Next Level Change Success

Is there enough fun in your change? or have you become so busy delivering that everything has become a little too corporate? In this episode of Next Level Change Success, Therese explores an often-overlooked ingredient in change management: fun. Humour, storytelling, celebrations, campaigns and creative experiences can help people connect with change and make otherwise dry topics, from process improvement to compliance, far more engaging. But there's an important caveat. You have to read the room. Therese explores the types of change where fun can work brilliantly, including process improvement, technology implementations, compliance initiatives and project-team engagement. She also discusses when positivity can become inappropriate, particularly during restructures, job losses, mergers and other changes involving uncertainty or loss. You'll learn why timing matters, how to make engagement more inclusive, why “Friday drinks” isn't the only team building activity you should consider, and how to use creativity without trivialising what employees are experiencing. If your change communications are starting to feel overly corporate, this episode will challenge you to loosen things up, while keeping empathy, respect and inclusion firmly at the centre. Because fun can absolutely belong in change. You just need to know when to bring it and when not to.  Like what you hear? Visit us at www.myvirtualchangemanager.com to learn more about change, it's challenges and how to overcome them.

When is the right time to implement change and when should you seriously consider slowing down? As organisations head into the final quarter of the year, pressure often builds to deliver projects, launch new systems and squeeze in one more change before the holiday period. But just because you can hit a go-live date doesn't necessarily mean you should. In this episode of Next Level Change Success, Therese explores one of the most underestimated elements of effective change management: timing. We look at why organisational rhythms, peak business periods, annual leave, employee fatigue, financial cycles and post-go-live support should all influence your change plan. Therese also shares a real-world example of a change that proceeded despite warnings about year-end support capacity and the significant recovery and rollback activity that followed. You'll learn why go-live isn't the finish line, why change activity needs to begin well before implementation, and the questions change practitioners, project managers, leaders and steering committees should ask before committing to a launch date. If you're planning a change before the end of the year this episode will help you challenge one important assumption: Is this simply the date we want to deliver, or is it genuinely the right time for people to adopt the change? Visit www.myvirtualchangemanager.com for more practical tools and strategies to help you create positive change experiences.

Are you investing your change energy where it will make the biggest difference? When you're implementing change across multiple teams or business areas, it's tempting to take a consistent approach: the same communications, the same engagement and the same level of support for everyone. But change isn't one size fits all. Every team starts from a different place. Some have highly engaged leaders and are already relatively close to the future state. Others may be heavily impacted, require significant capability development or have historically struggled to gain traction with change. In this short and practical episode of Next Level Change Success, Therese explores how to become more deliberate about where you invest your limited time, attention and change resources. You'll discover how to identify the teams with the greatest distance to travel, use your impact assessment to target your strategy, determine where leaders and sponsors may need to invest additional effort, and layer training, communications, coaching and engagement according to what people actually need. Because effective change management isn't about giving everyone the same support. It's about giving people the right support to achieve the outcome. Listen now and ask yourself: where should I be investing more my change energy where it will count the most? If you want to learn more about change, visit www.myvirtualchangemanager.com today.  

What do more than 20 years of working in change management teach you about what really makes change work? In this episode of Next Level Change Success, Therese shares three of the biggest lessons she has learned across a career spanning change management, project and program management, change practice leadership and learning and development. And interestingly, none of them starts with a methodology. You'll discover why knowing yourself can make you a stronger change influencer and leader, how difficult stakeholders can become unexpected mirrors for your own growth, and why self-awareness helps you stop personalising people's emotional reactions to change. Therese also explores why leadership alignment remains fundamental to successful organisational change and why simply "briefing" leaders isn't enough. Leaders need meaningful actions, opportunities to provide input and the information they need to confidently lead their teams. Finally, she explores one of the greatest opportunities created by change: unlocking the potential already sitting inside your organisation. If you're a change practitioner, project professional, subject matter expert or leader who wants to become more effective at influencing and leading change, this episode will encourage you to reflect not only on what you've delivered but on who you've become while delivering it. Want to learn more? Come visit us at www.myvirtualchangemanager.com to find out more.  

Change is rarely linear, so why do we keep trying to manage it as though it is? In this episode of Next Level Change Success, Therese explores the four stages of the My Virtual Change Manager change process: Planning, Assess & Design, Implement & Reinforce, and Review & Learn. You’ll discover how these stages can work alongside both traditional project methodologies and Agile ways of working, why detailed impact assessment matters, and how the quality of your upstream change activities can dramatically influence what happens at go-live. Therese also explores an important distinction every change practitioner needs to understand: change practitioners facilitate reinforcement, but leaders remain accountable for reinforcing change with their teams. You’ll learn why go-live is not the finish line, how change dashboards and adoption measures can support reinforcement, why change practitioners should frame concerns as risks rather than simply problems. And one of the often not talked about phases is how a strong Review & Learn process can increase organisational change maturity over time. Whether you’re a change practitioner, project manager, business analyst, subject matter expert or leader responsible for implementing change, this episode will help you think differently about where you are in the change journey and what needs to happen next. Because change management isn’t about blindly following a process. It’s about knowing where to focus so you can connect people, purpose and performance. Want to discover more about change management? Then come to www.myvirtualchangemanager.com to upskill in change management.