Course Highlights
This onsite change management course will:
- Explain different types of organizational change and the reactions they commonly produce.
- Examine why change feels hard even when people understand why it is happening.
- Introduce a model for understanding how different people respond to the same change.
- Provide a structured approach for navigating uncertainty and finding a path forward.
- Build practical self-advocacy skills tied to real workplace scenarios.
- Help attendees leave with a personal action plan for their current situation.
Program Overview
“Don’t Look Now, But…: How to Navigate Organizational Change” is an onsite workshop that gives employees a firm foundation for understanding and navigating organizational change. Available as a half-day or full-day program, the session is participatory throughout — built around conversation, self-assessment, and structured practice rather than lecture. The difference between formats is depth of discussion and the number of exercises, not a change in content or direction.
The workshop opens by naming what organizational change actually is and why it unsettles people, even those who understand the reasoning behind it. Change disrupts routines, relationships, and the unspoken agreements people rely on to do their work. Acknowledging that directly, without minimizing it, sets the tone for everything that follows.
From there, participants explore the patterns. Using the Explorer Model, the group examines the roles people tend to adopt when change disrupts familiar ground and why those roles show up the way they do. This gives participants a shared vocabulary for making sense of what they are observing in themselves and their colleagues — language that stays useful long after the session ends.
The middle of the program focuses on navigation. Participants work through the ADOPT framework, a structured way to think about moving forward constructively when the path is not yet clear and the situation keeps shifting. The work stays grounded in what participants can do from where they sit.
The session closes with scenario-based practice around self-advocacy during transition — raising concerns, asking questions, and proposing alternatives clearly and professionally. Participants close with time for personal planning connected to their own situation.
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:
- Explain different types of organizational change and the reactions people have to them.
- Describe the change cycle and its fluid nature.
- Explain the Explorer Model and the roles people adopt when facing change.
- Discuss the benefits and challenges associated with each role.
- Apply the ADOPT framework for navigating change.
- Practice self-advocacy skills during periods of transition.
Workshop Modules
Change Isn’t One Thing: What’s Shifting and Why
The workshop opens with a grounding conversation about the different forms organizational change takes and why the same announcement can feel urgent to one person and irrelevant to another. This opening discussion connects the content to real situations participants are living right now, and the group begins building a common language that carries through the rest of the day.
Why Change Feels Hard: Resistance, Uncertainty, and Past Experience
The course turns its attention to reaction. This participatory discussion names the most common reasons people push back on or disengage from change, and the room will recognize more than a few from personal experience. Attendees will reframe resistance in a way that makes it easier to work with, both in themselves and in colleagues, without glossing over the real frustration that transition produces.
Wheels in Motion: The Change Cycle in Real Life
Change unfolds in stages, and progress through them is rarely straight. This portion of the instructor-led program uses a realistic workplace story to bring the cycle to life. Participants will identify where momentum tends to slow or reverse, locate themselves on the curve, and see their current experience in a broader context. The goal is recognition, not a road map.
Different Roles, Same Change: Seeing the Patterns
People respond differently to identical changes, and those differences show up in predictable ways. This interactive discussion introduces a model for understanding the full range of responses that emerge during disruption. Learners complete a self-assessment during this part of the workshop, compare results with colleagues, and use what they discover to explore their own tendencies and where a bit of stretching might serve them and their teams.
Finding Your Footing: Navigating Change with ADOPT
With a clearer picture of what is happening and why, the onsite program moves into action. Participants work with a structured framework for approaching change as individuals and explore what options are actually available to them right now rather than waiting for conditions to improve. This is one of the most applied portions of the course, and the group will identify specific next steps they chose for themselves.
Speaking Up Without Burning Bridges: Self-Advocacy During Change
The workshop closes with practice. The group works through realistic scenarios involving common change-related tensions and develops sharper, more professional language for raising concerns, asking questions, and proposing alternatives in ways that open conversations rather than shut them down. Attendees build out a personal action plan before the session ends, making this a program people can put to work immediately.
Target Audience
This workshop is designed for groups that want to:
- Give employees practical tools for navigating organizational change as individuals.
- Normalize the emotional experience of transition without lowering performance expectations.
- Strengthen how people communicate and advocate for themselves during periods of disruption.
- Send participants back to their work with a plan, not just perspective.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this workshop better suited to a half day or a full day?
Both formats cover the core content. The half-day option moves more quickly through the change cycle and Explorer Model and focuses on building practical navigation skills. The full-day version allows more time for application, discussion, and deeper practice with the ADOPT framework and self-advocacy scenarios. Which format fits best depends on your group and what you need the day to accomplish. The pre-session conversation will help us make that call together.
Does this workshop ask participants to share personal information about how they have responded to change?
The session involves self-reflection and discussion, but participation is always voluntary. The facilitator creates conditions where people can engage honestly without pressure to disclose more than they are comfortable sharing. The tools and discussions focus on patterns and roles rather than individual performance or history.
Is this the right workshop if change is already under way, or is it better for groups preparing for future change?
Both. The content applies to groups who are already in the middle of a transition and need a shared framework for making sense of it, as well as groups preparing for change that has been announced but not yet fully felt. The pre-session conversation helps us calibrate the examples and emphasis accordingly.
What is the Explorer Model and how is it used in this workshop?
The Explorer Model is a framework for understanding the different roles people tend to adopt when facing organizational change. The workshop introduces the model so participants can recognize their own patterns and those of the people around them without turning those differences into judgments. The goal is to make behavior easier to discuss and easier to work with during transition.
Does this workshop focus on managing others through change, or on managing oneself?
The focus is on navigating change from the inside. This is not a leadership course. Participants develop awareness of their own reactions, gain tools for stabilizing during transition, and build the self-advocacy skills needed to ask questions, raise concerns, and move forward even when direction is incomplete. It works well alongside a separate workshop for leaders and managers.