About Innovate Culture Lab
Meet the Creator of Innovate Culture Lab
Jennifer Faulkner
Founder | Culture Strategist | People-first Partner
A Message From Jenn
Leading a multitude of internal strategies for workplace culture, organizational development and communications over the years, I noticed something was missing. Too often, culture work was treated as a side project, instead of a means of holistically serving organizational mission, purpose and strategy. I wanted to do it differently.
I launched Innovate Culture Lab to better integrate desired cultural attributes into daily work. My culture lab approach invites creativity, experimentation and partnership in designing how this happens, tapping into ideas and insights of team members and customers. This can lead to sustainable change and improvement that people feel proud to be a part of creating.
Whether it was launching a company-wide recognition program or designing communication strategies from the ground up, I’ve always been drawn to the human side of business. The way people feel at work shapes everything, from performance to purpose to impact.
This work is about more than roadmaps and frameworks. It’s about unlocking what’s within your organization to grow your culture in the direction of your purpose and strategy.
With Gratitude,
Jenn
What Drives Us
Our Mission
To partner with organizations to achieve results by aligning people, purpose and strategy through intentional and innovative culture and communications design.
Our Why
When individuals feel valued, supported, and purposefully connected to meaningful work, they show up fully. When your employees thrive, your organization does, too.
Our Values
Authenticity - Provide practical solutions that reflect real challenges and real people.
Reliability- Follow through on commitments and build mutual trust.
Creativity- Design strategies uniquely shaped around teams, values and goals.
Fun - Create joyful moments whenever possible.
Led by Experience You Can Trust
Jenn brings deep experience in organizational culture consulting, internal communication strategy, and leadership development and alignment. Her experience spans from a large academic healthcare setting to co-founding a community non-profit supporting education. With advanced training and a people-centered approach, she helps teams and leaders move from stuck to strategic with clarity and confidence.
She combines strategic insight with creativity, delivering culture and communications support that is both practical and impactful.
Credentials include:
Prosci® Certified Change Practitioner
Human Capital Institute Certification in Talent Development and Succession Planning
Master’s in Health Communication from Boston University, Boston, MA
Dual Bachelor's in English and Biology from Springfield College, Springfield, MA
What Sets Us Apart
We’re more than a culture consulting firm. We’re a collaborative partner who blends strategy and creativity to help organizations uncover their strengths and activate their culture in ways that matter.
Whether you need a culture assessment, a communications strategy, or leadership alignment, we bring structure and imagination to every engagement. Our approach is flexible, insightful, and deeply personal to your organization.
We’re here to help you shape a culture that works for your people and drives business results. We believe that simple is better. Small shifts can lead to big change. Trust wins.
Case Studies
Turning Resistance into Partnership—A Culture Shift Around Smoking Cessation
When a large healthcare organization committed to becoming a smoke-free campus, the change was met with understandable resistance. Employees, patients, and visitors had long been allowed to smoke in designated outdoor areas, and removing those spaces meant disrupting long-held habits and navigating strong emotions.
Jenn saw an opportunity to do more than just manage the change, she wanted to leverage it for good. Rather than enforcing a top-down mandate, she took a people-first approach rooted in empathy, ownership, and inclusion.
Jenn gathered a group of employees who smoked and invited them into the process. She asked them directly: “How can you help us make this change successful?” The response was unexpectedly powerful. Dozens of employees stepped up, not just to comply, but to champion the transition.
With their input, the organization reshaped its messaging. The campaign shifted from one of compliance to one of community support. The communications acknowledged the difficulty of quitting smoking, provided resources, and emphasized shared responsibility: “Let’s support one another through this change.”
The result? Employees not only embraced the change, they owned it. Many quit smoking themselves, some with their family members alongside them. The organization received thank-you notes from staff, crediting the supportive tone and inclusive process as the spark that made quitting possible.
What could have been a polarizing change became a story of collective progress, trust-building, and meaningful transformation.
Uniform Change Becomes a Moment of Meaning
In healthcare, operational changes can carry weight, especially when they touch daily routines or personal expression. When a major hospital system made the decision to transition from self-selected scrubs to a color-coded uniform policy, many employees were frustrated. For years, staff had worn scrubs of their own choosing, often with sentimental value, everything from cartoon prints to holiday patterns collected over a lifetime of caregiving.
It was more than a uniform change. It was a personal shift.
Jenn heard and acknowledged the significance. She recognized this as a pivotal moment, not only to manage the change, but to turn it into something that felt positive and purposeful. Alongside delivering clear and empathetic communications about the transition, Jenn asked a different question: What could we do to help people feel good about letting go of their old scrubs?
She got to work building a solution that honored both the organization’s goals and the employees’ connection to their attire. Partnering with leaders across the organization, Jenn helped coordinate a scrub donation drive. Employees were invited to donate their used scrubs to a nonprofit that supports healthcare workers in underserved communities across the globe.
The response was overwhelming.
A conference room was filled with thousands of donated scrubs, colorful reminders of years of service, now headed for a second life in communities around the world. For many employees, it transformed what could have been a moment of frustration into one of contribution and pride. The giving nature of healthcare workers was palpable.
The result? People felt seen, respected, and part of something meaningful. A uniform policy became a collective act of kindness, and a culture-building moment.