"The use of this seal is not an endorsement by the HR Certification Institute of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met the HR Certification Institute's criteria to be pre-approved for recertification credit."

"This program, has been approved for 1 (HR (General)) recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the HR Certification Institute. Please be sure to note the program ID number on your recertification application form. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HR Certification Institute website at www.hrci.org."

Overview: It's often cited that 70% of change or transformation initiatives fail (McKinsey, Kotter, and Blanchard). Much of the research into these failures points a lack of planning, communication, and recognition of the impact on employees. William Bridges, author of Transitions and numerous other publications, notes that once leaders announce a change to their organization, they have already spent around six months pondering the change themselves. In other words, they've had time to acclimate to the idea of change.

Yet employees often have very little time to acclimate to changes and are expected to immediately begin implementing a new way of operating. Unfortunately, the human psyche doesn't usually shift that quickly. The expectation of rapid acclimation to and implementation of change causes initiatives to founder, decreases productivity, and increases employee stress.

Whether a change is planned or results from external pressures, leaders can make the most of organizational change by planning, communicating more effectively and checking the mindset of those involved in the change. Often those implementing day to day change are far removed from organizational leaders. While leaders may have a mindset that supports the change, those implementing it may not have a commensurate mindset.

For example, if a technology firm has relocated half of its operations, leaders will be clear that this is the right move for their company. The operational and technical folks may not agree that relocation is the right move and they not even be clear about the rationale. This change may, in fact, make their lives harder because they now need to communicate virtually -- which takes longer and can be less effective. While they were used collaborating and making key decisions around a conference room table, they've now lost that way of interacting. They need to adopt a new way of interacting that will hopefully be as effective. While they and the employees in the new location are busy figuring out how to work together, most likely they are stressed and operational details are falling through the cracks. Or perhaps they focus on putting out daily fires and don't prioritize learning how to collaborate virtually.

In this example, in order to ensure that the technology firm reaps the benefit of relocating half of its operations, leaders need to get buy in from their operational and technical employees. Leaders need to understand their employees' mindset, concerns, questions and make sure that these are addressed thoroughly prior the implementation of change.

During this webinar, participants will learn the typical dynamics of change and how to manage them effectively, how to help employees through transitions with more ease and less stress, and how to turn change into an event that, over time, benefits employees at all levels of the company.

Why should you attend: Are you planning an organization-wide change? Has a competitor's success forced your company rebrand or reorganize? Has a key leader departed or planning to depart?

No matter the intention of a change, how that change is managed directly makes an impact on a company's bottom line. When change isn't handled skillfully, it wreaks financial and operational havoc, generates more stress, and drops productivity. But when change is managed with skill, planning and care, it creates an opportunity for organizations to thrive.

When organizations begin to change, their patterns of operation are disrupted. During this disruption, an opportunity exists to plan, communicate and implement with intention and create an entity that functions more effectively. When this happens, change benefits everyone. When patterns of operation are allowed to reconfigure ineffectively, the change founders or fails.

Areas Covered in the Session:

• Learn about different "change styles"
• Understand the difference between change and transition, and what that can mean in organizations
• Review the five stages of organizational change
• How to plan, communicate and get buy in for change as well as how to overcome resistance
• How to understand how change will impact your company from a system's perspective
• How to assess whether a change has been effective

Who Will Benefit:

• C-Level Leaders
• Senior Leaders
• Senior Managers