Course description

A new system, a site closing, a restructure, new shifts: someone has to help people through it, and often that someone is you. The project plan says what will be delivered and when. It rarely says how the people who do the work will understand it, learn it, cope with what they're losing and keep working the new way once the go-live day has passed. This course teaches that people side of change, step by step, in plain English.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, and every lesson ends with a practical task for a change of your own or an example change. You follow Siriporn, a warehouse manager appointed change lead at a fictional distributor in the North West, through ten months of one real-feeling change: a depot closing, handheld scanners replacing paper pick lists and a new late shift. You see what she did well and what she'd do differently, from an announcement that leaked to training run six weeks too early and paper lists that quietly came back. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and ready-to-use tools, including an impact assessment and readiness survey that do the sums for you, a change plan with a load check, a question log, an announcement planner, a go or no-go checklist, an issue log and an adoption tracker.

What you'll learn

• Understanding change at work: what change management is and how it differs from project management, why change is hard for people, who does what in a change, and how to size up a change and put it on one page.
• Change models in plain English: Lewin's unfreeze, change, refreeze and force field analysis, Kotter's eight steps, Bridges' transition model, the change curve, and the five building blocks of individual change, with what each is good for and its limits.
• Making the case and planning: a case for change people can believe, a change impact assessment, a readiness survey, a people-side change plan and the risks to adoption.
• Sponsors, managers and champions: getting an active sponsor, briefing line managers before their teams, building a champion network, involving people in shaping the change, and working with HR, unions and representatives.
• Communicating change: what people need to hear first, announcement day, two-way communication and a question log, keeping going through the long middle, and sharing difficult news well.
• Resistance, emotions and wellbeing: resistance as information, conversations with worried or opposed people, support through loss and uncertainty, change fatigue, and looking after yourself.
• Training, support and go-live: training at the right time, pilots and phased roll-outs, readiness checks and the go or no-go decision, the first fortnight and the dip after go-live.
• UK employment law touchpoints: when a change touches employment rights, changing terms and conditions, fire and rehire and the statutory code, redundancy and collective consultation, and TUPE basics, including the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes.
• Making change stick: measuring adoption fairly, reinforcing the new way, workarounds and slipping back, reviewing benefits and learning lessons, and building change skills in your organisation.
• Final project: diagnosing and planning a change at a fictional home care provider, then a change on a page and a 90-day plan for a change of your own.

Who it's for

Managers, team leaders, project staff and HR people in the UK who are leading or supporting a change at work and want a practical, honest way to do it. You don't need any experience of change management. The course explains the best-known change models in plain words and shows how to use them, without asking you to follow any one method. Section 8 explains where UK employment law comes in, including the changes being made under the Employment Rights Act 2025, as general information, not legal advice, so you know when to involve HR. Everyone in the course is fictional.

What will I learn?

• Explain what change management is, how it differs from project management, and why change is hard for people
• Use the best-known change models, Lewin, Kotter, Bridges, the change curve and the five building blocks, to ask better questions
• Size up a change, write a case for change, and assess its impact and readiness group by group
• Build a people-side change plan with owners and dates, and spot the risks to adoption early
• Work with sponsors, line managers, champions, HR and union or employee representatives
• Plan an announcement, run two-way communication with a question log, and share difficult news well
• Treat resistance as information, hold difficult conversations, and look after people, including yourself
• Time training well, run a pilot, decide go or no-go, support people through go-live and the dip, and make the change stick
• Recognise when a change touches UK employment law, including changes to terms, fire and rehire, redundancy consultation and TUPE, and involve HR early

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