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Session—"Steps to Unlearning: Rebuilding Trust and Connection in the Workplace"

Many organizations seek to foster belonging and collaboration—but often without addressing the deeper emotional and cultural patterns that quietly block connection. This session introduces Steps to Unlearning—a reflective, healing-centered framework that helps individuals and organizations release inherited norms that no longer serve them. Drawing from recovery models, trauma-informed design, and systems thinking, the framework focuses on unlearning the habits of disconnection (like over-functioning, compliance, or emotional detachment) that often emerge in high-stress or change-resistant cultures.

Participants will explore their own unlearning journeys, engage in peer storytelling, and learn how to apply these insights to client systems. This session is designed for OD and change practitioners seeking to move beyond surface-level interventions and cultivate cultures rooted in trust, care, and shared accountability. Attendees will walk away with tangible tools and a deeper understanding of how to use unlearning as a lever for sustainable culture change.

Presenter: Amy Wilson

Amy J. Wilson is a culture change strategist, innovation leader, and author of Empathy for Change. She is the founder of Culture Shift Studio and creator of Steps to Unlearning, where she helps organizations navigate complex transitions by building emotionally intelligent, equity-rooted, and trust-centered cultures.

A former White House Presidential Innovation Fellow, Amy brings two decades of experience driving systems change and innovation across government, philanthropy, and the private sector. Her work blends cultural strategy, participatory design, and trauma-informed practice with insights from 12-step recovery and Buddhist psychology.

Known for helping organizations move from reactive change to intentional evolution, Amy’s thought leadership has been featured by Stanford, Fast Company, TIME, Forbes, and BusinessSolver’s State of Workplace Empathy Report. She partners with leaders to design cultures people want to belong to—not escape from.