Most organizations don't fail at change because they lack a plan. They fail because they made a promise they weren't prepared to keep. When you launch a culture initiative, a new strategy, a restructuring, you're not just announcing a program. You're entering into a new psychological contract with your employees. When that promise doesn't materialize, the damage runs deeper than a failed project.

Meet elephant tamer and entrepreneur Erica Merritt, the creative genius behind Equius Consulting Group . Equius uses organizational assessments, planning, design, facilitation, coaching, and training to teach companies to do the difficult ‘head and heart work’ of reforming their organizational culture. Erica jokingly calls herself an elephant tamer because she has a knack for getting people to dig into issues that would otherwise be ‘elephants in the room.’ For Equius’ corporate clients,...