Change Management Consulting

Consultancy has many different flavours, and change management consulting is a wide field. On this page I explain what I offer your organisation, how I work and how I make sure I am giving you creative, innovative guidance relevant to your situation.

I have dedicated my career to building the capability for change in organisations and it is the thing that gives me the greatest satisfaction. I think that what I do is valuable because there is so much change taking place and so many staff are not coping. They feel they are on constantly shifting sands, and eventually it gets too much. They leave their job in search of something more stable. In reality, they are unlikely to find this, but it is too late, they have left your organisation.

Melanie Franklin- Agile Change Management Trainer
Agile Training
Play Video

Building your capability to lead change

What consultancy work can I do for you?

I have dedicated my career to building the capability for change in organisations and it is the thing that gives me the greatest satisfaction. I think that what I do is valuable because there is so much change taking place and so many staff are not coping. They feel they are on constantly shifting sands, and eventually it gets too much. They leave their job in search of something more stable. In reality, they are unlikely to find this, but it is too late, they have left your organisation. 

To address this common problem, I work at all levels within the organisation to upskill individuals in how to lead themselves and others through the stages of change. Change triggers emotions, from fear to excitement and we need to know how to maximise the positive emotions and inspire motivation. We also need coping strategies for minimising the stress and resistance associated with new ways of working.

I work with you to design a repeatable process for managing all types of change, relevant to the culture and strategy of your organisation. I undertake the stakeholder analysis, visioning and planning from concept to adoption, working with all those that are managing change and supporting its implementation. 

What is my approach to my work?

Building trust via empathy, consistent delivery and making good on the promises I make; adapting my leadership style to the situation; building networks of champions to continue the work that my consultancy assignments begin.

I am known for delivering practical, pragmatic solutions that realise financial and repetitional benefits for my clients, and improve customer satisfaction and staff engagement. 

Am I well connected?

I have an extensive network of contacts from many industries, in many countries. I was the chair of the Change Management Institute in the UK for many years and I am the founder of the Continuous Change Community which is a global thought leadership group in change and transformation.

I facilitate events every month, posing questions relevant to the management consulting profession, piloting ideas and providing a forum for challenge and ideation from professionals across the globe.

I continually develop my professional network, guided by the concepts of diversity and inclusion to source as many different perspectives as possible. This ensures I have a wide range of examples from organisations, industries, governments and NGOs to make the case for change for my clients.

I enjoy building my network as I meet fascinating people and learn new things, and I feel a sense of accomplishment when I introduce my contacts to each other so they can develop their networks.

How do I stay up to date?

I am a work in progress. I believe it is essential that I continue to develop my knowledge and skills, because there are so many new developments, relying only on my existing abilities will eventually make me out of date. To hold myself to this standard of continuing professional development.

Studying with the Strategy Implementation Institute to keep up to date with the latest thinking in scoping and planning strategy. This exposes me to new sources of information and gives me a chance to explore my thinking and have it challenged by practitioners from around the world.

Studying with Academia de Neurociencia y Educación to build my skills and expertise in neuroscience, as understanding how our brains work underpins so much of the latest thinking in behavioural change. This helps me to develop new solutions in communicating the benefits, impacts and risks of different change/transformation strategies.

In my assignments I help my clients to develop flexibility in their thinking, supporting this with mechanisms for continually scanning the horizon for trends, disruptors and potential collaborations. I apply the same approach to my own development, staying open to new opportunities for learning, networking and supporting others.

Can I be trusted?

Yes, I have a strong moral code which I apply to my work. For example, turning work down if it creates a conflict of interest or if I do not have all the requisite skills; evidencing my answers to provide solutions and not just opinions, delivering on diversity and inclusion via the introductions I make to clients from my network.

I become your trusted adviser and your critical friend. You can rely on my ethics, integrity and my ability to maintain confidentiality. 

Examples of my work

Client names are withheld as my services are confidential but references are available upon request
Internal change management approach

The organisation has a central team of change management specialists who are supporting major change initiatives. They need a unified approach to scoping, planning and implementing all types of change. They need to ensure their approach includes recognised best practice in project, programme, portfolio and change management. In addition, we need to ensure that what is created is intuitive and easy to follow for their internal customers who are line managers and staff with full time “business as usual” workloads.

I oversee the development of their approach, and I develop and deliver the training to build the internal capability for change through practical techniques for achieving behavioural change, using my experience of neuroscience and positive psychology.

Client/customer facing implementation approach

I work for many organisations who have a product or service that needs to be adopted by their customers. Only when the customers start working in the new way can the organisation claim a successful assignment. 

I work with the internal project teams to develop their implementation approach. Often, the starting point is their existing project plan, enhanced to include the behavioural change activities that the customer needs to undertake. We are going further than a “roll-out”, we are helping our customers change their ways of working to incorporate the new platform, app or service into their routines.

Critical friend for the senior leadership team

I work with senior executives to develop skills in the management of the portfolio of initiatives that deliver the strategic objectives. I help these leaders with practical, pragmatic techniques that they can apply to navigating high volumes of change, whilst maintaining their strategic focus.

Sometimes this work is at the macro-level, defining the values and beliefs needed for a culture of innovation. I identify the steps needed to develop and maintain the portfolio of all change initiatives across the organisation, including criteria for authorising initiatives and a governance framework to manage the portfolio.

I suggest a range of measures and a process of benefits management to enable your organisation to identify, realise and measure the benefits of change initiatives, including the roles and responsibilities and the techniques for this important management discipline.

At other times, it is at the micro-level, helping to define the activities for effective sponsorship of change. This includes training in the practicalities of tracking and measuring progress, developing the network of change champions that support the change, horizon scanning for impact and inter-dependencies and prioritisation of initiatives.  

I provide on-site executive coaching for those sponsoring the change in each of the affected business areas, to ensure that the change is successfully adopted as early as possible.

FAQs

I charge a professional daily rate, in half and one day increments.  The number of days per assignment will be agreed between us. In some cases, we will agree several days per month, over a number of months.

I record all my work on a timesheet which I can submit with my invoice. 

Once we agree the assignment, I will invoice as these are payable 30 days after the invoice date, and the work is likely to be completed during this timeframe. 

I will send you a booking form, which is a simple contract, identifying the amount of time you are buying from me, and the payment terms. In signing this booking form, I require a Purchase Order number to be included, as this is your “promise of payment” that triggers the invoicing process.

Yes, you can record my sessions for future use, but this must be within agreed privacy parameters for anyone else on the online call.

Yes, I sign Non Disclosure Agreements (NDA) and I take this as a sign that you value the confidentiality of the assignment and that you take the protection of copyright seriously.

A request for proposal (RFP) is not suited to the individual service that I offer. An RFP needs a detailed proposal and a sales pitch. It might sound arrogant, but if you want to work with me, I need you to seek me out, not me to pitch for your business. This is because I want a personal, trusted relationship with you and your organisation. If you want to follow an RFP process for your change management needs, then I am not the right person for you.

Consultancy with Melanie

Enquire

Contact Melanie and arrange a brief call to find out more about Consulting for you or your team.