There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to reinvention in the workplace. Still, experts say there are a few key elements that can help organizations create spaces that allow and encourage employees to reinvent themselves.
Lay the Groundwork for Clarity and Agency
In Josh Cardoz’s role as chief creative and learning officer at Sponge, a company that specializes in people enablement and complex transformation for businesses such as TikTok, Meta and Snap, he explores what it takes to build cultures where reinvention becomes part of everyday work.
When it comes to reinvention, Cardoz says, one of the best things you can do as a leader is “just provide clarity and agency,” something he believes often gets lost amid today’s constant focus on productivity. “My advice to leaders is come back to giving your people supreme agency and clarity in their role, and you’d be surprised what you get back,” he adds.
The need for clarity is critical for employees. Cardoz points to a 2024 Gallup study, which found that fewer than half of employees clearly know what is expected of them at work, which is striking given the relentless pace at which most organizations operate. “Imagine trying to deliver on a shareholder call... and half of your people don’t really know what’s expected of them,” Cardoz says.
In the context of reinvention, this lack of clarity can become a major barrier. There is “almost a little bit of Maslow’s hierarchy” of needs at play, Cardoz says, since employees cannot truly reinvent themselves if they are not super clear on what their role requires. To help address this, Cardoz and his team work with organizations to help them clearly describe what people should do, a concept they call “golden habits.” Focusing on habits, he adds, makes change feel tangible, repeatable and within reach.
Encourage a Mindset of Curiosity and Exploration
Curiosity is the spark that fuels reinvention, says Megan Leasher, the founder of Disruptive Journeys, an organization dedicated to helping individuals and teams thrive amid disruption. Leasher encourages her clients to give their employees a small annual fund of about $500 to spend on anything that ignites their interest, with no approval required. “The ROI in creativity and inspiration for reinvention is incredible, and it sets the culture that we all get to play and rediscover ourselves,” she says.
Although exploration outside of work might seem counterintuitive to hitting monthly targets, Leasher has found the opposite to be true. When someone follows their curiosity, such as by learning pottery or taking a storytelling course, it often sparks new perspectives or creative parallels they can bring back to work.
The biggest ROI? A renewed sense of energy and engagement, things that can often wane on the job. “I knew a colleague who took an introductory photography class, and it helped her literally frame up work problems in more thoughtful, sophisticated ways, which helped her coworkers see new possibilities for problem-solving,” Leasher says.
Look Behind Your Role to Drive Real Impact
One way to spark reinvention is by giving people the chance to see the business from a different vantage point, whether through job swaps or shadowing opportunities. “When someone experiences a completely different environment, they come back seeing their own role with brand-new eyes,” Leasher says.
Job swaps can not only broaden employees’ perspectives and improve empathy, but they can also provide a deeper awareness of how different parts of the business operate. For example, marketing employees will gain a deeper understanding of customer needs after spending a day in operations or customer support. “You gain a lot of respect... when you are willing to take on someone else’s job, purely unknowing what you are about to enter into,” says Leasher.
For employees interested in exploring new roles or responsibilities, Cardoz encourages them first to understand how the business makes money and then to frame their ideas around that context. “If you see a value-creation opportunity... then all you need to do is make the ask, and people will create the space for you,” he says.
Framing it in business terms can help win support, because that’s the language leaders use when approving budgets. “Until you know how the business makes money and how it generates value, it just feels separate,” he adds.
Build Programs that Foster Community and Connection
Creating a work environment that fosters peer challenge, mutual support and a strong sense of community is a significant lever for chief executives and other senior leaders to pull. “[People] are seeking community back in the workplace, especially as a lot of this stuff in the world is just pointing us toward more isolation,” says Cardoz.
Fostering a sense of community may not necessarily seem relevant to creativity. But Cardoz says it plays a vital role in fueling reinvention. As he puts it: “We live in times of extreme digital overwhelm, whether in our personal lives or professional lives, and yet also simultaneously, we’re so overwhelmed that it all feels so underwhelming.”
On the one hand, we are entering an era where we have exciting enablement tools for more personalized learning, and employees might know the exact course they want to take. “But we also need to know that, fundamentally, as humans, we love to learn socially, and we love to grow in social service,” Cardoz says.
Empower Employees to Grow Skills and Confidence
Using artificial intelligence as an example, Cardoz shares that many people in the workforce right now are experiencing a crisis of confidence. “They’re being told to use this tremendously powerful tool, but they aren’t really sure what to do with it,” he says. Rather than treating AI literacy as an extra task or side project, Cardoz encourages leaders to give their teams the freedom and agency to suggest the tools that could make their work more impactful and efficient, then build the company’s AI policy around those insights.
Leaders can also adopt a more entrepreneurial mindset and be practical about the type of skills needed for the future of the company. If it’s AI, be clear about its importance and make skill development sessions available to everyone in the company.
Featured image by Artit Wongpradu/Shutterstock
This article was first published in the January 2026 issue of SUCCESS Digital Edition. Get your FREE copy here.
