually found that she was doing everything but.

Instead, she discovered a trend of under-resourced, overextended leaders throwing ineffective, band-aid solutions at complex culture issues.

This approach was being met with resistance and lackluster results. Trust was low. Turnover was high and status quo was the prevailing norm.

Faced with a shift crossroads of her own, Marissa had a choice to make: stay the course and accept the status quo or make shift happen. (Spoiler alert: She chose to shift!)

“We were growing and business was good financially, but the work had become very transactional and of little consequence. Our mission was to be the driving force behind individual and organization transformation, but the bulk of our business essentially amounted to processing widgets."

“I mean no disrespect to the widget processors of the world, but you can’t evoke true transformation by delivering one half-day training workshop. We were misaligned and I knew we’d have to disrupt how change management was being done for smaller organizations. There wasn’t a realistic model for the work that was needed and to continue the status quo simply wasn’t an option for me. We had to make shift happen.”

Marissa Q. Paine

After seven years of consulting, Marissa took a sabbatical to center herself, study the field and analyze the work her firm had done with leaders and organizations during those initial years. What emerged was the powerful Shift framework we now employ, undergirded by the formalization of the resiliency protocol that had been quietly formulating in Marissa’s own life for forty years.

Our change
methodology doesn't
just move, it Shifts!

Today, you won’t find any band-aid or one-off solutions offered by MQPI anymore.

Sure, we still deliver training workshops and facilitate annual retreats, but only in partnership with leaders and organizations who are serious about disrupting the status quo and making real change happen in their lives and organizations.

Instead of “going wide” serving many organizations in a limited capacity,  we roll up our sleeves and go deep with fewer leaders and organizations, developing long term partnerships for true impact vs any short term illusion of change.

The Life Shift Method

The Make Shift Happen Framework™ merges the best of Marissa’s social work and management education, change management training and years of success in developing leaders and facilitating organizational turnarounds with the very personal tenets of resilience that took her from a settling secretary to an inspirational CEO. The model is both heart and mind, art and science, theory and practice.

The foundation for

every Shift: The 4Cs

Change begins at the core, whether it’s an organizational change or a personal change. What we have found, and what we believe, is that when you attempt to make change without clarity of purpose and scale, you are essentially building on a shaky foundation and we don’t like sinking sand!

The 4Cs are the prerequisites, the foundation for every Shift we help facilitate. If you don’t have it, we’ll always start here.

Clarity

Start at the core. Name it to tame it. Don’t build on a shaky foundation. Revisit. Renew. Reconfirm your why. Be sure that where/who you are is where/who you want to be, not what you’ve adapted to.

Confidence

Knowing you’re solving the right problem helps; reimagining and entertaining a new future/vision based on clear sense of self and purpose inspires and builds an assurance.

Competence

Knowledge is powerful. What’s happening around you. Where do you fit? What’s working for you? What do you need, how will you get it and when?

Community

Change is not meant to be done alone; who do you need on the journey? Plan in advance for the inevitable and ensure you have the reinforcement you need to sustain the shifts along the way

People are at

the center of every

Shift

People are sometimes surprised to see the Life Shift Method® at the center of a framework used with leaders, teams and organizations but this goes back to the harmful trend of separating our humanity from our work and leadership.

This dominant culture approach rewards assimilation, separates us from who we are at our core, and teaches us to conform to an inauthentic way of being and leading (ie the fast route to burn out, toxic work cultures etc).

Our Life Shift Method® is at the center of everything we do. It allows us to go back to the beginning and evaluate holistically what the root of the issues are and what may need to Shift in the humans involved in change. Because ultimately, it’s humans who actually make the shifts we desire happen.

By allowing leaders to bring their whole selves to the change process you accelerate the likelihood of your overall success.

The Shift Process is a journey, not a destination

MQPI Framework

The outer wheel of the Life Shift Method® highlights the key activity of every stage of the Shift process: Acknowledge, Accept, Evaluate, Entertain, Educate, Align, Activate, and Engage.

We examine concepts and beliefs at each stage to ensure that the Shifts we design aren’t just taking place at a surface level, but rather penetrating deep to cause real transformation. No two journeys are alike and the time it takes to advance can vary greatly but if you’ve ever struggled with “how” to make shift happen, this is your guide. 

Making moves is temporary.
Shifting is lasting and foundational.

#MindsetMatters

Our mission and vision is all about making Shift happen in communities and lives. We’re exceptional at what we do, but in order to make that transformation happen, you have to believe that shift is possible and approach it with the right mindset.

You have to be willing to:

What Shift are You Seeking?

We have solutions for:

Women Entrepreneurs & Executives

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Life, Leadership
& Business Transitions

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Boards, Work Groups, Teams & Organizations

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