Certificate of Change Management

Overview

Lead to effectively drive positive change.

Change is exciting for anyone who loves opportunities to grow, learn about new things, or shift the status quo. Change can also be a mental and emotional challenge, leading to expressions of fear, denial, resistance, and anger. Fortunately, we can take concrete steps to de-fang change, utilizing Social and Emotional Intelligence to understand how people – ourselves and others – process and respond to it.

In the nonprofit sector, change management practices are essential for navigating the big, inevitable inflection points: when new leadership emerges, internal culture shifts, or leading a community in a new direction. As a process and strategy, change management is also vital for improving performance outcomes and responding to environmental shifts in funding, finance, and politics.

Leaders must understand not only the theory and process of change, but how to help people overcome their resistance and pitch in. This powerful two-day workshop marries the 26 research-based competencies of Social and Emotional Intelligence with John Kotter’s pioneering eight-step process for leading any group through needed changes. Participants will also gain a powerful framework for influencing change in their own teams, no matter how big or small, by reading and unpacking the New York Times bestseller Our Iceberg Is Melting.

PRE-CLASS ASSIGNMENT Please be sure to obtain a copy of Our Iceberg Is Melting by John Kotter and read it prior to class. The book can be purchased inexpensively from online and storefront bookstores, or you can borrow it for free from your local library.

Learning Objectives

• Demonstrate awareness of your personal style regarding change, your response to new or unexpected situations, and the responses common to people on any team.
• Recognize how to improve your response to change, based on your personal style.
• Explain how the change management process works.
• Identify the eight steps of Kotter’s change-management model for successfully driving a change process.
• Name strategies for identifying organizational resistance to change, and approaches for managing it.
• Describe communication techniques to help others better support your change agenda.

NOTE: You must be able to attend both live in-person sessions to receive the certificate. If you need to miss a day, please contact nu@gcn.org to move your registration to the next offering of the certificate. Please note that viewing the recording will not count towards your attendance for this series.

Audience

Staff managing programs up through executive leadership