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Most transformation strategies don’t fail at the top.
They don’t fail at the front lines.

They fail in the middle.

Middle managers are being asked to translate vision into action, absorb pressure from above, support teams below, and navigate constant change—all at once. They are the connective tissue of transformation… and they are increasingly overwhelmed, under-supported, and burning out.

When the middle breaks, everything breaks.

Join Change Enthusiasm Global for a candid, one-hour live conversation exploring why transformation efforts so often stall in the middle layers—and what must change to fix it. Grounded in the Change Enthusiasm® approach, this session will shed light on the emotional and structural realities facing middle managers today.

Cassandra Worthy will be joined by Joya Bryant-Gibson and Laurie Ditch. Learn more about our panelists!

 

 

In this conversation, you’ll explore:

✔️ Why middle management has become the most strained layer in organizations
✔️ The emotional burden of translating change across levels—and why it’s unsustainable
✔️ How misalignment and overload in the middle derail transformation efforts
✔️ What middle managers actually need to lead effectively through change
✔️ Practical ways to better support, empower, and activate this critical layer

Joya (3)

Joya Bryant-Gibson

NA Services Presales Leader, HPE

📍 Connect with Joya on LinkedIn

Joya Bryant‑Gibson is a leader with extensive Services experience across field delivery, partner relationships, and custom services solutioning. She currently leads Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) North America Services Presales teams within the Customer Success and Lifetime Value organization. Having progressed from individual contributor to leader of the teams she once belonged to, Joya brings a reflective and empathetic perspective on how top‑down change impacts teams. Over the past six years, she has helped cultivate a culture that strengthens synergy, encourages psychological safety, fosters cross‑business collaboration, rebuilds trust in leadership, and intentionally creates space for engagement and fun—even in virtual environments. Navigating six leadership changes in six years taught her firsthand how disruption can derail momentum and priorities; through her work with CEG, she has found middle management to be a place of growth, influence, and purpose rather than constraint. Today, she applies and shares these lessons as a Change Enthusiast Practitioner, committed to leading change with clarity, compassion, and consistency.
 
Outside of HPE, Joya is a wife and mother to two boys, ages 12 and 16. She remains deeply engaged in her community, serving in leadership roles on her middle school parent‑teacher board and within her church. Joya is also a YMCA mentor and dedicates time each week to mentoring a seven‑year‑old student at a local elementary school—grounding her leadership in service, balance, and a deep commitment to developing others at every stage of life.

Meet the Panelists

Ditch HeadshotLaurie Ditch

Director, HR Business Partner for Corporate Functions and Talent Management at OCF

📍 Connect with Laurie on LinkedIn

Laurie Ditch is the Director, HR Business Partner for Corporate Functions and Talent Management at OCF, based in Toledo, Ohio. She has spent over 20 years working in multinational organizations, with the last decade focused on leading through large scale change across global teams. Most recently, she partners with leaders across 12 countries and 20 locations, supporting over 4,000 employees as OCF separated from Owens Corning on April 30 and stands up as an independent company under new ownership. Laurie has been closely involved in shaping the people strategy through this transition, building the foundation for how the organization hires, develops, and holds leaders accountable.
 
She focuses on making change practical for leaders and teams. That includes how to stay grounded during uncertainty, how to simplify expectations, and how to lead in a way that builds trust while still driving performance. Laurie brings a direct, experienced-based perspective on what it actually takes to lead through change.