What is Change Management ?

Change management is a set of ideas, strategies and skills that you can apply to ensure business change is successful for the business and all involved in it.

You can apply these techniques in -

Planning for change
Implementing change
Supporting continuous improvement following change.

What is Change ?

You can apply change management techniques any type of organisations change -

Departmental mergers / restructuring
Change of business focus from one market to another
Implementation of new technology
Moving office location

What can we gain from Change Management training ?

Organisations sometimes implement major changes without any investment in skills or processes to manage and monitor the change. Sometimes this works but sometimes it can go awry.

An investment in change management skills will help your business:

Recognise and influence the impact that people’s attitudes can have on the outcome
Devise a change strategy so you are not so easily caught up in the frequent complexity and turmoil associated with change
Understand the phases that a businesses and people will go through during change.

Change Life Cycle

Like life itself, many business changes go through a fairly predictable cycle. By understanding the stages , you can plan for them and you are less likely to be taken by surprise.

One popular model for change suggests four stages:

Contentment - People are comfortable with the current situation
Denial - A new change is required or discussed by mangers in the business. At the stage the change is simply rejected by those whose support is needed.
Confusion - People start to discuss the change but people are uncertain. Ambiguity and suspicion triumph.
Renewal - Change is accepted and many see it as an opportunity.

Course Aims & Content

The course aims to give mangers and those involved in change:

A chance to plan the process of change
An ability to distinguish between the content and process of change
An understanding of the life cycle for major change and how to plan for success at each stage.
An understanding of the likely range of individual reactions to change and how to deal with them
A range of techniques to be used at different stages in the change process.
An insight into ways to overcome resistance to change.

Depending on the delegates and the planned changes we will introduce one or more of the following techniques:

Transactional Analysis
Communication styles
The Psychological Contract
Edward De Bono -Six Thinking Hats

Course Structure

This is essentially a very practical two day course.

Delegates will gain most from the course if we can base our training on a specific change that is underway or under consideration in the business. The course includes many exercises and role plays which we will base where possible around planned or current changes in the business.

We will need to meet with at least a few of the delegates in advance of the course so we can tailor the course to meet your business needs.