Leading Change, Innovation, and Creativity
The plan was sound. The rollout is where it died.
Change initiatives do not usually fail because the idea was wrong. They fail in the gap between the decision and the day people have to work differently, and that gap is owned by managers who were told about it slightly before their teams were.
This workshop is about that gap. Participants learn why resistance is usually information rather than obstruction, and that the person pushing back often knows something the plan did not account for. They practice communicating a change honestly to people who will absorb its cost, which is a different skill from announcing it.
Senior leaders use this ahead of a reorganization, a system rollout, or a policy shift, ideally before the announcement rather than after it stalls. HR and learning and development leaders use it where change fatigue is high and each new initiative gets less traction than the last. It works in constrained environments, including public sector settings where the change is mandated and the leader's job is to land it well rather than to decide it.
Content, scenarios, and examples are built around your actual work before delivery. Most groups train live online, and on-site in-person delivery is available by request. This workshop is available by request only, with a three participant minimum, and sits alongside our other leadership development workshops.
This course includes
- Live, instructor led half-day workshop
- Analysis of a real change from your own organization that did not take
- Practice communicating change to teams that did not choose it
- Techniques for telling reasonable resistance from obstruction
- Digital learning materials and take home reference guides
- Certificate of completion for every participant
Description
The session opens on why change stalls, which is rarely the reason leadership assumes. Participants examine a change from their own organization that did not take, and trace where it actually broke. Most find it broke at the layer that had to implement it without being consulted, or at the point where the old way was quietly easier and nobody removed it.
The middle is resistance. Participants practice distinguishing someone who will lose something real from someone who dislikes change in general, because the two need completely different responses. They work on communicating a change to a team that did not choose it, including the part most leaders skip: naming honestly what it will cost and not pretending it is all upside.
The last stretch is performance through transition and the innovation side. Participants learn to protect output while people are learning a new way, decide what to stop so there is room for the new thing, and create the conditions where ideas actually surface. Every exercise uses a real change from the room.
What You'll Learn at a Glance
- Identify where change actually breaks, which is rarely at the decision
- Tell reasonable resistance from obstruction and respond differently to each
- Communicate a change honestly to people who will bear its cost
- Name what a change will cost rather than presenting only upside
- Protect performance while people are learning a new way
- Decide what to stop so there is room for the new thing
- Create conditions where ideas surface before they are asked for
Details
Duration
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this workshop. It is designed for managers and senior staff responsible for leading teams through change. Leaders who also need the stakeholder side of a major initiative can pair it with Improving Project Communications and Stakeholder Management.
Your Leadership Training Goals, Customized to You
DWC provides expert leadership training aligned to your organization’s needs, your funding requirements, and your participants’ skill levels. With customization at every level, from content to scheduling to delivery format, DWC builds leadership training programs that produce measurable outcomes.
20,000+ Participants Trained | 90% Completion Rate | 1,500+ Organizations Served
Tuition
Leading Change, Innovation, and Creativity is available by request only, scheduled around your team.
- $395 per participant, with a three participant minimum
- Private training: request a custom quote. One on one sessions and teams below the three participant minimum are priced case by case
- Larger groups: request a custom quote. We price larger cohorts case by case based on group size, schedule, and delivery format
- Optional courseware: the Leadership & Change Management Student Guide (Logical Operations) is available at $60 per participant and is not included in the course price
Colorado state agencies, higher education institutions, cities, counties, school districts, and certified nonprofits may purchase this course directly through our State of Colorado Price Agreement. Request a quote and we will build pricing around your team.