About GET SMARTER Change & Coaching Services

“When transformation is done right, it's like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.” - The New Elements of Transformation, George Westerman, MIT
Meet Matthew Smart, Change Expert & Coach
Matthew Smart, the founder of GET Smarter Change, is a certified Change Leader (ACMP, Prosci), Digital Transformation Manager, Executive Coach, Agilist, Learning Designer & Trainer, and OD Consultant with 20+ years of experience designing and implementing innovative change strategies, engaging multimedia communications campaigns, executive coaching programs, and leading-edge organizational development initiatives to move people and organizations forward towards a better future. Matthew Smart's philosophy is that change, whether individual or organizational, is a challenging yet valuable experience. He believes there are creative approaches to navigating the highs and lows of this journey while minimizing the difficulties that come with major changes. Matthew offers a full suite of consulting services from strategy work, tactical change execution, deliverables, executive coaching, training, and advanced data analysis for complex change and transformation initiatives.
What sets him apart from every other consultant or coach? Matthew is a charismatic thought leader with superior presentation skills, a strong pulse on digital trends, and highly intuitive abilities. He has an exceptional capacity to lead, collaborate with teams, and coach leaders on a 1:1 basis or within complex organizations. Drawing from deep expertise in digital business transformation methodology and change models, Matthew has an uncanny ability to innovate and flex approaches to meet clients where they are. He has a proven track record for driving digital business transformation and change execution, moving people forward, and realizing measurable ROI. Matthew also teaches a course on Learning Gamification for Web Age Solutions and takes on speaking engagements for local ATD chapters, the Transformation Academy, and clients. You can view an example of his workshops here. Matthew and his wife live in the DC area and enjoy spending time with their two rescue dogs and exploring the local food and art scene. Matthew is also a blues enthusiast who has played harmonica for several years. GET SMARTER Change & Coaching for all brands, missions, and people. Let's do great work together!

Helping Move People Forward with SMARTER Change and Coaching.

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Credentials and education
  • Arizona State University, B.A Philosophy & Justice Studies, 2003
  • University of Texas at Dallas, Executive Coaching Certificate, 2024
Certifications
  • Certified Executive Coach, CCA, ACSTH ICF-Approved, University of Texas
  • Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioner, IBM
  • Certified SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM), Scaled Agile
  • Digital Business Transformation Management, CXO Transform
  • Scrum Master Certification, SSGI
  • Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP), ACMP
  • Certified Change Practitioner, Prosci
  • Certified AI Transformation Leader (CAITL), USAII, CXO Transform
  • MSP Practitioner (5th Edition) Certificate in Programme Management, AXELOS
  • Organizational Development Certification, Illumeo
  • Six Sigma Lean Green Belt in Healthcare (LGBH)™, MSI
  • Six Sigma Lean Professional (SSLP), MSI
  • E-Learning Instructional Design Certificate, ATD
  • Essential Facilitation, Interaction Associates
  • DDI Certified Facilitator, DDI

What my clients say

"I recently had the privilege of working alongside Matthew in his role as Organizational Change and Transformation Lead as I took over as the manager of a newly formed Event Driven Architecture team at Cardinal Health. I feel that Matthew far exceeded the expectations of that role and quickly demonstrated his value as a Meta Change Manager to my team. His impact was nothing short of transformative, and one of lasting legacy. From his assistance to me, as we developed a strategic vision for the next phase of our team’s development to demonstrating the value realization of our efforts and returns on investment, Matthew showcased an uncanny ability to drive change that mattered. His keen insight into business processes led to tangible improvements across the enterprise, effectively increasing novel integration strategy adoption.
In addition to his technical acumen, Matthew is a communication powerhouse, seamlessly bridging gaps between various departments to create a cohesive and efficient work environment. His onboarding and training programs were exceptional, setting new hires up for success from day one, including one very new Manager (at least in this technology).
One of Matthew's standout accomplishments was spearheading our digital transformation journey. Hi skillfully helped me navigate the complexities of integrating new technologies into existing frameworks, all while ensuring that business development goals were not only met but exceeded.
I wholeheartedly recommend Matthew for any endeavor requiring strategic vision, operational excellence, transformation change, and an in-depth understanding of change management in the digital age. His contributions have been invaluable, his loss to our organization is palpable, and any organization would be lucky to hire Matthew."
-Chad Layne, Streaming Solutions Leader, Cardinal Health
"I enlisted Matthew's services as a coach when I was going through a job search. Talking to Matthew was invaluable to me. He gave a series of detailed tips that I'd never heard from anyone else. I implemented all of his tips with my resume writing, company research, and interview prep, and all of Matthew's tips helped me enormously. Matthew is the best kind of kind of coach -- someone who encourages you by focusing on your strengths and offering tips on how to best leverage them, while also delivering constructive tips that will help you improve in areas you need to strengthen. Matthew is at all times a calm, reassuring and incredibly supportive presence that brings out the best in the people he advises and coaches."
- Jon Luiz, Senior Financial Writer, Raymond James
"Matthew is quite simply the best at what he does. His ability to take a vision and wrap a change/transformation management strategy, playbook, nested set of goals, etc around it is nothing short of amazing. We would not be where we are without his superior marketing, communication and training campaigns, insights, plans and execution. His name became synonymous with the program…that’s how effective he was for the team. And he cares…he cares for the success of the program and the people working in it. He bends over backwards to ensure things are done right. And if they are not, he won’t let up until they are…doesn’t matter if it’s in his lane or another tower in the program. His experience is enviable, his performance commendable, his attitude infectious."
- Chris Butsky, IT Director, Cardinal Health
"I have had the pleasure of working closely with Matthew Smart in his time as a consultant for my customer. Matthew has worked as an Organizational Change Manager on the program that we are working on together. He is by far the most talented OCM that I've ever had the pleasure to work with and is one of the best agents of change that I've seen in my experience. He can build training materials, presentations, videos, and infographics that are huge tools for success. He is a pleasure to work with and I would welcome the chance to work with him anytime in the future."
- Derek Kane, Sales Executive, Confluent
"I would recommend Matthew to anyone who needs career coaching. He really helped me see my potential as I worked on transitioning from the education field to the L&D corporate space. His experience and success in training and development really showed in our coaching sessions. This really helped me be prepared for interviews and in preparing a portfolio. He helped me to learn how to really make a difference in the L &D field. Amazing career coach!"
KC McMillan, ATD VP of Technology
" WE DID IT! Oracle Cloud launched successfully yesterday! What a ride….Kevin (CEO) mentioned us in his video update to the company yesterday and even showed the Go Live poster, Matthew! People love them and some want to keep them. Just want to say a HUGE thank you for all your efforts with Project Iris. Matthew, what can I say? This whole OCM effort would NOT have been as thorough, engaging, structured or effective if you hadn’t worked with us. I mean it 100%. Yes, I could have selected an OCM consultant to help us, but none would have been like you were, nor someone who truly became a part of the team as if you worked at Gas South. It’s because of your creativity, knowledge, and experience that I became Prosci certified and why, again, our change efforts were so well received and impactful. THANK YOU. In fact, Kevin, our CEO, has repeatedly commented this month how our employees are so change ready….that he has never experienced that before and is so pleased. Thank you all for your nights, weekends, and dedication to ensure our OCM work makes a difference to our employees….which it HAS!"
— Tim Spearin, Director of Workforce Development, Gas South
"Matthew is extremely knowledgeable in resume writing and updating LinkedIn profiles to help maximize your job search. I am currently looking for a new career opportunity and Matthew helped me update my initial resume (that had not been touched in years). We had a couple of sessions to brainstorm on key areas to update, such as relevant skills, as well as, key words to highlight within the resume to better market my skills. With Matthew's help, I have a great resume foundation that is helping me land interviews right now. I would highly recommend Matthew if you are looking for a new career opportunity and need help to market yourself in the job market."
- Doug Schwieger, Chief Transformation Officer, Cathcart Rail
"Matthew is simply an outstanding change management leader and facilitator. He helped lead our organization through multiple simultaneous, large, and sometimes competing transformation initiatives. Matthew is expert in developing thoughtful communications and change management strategy while putting the organization's leadership at the forefront of delivery - reinforcing trust and fostering collaboration, even when both our opportunity areas for the team.
As a leader who worked with Matthew, I am especially appreciative of his mastery in recognizing and drawing out strengths in others...when they may not immediately recognize those strengths themselves. Its this particular talent that makes Matthew ideal for leading organizations through transformational change. I would enthusiastically recommend him for OCM leadership for any organization."
— Brent Badger, Transformational Technology Product Leader, Quantum Health
“Matthew joined my team in an advisory capacity to assist me in mapping out our learning and change strategy surrounding our organization’s push into the world of electric commercial trucks. As a leader in this space, Volvo Trucks plans to deliver the highest level of training for our sales and aftermarket teammates in our dealer network.
Matthew was able to, in a very short time, take a massive volume of information generated over the years across the enterprise and distill it down into a comprehensive learning and change strategy in a way that is easy to consume and share with executives.
As the learning leader responsible for designing and delivering learning to our dealer personnel and dealer-facing staff in the group, his proactive approach to moving this critical piece of the puzzle forward took a huge burden off my shoulders. He truly helped me to’set the course’ for this important learning and change project.
I strongly recommend Matthew and hope to re-engage him in future projects in the not-too-distant-future. ”
— Steve Parkins, Director Professional Competence, Volvo Trucks N.A.
“Matthew Smart worked on my team for a critical project, in a change management and training capacity. His extensive knowledge of the change management frameworks, tools, and metrics was truly impressive. Matthew was extremely quick at understanding the remit of the project, proactive at engaging with the various stakeholders, and very diligent at following up. The work he delivered was of great quality, and consistently on time. We truly enjoyed having Matthew as part of our team, plus he always has interesting stories to share!”
— Alexandre Guenault, Director Strategic Insights and Planning, IHG
“Matthew came on board to update and manage a change management plan for the rollout of a new platform that would impact over 20,000 users worldwide with substantially new processes to learn, as well as fill in as an Instructional Designer for specific training modules were gaps had been identified. His work ethic, rigor, and extensive experience allowed the project to come out of critical status and gave the executive leadership team confidence that the Change Management workstream was back on track. He also showcased his abilities to quickly understand stakeholder expectations and to learn new content to be able to deliver results immediately. It has been a pleasure to work with Matthew and I look forward to watching his career advance.”
— Ricardo Alvarado, Director Business Process and Strategy, Jabian Consulting
“I first had a chance to work with Matthew during Greater Atlanta ATD’s, trainer showdown where Matthew was crowned the winner. His presentation on The Effective Elevator Pitch was engaging, insightful and provided a different perspective on the importance of a pitch as an employee. Even with only 15 minutes, Matthew was able to add gamification to his presentation; this differentiated him for the others. When it comes to gamification, Matthew is one of the best in Atlanta. He is able to turn a typically mind numbing training topic and transform it into a workshop that not only entertains his audience, but also yields impact and results. This is sometimes the hardest thing to do when implementing games into an adult training environment. What really sets Matthew apart is his ability to create games in a reasonable time frame that are also easy to understand no matter the level of experience for the learner.
He recently co-hosted a gamification mini workshop for Greater Atlanta ATD and he introduced new ideas and concepts of gamification and how it can be creatively implemented in any organization. Our members were so impressed with Matthew; we will be asking him to come back again soon to host another workshop.
I highly recommend Matthew for any speaking, design and consulting work.”
— Lakisha Brooks, ATD Atlanta President