Course Highlights
This change management training program for individual contributors will:
- Identify early signals that change is coming and explain what typically drives it.
- Examine why capable, experienced employees respond differently to the same transition.
- Introduce practical tools for navigating the emotional side of change without getting stuck.
- Show where workplace change most often surfaces and why anticipating it reduces friction.
- Provide structured frameworks for adapting, advocating, and speaking up during transition.
- Address the non-linear nature of change acceptance and offer strategies for stabilizing when momentum slips.
Program Overview
Change rarely waits for a convenient moment. Signals appear before announcements are made, expectations shift before direction settles, and new demands arrive before the old ones are resolved. Individual contributors are expected to adjust, stay productive, and hold their footing through all of it.
“When Shift Happens: Skills for Navigating Change” is a full-day onsite workshop designed specifically for employees who are experiencing organizational change, not managing it from above. The course treats change as something that happens to real people in real jobs and focuses on building the awareness and practical skill to respond well rather than simply endure.
The workshop opens by examining what change actually looks like before it becomes obvious, and what forces tend to drive it. From there, the interactive program moves into emotional response, where the room explores what shapes reaction and works through a structured model for processing the harder feelings that transition often produces. A visual model for understanding where change tends to land at work gives participants a way to anticipate friction across roles, relationships, processes, and work expectations before it catches them off guard.
The second half of the day focuses on action. Two structured frameworks give attendees concrete approaches for adapting to change and for raising concerns, proposing solutions, and requesting support in ways that are clear and professional. The course closes by naming something most change training ignores: progress during change is messy, and setbacks are not signs of failure. Participants will identify strategies for recalibrating when momentum slips and for staying in motion when the path gets harder.
The following outline highlights some of the course’s learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).
Program Objectives
At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Identify early signs of change and explain what often drives them.
- Describe common emotional reactions to change and the factors that shape response.
- Apply the SHIFT model to navigate the emotional aspects of transition.
- Explain the change pyramid and where workplace change most often manifests.
- Apply the COPE framework to adapt during change.
- Use the FAIR framework to self-advocate during transition.
- Identify strategies for managing the non-linear nature of change acceptance.
Workshop Modules
The Tremors Begin: Cracks in the Foundation
The workshop opens with a practical discussion about what change actually looks and feels like before it becomes official. Participants will examine signals that show up across communication, structure, operations, and workplace culture, and connect those signals to the internal and external forces that most commonly drive them. The room will also explore why staying attuned to those signals gives employees a meaningful advantage when transition arrives.
Shifting Floors: Sinking Sand Underfoot
From signals, the focus shifts to response. This part of the day examines the full range of emotional reactions people have to change and surfaces the factors that shape how any individual lands on that spectrum. Attendees will apply the SHIFT model to real or hypothetical transition scenarios, working through each element to practice processing emotional response in a way that builds forward momentum rather than stalls it.
You Are Here: Mapping the Unstable Landscape
Change does not land uniformly, and this portion of the course makes that visible. The change pyramid organizes the three areas where workplace change most commonly surfaces: roles and relationships, processes and workflows, and work product expectations. Learners will use the model to map the friction and uncertainty they have experienced or anticipate, connecting each layer to the specific challenges it tends to produce.
Finding New Footing: Taking Action
The workshop moves into adaptation. Participants will work through a series of workplace vignettes using the COPE framework, identifying how someone in each situation could communicate, find opportunity, propose alternatives, and protect their effectiveness and well-being during transition. The group will leave this portion of the day with a clearer picture of what constructive action actually looks like from where they sit.
Stepping onto New Ground: Coping Language
Knowing what to do and knowing how to say it are two different skills. This part of the course concentrates on language. Attendees will apply the FAIR framework to realistic scenarios involving shifting tools, schedules, expectations, and methodologies, practicing how to state facts, name impact, and request support in ways that are professional and direct without escalating tension.
Slippery When Wet: Backsliding and Stabilizing
The course closes with a conversation most change training skips. Progress during transition is rarely straight, and regression is part of the process, not evidence that something has gone wrong. This final discussion names that dynamic directly and gives the group strategies for maintaining momentum, practicing self-compassion, and recalibrating when the footing gets slippery again. Participants will identify the approaches that fit their own patterns and leave with a grounded sense of how to keep moving forward.
Target Audience
This workshop is designed for groups that want to:
- Prepare individual contributors for upcoming workplace change before it fully lands.
- Support employees who are already navigating change in motion.
- Build practical awareness, adaptation, and self-advocacy skills at the individual contributor level.
- Give people a structured way to process the emotional and practical demands of transition.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this course different from CNG-033?
Both workshops focus on individual contributors navigating change rather than leading it. When Shift Happens is a full-day program with greater depth across each topic area and more extended practice time with the SHIFT, COPE, and FAIR frameworks. CNG-033 runs in a half day or full day and covers similar foundational ground with a slightly different tool set. The pre-session conversation will help identify which is the better fit for your group’s needs and timeline.
The course description mentions the SHIFT model for emotional response. Is this a therapeutic approach?
No. The SHIFT model is a structured framework for working through emotional reactions to change in a professional context. The session is not designed to provide counseling or personal therapy. It focuses on helping participants recognize their response patterns, understand what is driving them, and select practical choices for moving forward. The facilitator maintains a professional tone throughout.
Our team is dealing with a change that has been poorly communicated. Will this workshop help?
Yes. One of the things this course does well is help individual contributors build agency in situations where clarity is incomplete or communication has been inconsistent. The COPE and FAIR frameworks are specifically designed to help people adapt and self-advocate even when the direction they have received is imperfect. The workshop does not paper over real problems, but it does give people something useful to do in the meantime.
Does the course address what happens when change stalls or feels like it is going backward?
Yes. The final module focuses on backsliding and stabilization. The workshop treats non-linear progress as normal rather than as failure and gives participants specific strategies for regaining footing when momentum slips. That discussion often resonates strongly with groups who are further into a difficult transition.
Is this workshop appropriate for groups that include people at different stages of accepting the change?
Yes, and that variation is part of what makes it productive. The course uses the change pyramid and other tools to help the group see that people land differently on the same transition, which makes the differences less personal and more workable. Mixed groups tend to generate richer discussion, provided the facilitator manages the room well. Ours do.