A course on change management in the real world

I spend a lot of time training teams in new approaches like agile development, but most of this training is about new techniques themselves rather than the process of managing the adoption and acceptance of those techniques.

I also spend a lot of time coaching project managers in how to run more effective projects, but I find that a lot of my time is spent on helping them to deal with internal politics, resistance to their projects and communication issues – which do not form part of most project management courses.

As a result I believe there is a need for good training in the area of managing change.

So I have written a two day course to equip managers and project leaders with pragmatic approaches and concrete techniques for anticipating and managing the impact of change in their organisations.

I know there are other change management courses around but I believe that many of them focus on the theory of change rather than the practical implementation of change in the real world.

My new change management course consists of four modules. Each module can be delivered as a stand-alone course over half a day and are designed to flow together as a single 2 day course. 

1. The first module introduces the concepts of change management and then focuses on:
   • Conducting the initial engagement interview and creating a working understanding of what communication is needed on a project;
   • Performing a basic stakeholder analysis; and
   • Building a communication plan for an existing project.
2. The second module focuses on performing a change readiness assessment:
   • Using a systems view to analyse the value proposition, services, skills and processes of new or existing teams;
   • Assessing teams from a socio-political perspective, to understand the connection between culture, politics, power, rewards and recognition, social interaction and tradition in a team; and
   • Identifying the key factors that will encourage or constrain the adoption of a particular change in a team or organisation.
3. The third module focuses on creating a clear and persuasive message:
   • Preparing the team to communicate;
   • Aligning the message with the appropriate channel and format;
   • Clarifying what to communicated and how to best frame the communication;
   • Creating two way communication to listen to stakeholder feedback and respond effectively; and
   • Measuring the impact and progress of change and communication.
4. The fourth module brings the previous concepts together to create an implementation plan:
   • Applying adaptive planning approaches to implementing change; and
   • Handing over the knowledge and support needed to sustain the change once the project ends.

Each module introduces some of the theories relevant to the subject area and then provides room for discussion about how those theories apply in the real world. But the main focus is on practical techniques that can be applied to projects and initiatives in the real world.

Simple techniques are introduced for smaller initiatives and then more complex techniques are introduced through the application of a case study that grows in complexity with each module. Or, for in house courses, I can replace the case study with a real project and coach the team in using the techniques in their own, live, environment.

I have not booked any public courses at this stage but will do so if there is sufficient demand. So please let me know if you are interested in:

• Attending a public course;
• Learning more about how the course can be run in-house for your team; or
• Coaching a small number of in-house experts to apply the techniques and run a customised version of the course in-house as part of a large change initiative.

In addition to running the course I also provide coaching to individuals and teams in many of the concepts that I have included in the course.