Managing Change - Online Course

Change is an undeniable aspect of today's business world. The leaders of an organization are called upon to guide their teams through the change process and to provide a critical bridge between the old way of doing things and new work practices. This series shows managers the three major elements of leadership in times of significant change -- the need to refocus yourself, to lead the team, and to work effectively with individual team members.

This series is for anyone who wants to successfully lead a workgroup through periods of change. This online course contains 3 lessons and should take approximately 5 hours to complete.

Lesson 1: Refocusing Yourself (1.0) hour

Refocusing Yourself teaches you how to analyze the change both globally and for a specific work unit, gather important resources in the early stages of a change, model the values and attitudes you want to see on your team, and make decisions in an atmosphere of uncertainty. This course provides information on how a manager can refocus and gather important resources in the early stages of a significant corporate change. Topics include Understanding the from-to, Choosing a productive response, Gathering your resources, Walking the talk, and Dealing with ambiguity.

Lesson 2: Leading the Team (2.0) hours

Leading the Team teaches you how to describe transition rules and how to use them, convey the idea of change to your team, explain how to get your team involved in the process of change, measure the progress of your team, hold it accountable, and reward it, and deal with rumors. This course provides information about leading a work unit through organizational change. It focuses on helping your team adapt to change by implementing transition rules, getting team members involved, rewarding your team for achievements, and squashing rumors. Topics include Explaining what's happening, Finding the anchor, Getting team members involved, Measuring and celebrating progress, and Squashing the rumor mill.

Lesson 3: Working with Individuals (2.0) hours

Working with Individuals teaches you how to recognize that people react to change in different ways, customize help for struggling individuals, use empathy to deal with a dissatisfied employee, help individuals find personal, positive consequences, and recognize and address the unintended consequences of change. This course explains why some members of a team have a difficult time positively engaging in change situations, and what you, as a change leader, can do to help them through the change. Topics include Natural reactions to change, Dealing with dissatisfaction, Pinpointing the positives, and Unintended consequences.