The Optimal Change Agent : Leading Organizations through Difficult
and Complex Times


We live in an age of incredible speed, exponential complexity and information overload. We work and must lead others in an era that demands efficiency, innovation and accountability, not a tolerance of the status quo, low performance or individual entitlement. Organizations that know how to change, by encouraging their employees to embrace rather than resist new ways of doing things, are organizations that will thrive and prosper in these difficult but opportunistic times.

The challenge in dealing with paradox and the seeming chaos, instability and unpredictability of today is to find the zone of highest adaptability, creativity and mindfulness. Leaders who know how to encourage people to embrace rather than resist new ways of doing things, how to build and leverage intellectual capital, change mindsets, reconfigure resources, engage people, and build team cultures of high performance and agility will be much in demand.

Diagnosing, leading and managing organizational change is the requisite business skill of the new economy, particularly in entities that engage in non-stop re-engineering, restructuring and reinvention to remain competitive. Enter the optimal change agent. His or her job is to develop capabilities to increase the organization’s capacity to pro-act, be resilient and adapt to the dictates of the innovation economy.  What will count is getting the process right – making sure the right people are focused on the right things and have the right tools to do what must be done.

Whether the primary concern is developing better strategic plans, nurturing innovation, aligning roles and responsibilities, operationalizing values-based behaviours, overcoming resistance and building trust, or encouraging productivity and efficiency, knowing how to design, implement and successfully manage major change initiatives is vital to your profitability and thus the realization of your career goals.

The most vulnerable entities to the onslaught of unforeseen, relentless and accelerating change are those entities which are the most successful and hence likely the most complacent. Yet we approach our organizational (people) challenges with antiquated tools and business models that were developed, for the most part, in the early 20th century. Among the key reasons for failed change in today’s complex, brutally competitive business environment are a dismal comprehension of how people actually deal with change in their lives, the cost/speed dynamics of implementing change, how to isolate and diagnose organizational cancers, how to overcome inbred aversion to risk, how to communicate and engender trust, and how to create stakeholder ownership of the required changes.

The benefits of attending

Upon completion of the program, you will be much better prepared to:

  • Design, initiate and manage strategies for constructive organizational change;
  • Enhance personal comfort in dealing with paradox, complexity, instability and chaos;
  • Foster a culture shift from entitlement and risk aversion to accountability and innovation;
  • Identify a future of preferred choices based on an inspiring vision and clear values that work;
  • Teach others how to plan, think and do their work in a more effective, strategic fashion;
  • Encourage employee commitment to the organization’s mission and success;
  • Build dispute-free and stress-free workplace cultures;
  • Lead and facilitate groups in search of “better, faster and cheaper” ways of doing things:
  • Diagnose and build organizational trust, focus, flexibility and resilience;
  • Customize and apply tools that encourage acceptance of values-based behaviours;
  • Enhance organizational communications in overcoming apathy and resistance to change;
  • Transfer “ownership” of the change process to those who will be most affected by it;
  • Improve decisions about “what's really important” to the organization going forward; and
  • Understand the skills, priorities and choices needed to become an optimal change agent.

Sessions include

  • Becoming an Agent of Change in the 21st Century
  • Drivers of Change in the New/Innovation Economy
  • Guidelines and Structures for Leveraging Intellectual Capital
  • Techniques for Building Trust and Gaining Buy-in
  • Essentials of Strategic Planning: Principles, Architectures & Relationships
  • Building Resilient High Performance Teams
  • Fostering and Managing a Culture of Innovation
  • Doing Things Differently