Course Outcomes

This change management course for leaders will:

  • Provide an overview of the change process and steps leaders can take to successfully drive a transformation initiative.
  • Offer techniques for preparing organizations for change.
  • Outline reasons change initiatives often fail.
  • Suggest methods for addressing resistance and negativity.
  • Offer suggestions for rolling out a change management plan.

Course Overview

If your organization is doing business the same way it was even five years ago, you’re in a minority. Customer needs evolve, people come and go, regulations tighten (or loosen), and technology adjusts how people do their work.

With all the changes, what could wrong?  Plenty.

Despite their frequency, workplace changes are not always introduced, timed, or managed well. 

This change management training course discusses change management models, change strategies, reactions to change, change resistance, change saturation, and steps to prevent failure.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Describe several change management models.
  • Explain four change-management strategies.
  • Recognize reactions to change and how to manage them.
  • Understand resistance to change and tactics for managing it.
  • Outline the reasons many change initiatives fail and how to prevent those failures.
  • Assess their organization’s readiness for change.
  • Devise a plan for implementing change.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key 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 participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

Nuts and Bolts: Getting Familiar with Definitions, Questions, and Models

During this introductory discussion, participants will define change as it relates to their organization, examine questions they should always consider before embarking on a change initiative, identify various stakeholder groups, and explore classic change models: Kurt Lewin’s process, Kotter’s eight steps, ADKAR, and appreciative inquiry.

Under the Hood: Exploring Change Management Strategies

As the old saying goes, once you know where you are going, getting there is easier.  In this second course unit, the facilitator will lead a discussion around four change strategies.  Participants will determine the underlying assumptions surrounding the strategies, when to use each, and how often each strategy is currently employed. 

People on the Road: Understanding Reactions to Change

Through an interactive building exercise, this portion of the program looks at Daryl Conner’s interpretation of the human response to change. We will also discuss how front-line employees, middle management, and upper management are affected by change. 

Detours, Potholes, and Accidents: Managing Resistance to Change

In this seminar segment, we will examine Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ five stages of grief as they relate to change management.  Next, participants will suggest tactics for effectively managing each stage in the process.  From there, the group will examine the pace at which different people embrace change, change saturation, and tactics for moving people through the process. 

Maintenance Routines: Preventing Fails

Poor planning, bad timing, or change for the wrong reasons are among the reasons change projects fail when they don’t have to.  During this program component, participants will examine a dozen common reasons for failure as well as actions leaders can take to prevent many of these things from occurring. 

25-Point Checkup: Assessing Where Your Organization Is

This part of the program allows participants to rate their organization’s communication, sponsorship, stakeholder management, readiness, and training plan as they relate to change.  Based on the results, the group will then identify any gaps and a plan for addressing those shortcomings.

How Do I (Oops, I Mean We) Tell (or Rather, Sell) Them?: Discussing Ways to Involve Stakeholders to Drive and Communicate Change

How change is communicated can often affect its acceptance. This portion of the training examines the pitfalls of communicating change and strategies for setting the stage for effective buy-in. 

At the program’s conclusion, participants will have an understanding of the process of change, how they can be a positive force in driving that change, and best practices for implementing change in an organization.