When the Work Changes

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The work moved. The role has not caught up.

For some people, AI is changing what they do, what they are valued for, and what they should build next. For managers, the pressure comes from both directions. Leadership wants speed, adoption, and more output. The team wants clarity, a voice, and time to adjust. The manager is left in the middle, expected to communicate a certainty they may not have.

This is a working session for people navigating change from either side: your own role is changing, or you are responsible for leading other people through change. The room begins together. Then you choose one of two working paths before we return to a shared conversation.

What we’ll do together

1. Separate what has actually changed from what is still uncertain. Most of the weight is in the second pile, and it is lighter once you can see it.
2. Identify what you, or your team, still own. The judgment, the relationships, the calls nobody else can make.
3. Name the trust, identity, and communication issues underneath the change. Resistance is usually information.
4. Choose the conversation or decision that can no longer be avoided. Draft what you’d actually say. Say it out loud. Notice which sentence sounds like a press release, and find the truer one.
5. Define one capability or practical experiment to begin now. Small enough to start next week.

The two paths

1. Role and identity. For professionals whose role, value, or sense of what they are good at is shifting. Where the change is felt, what is still yours, and what to build next.
2. Management and team leadership. For managers and team leads navigating AI adoption, restructuring, new systems, or pressure to move faster. Put down what you’re carrying, read the team differently, and practice the honest thing.

Why this session exists

In our own registration data, uncertainty about what to decide next showed up in every group. Managers were the only group where trust, resistance, and communication came up for more than half. People in transition reported the strongest hit to role and identity. And what people asked for most was time with peers, not another framework. What people told us →

Who this is for

1. Professionals whose role, value, or identity at work is shifting.
2. Managers and team leads navigating AI adoption, restructuring, new systems, changing priorities, or pressure to move faster.
3. People and organizational leaders responsible for supporting teams through role change.

Bring one real change you are personally navigating or responsible for leading. The session is confidential and advice is not forced.

What you leave with

• A clear map of the change you are navigating.
• One conversation or decision to move forward.
• One capability, experiment, or leadership practice to begin building.

The details

• Format: Facilitated working session, two paths, shared close
• Length: 90 minutes to 2 hours
• Next dates: Thursday, October 8, 2026, 6:00 PM, the manager session (register)
  Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 6:00 PM, the changing-roles session, Full Studio (register)
• Location: SF Commons, 540 and 550 Laguna St, San Francisco
• Price: Free for SF Commons members · $10 suggested for others
• Inside a company: runs as a manager cohort, a private role-change workshop, or a team-transition session. For organizations →

Your facilitator

Nima Imani is an ICF-certified, ontologically trained coach with more than ten years in software, data and AI, including EY and Neo4j. He runs the weekly founder coaching group at SF Commons in San Francisco and founded InsightsOut.