You know what it feels like when work…works.

People are engaged. The effort feels doable and important. Things click.

The difference between work that works and work that doesn’t is clear. What isn’t always obvious is why. I use the DAMN framework to figure out what’s happening with your team—and what to change when the work stalls.

WHEN PEOPLE AREN’T ENGAGED IN THE WORK, THERE’S A COST.

Projects drag. Decisions stall. Good people get frustrated. Opportunities get missed.

The question is why.

Maybe they don’t see the point. Maybe they don’t have what they need. Maybe the effort doesn’t feel worth it. Maybe the urgency isn’t there.

Those aren’t the same problem. And they won’t respond to the same solution.

A DIFFERENT WAY OF SEEING PEOPLE, PROBLEMS, AND POSSIBILITIES

I want to know:

What’s not clicking here?

I use DAMN to look for the pattern—what’s at play, what isn’t, and where there’s room to move.

THE DAMN FRAMEWORK

Four factors. A clearer picture.

Desire, Ability, Motivation, and Necessity reveal what’s shaping the work.

Desire

Wanting to

Fed by interest in the work or outcome, challenge, ambition, meaning, and passion.

Ability

Being able to

Shaped by skill, knowledge, resources, time, tools, and support.

Motivation

Feeling willing to

Influenced by effort, energy, persistence, competing priorities, and whether the payoff feels worth it.

Necessity

Needing to

Driven by deadlines, commitments, expectations, rewards, consequences, and pressure.

DAMN looks at both the people and the work they’re trying to accomplish. The factors can change from one project to the next.

THE FACTORS DON'T WORK ALONE

Strengthen the DAMN factors. Change the whole picture.

Build Ability and the work may become more desirable—and easier to stay motivated to do.

Clarify Necessity and the effort may suddenly feel more worthwhile.

“The team just isn’t motivated.” Maybe. But that's a place to start asking questions, not stop.

FROM DIAGNOSIS TO MOVEMENT

Decide what to change.

Once the pattern is clearer, I help the team identify which factors could use a boost—and what might make a difference.

See what’s happening. Decide what to change. Make a DAMN difference.

PUT IT TO WORK

Bring me what’s not clicking.

Bring the project, goal, or change your team is trying to move forward.

I help your team figure out what’s really happening, which DAMN factors are at play, and what to change—so you leave knowing what to try next.

90-MINUTE WORKSHOP

DAMN with the team.

We apply the four DAMN factors to real work, compare what people see, and choose where to start.

HALF-DAY WORKSHOP

More room for different perspectives.

Separate groups can surface what they see. I bring those views together to find what the differences tell us.

WHAT IT'S LIKE IN THE ROOM

“She really had a good talent for knowing when to let the group do our own little thing, and then she could corral us back to her framework, which is really very useful.”

— Participant reflection from a DAMN workshop

Talk to Susan about a workshop

ABOUT SUSAN

I’m Susan Todd.

Susan Todd smiling in a relaxed indoor setting

I spent 30 years teaching success skills, leadership development, critical thinking, and writing to college students.

The best part was figuring out how to connect with students—especially when something wasn't clicking. What would help this person engage? What would make the work feel meaningful? What did they need to be able—and willing—to move forward?

I began seeing patterns in the conditions around the work, not just in the people doing it.

That way of seeing became The DAMN Difference.

Although DAMN itself started somewhere considerably less academic.

My messy house.

I kept saying I wanted to clean my house. Except I didn't really want to clean it. I wanted it to be clean. Different goal.

Then a friend texted that she wanted to stop by. Suddenly, I did what I had to do—or at least barely enough of it.

Afterward, I started wondering: What changed?

Desire. Ability. Motivation. Necessity.

They weren't in that order at first.

Then I realized they spelled DAMN.

Susan Todd smiling in a car beside her boxer, Ella — And yes, there's a life outside the framework. Ella occasionally insists on being part of it.