Change Management

“Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”

Niccolo Machiavelli 

The world is changing and is changing faster than ever before. Our technological progress is affecting every area of our lives and as a result of that, the markets are changing quickly too. Organisations that want to remain competitive in this ever changing market need to be one step ahead of the change or risk losing out to those who do.

Responding to change requires a continuous change programme where the company can constantly and dynamically adapt. Alternatively, an organisation may need to go through a major change programme periodically to remain competitive.

Going through change can be quite costly, but it is a necessary part of progressing forward. People in charge of a change management progress must consider a variety of areas such as organisational change, persuasion, how to communicate the need for change, how to gain momentum, how to overcome resistance to change and how to deal with powerful resisting stakeholders to succeed.

This course is designed to help the participants familiarise themselves with these topics so they can be prepared to handle them when designing or executing a change management programme.

The course contains both theoretical and practical content. Participants will learn about established theories of change management and reasons for failure. They will learn what is involved in each stage of a change programme and what they need to consider to maximise the likelihood of its success. This is then complemented by people management techniques such as skills management, persuasion techniques, coaching, mentoring and motivating.

In this highly practical course participants will learn:

Why Change?

• Why organisations fail?
• What are various types of change?
• What are various phases of growth?
• What are major established theories on change management and how do they compare with each other?
• What is the difference between leading and managing?

How Change Affects People

• How do people respond to change?
• What goes through people’s mind when they are confronted with change in different stages?
• How ideas spread and what does this mean for change management?

How Organisational Change Works

• What are the 8 stages of change and what should you consider in each stage to maximise the likelihood of success?
• What are the principles of effective change?
• What are the common problems when managing changes that if neglected can seriously impact the change process?

Managing Resistance

• Why people resist change?
• How can you deal with this resistance?
• What are the techniques available to persuade people on change?
• How can you engage stakeholders considering their power and interest?

How to Manage Change

• What are the critical three components of a change management programme?
• What tools can you use to manage and monitor employee skills and identify skill gaps?
• How to develop employee skill profile
• What are various options in filling these skill gaps and what are each methods advantages and disadvantages?

Mentoring, Coaching and Motivating

• How critical is motivation in the context of change management?
• What is Skill/Will Matrix and how can you use it for coaching and managing change?
• What is mentoring, what is coaching and what is the difference between them?
• How can you use the GROW model to provide effective coaching?

Management Tools

• What are the tools used for brainstorming ideas on change and structuring your plans and activities?
• What tools can you use to identify what works for change and what works against it?
• What tools can you use to monitor the scope of change and make sure that your plans are consistent and are applied at the right level?

Audience: Anyone

Prerequisites: None

Course Duration: 1 Day

Course Level: Beginners & Intermediate 

By the end of this course the delegates will be able to:

• Understand why some organisations fail in change management
• Understand how people handle change and why their reactions matter
• Plan stages of a change process and increase the likelihood of success by adhering to proven principles of change management
• Understand why people are afraid of change and use behavioural techniques to overcome their resistance to change
• Identify skill gaps and required infrastructural changes through a structured approach
• Evaluate people’s performance and use coaching and mentoring to motivate them towards change
• Use various tools to identify which areas you need to focus on the most and brainstorm ideas on how to move the change process forward

Change management is an extensive field as it touches on many aspects of organisational management including psychology, behavioural studies,  general resource management and project management techniques. As a result, this 1-day course is designed to focus on critical parts of this field to swiftly familiarise the participants with important areas, guidelines and techniques that are well-established in the field.

The course can also be used for people who are subject to change and not necessarily in charge of a change programme. This course will help this group of people to better understand what goes through a change programme and how they can contribute. Exercises are also designed to help delegates systematically discuss various aspects of dealing with change. Through these discussions delegates will learn from each other on different trends and techniques in change management and also practice persuading others on what they think is right. The trainer can then relate back these discussions to persuasion techniques discussed in the course for further training on the subject.