Summary and decision
Prepare leaders to make decisions, model practices and remove barriers.
Decision: Agree observable leadership commitments and escalation routes.
Preparation
- Bring approved decisions, unresolved concerns and support routes.
- Ask managers which conversations they find difficult.
Audience
6-12 sponsors and managers, with HR and the change facilitator.
Agenda
| # | Block | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Opening | 10 |
| 2 | Evidence | 10 |
| 3 | Exercise A | 25 |
| 4 | Break | 5 |
| 5 | Exercise B | 25 |
| 6 | Decisions | 15 |
| Total | 90 |
Exercises A and B
Exercise A: Leadership commitments
- Specify what leaders must explain, decide, demonstrate and enable.
- Name an observable action, timing and evidence for each commitment.
- Remove commitments that exceed the leader’s authority.
Exercise B: Difficult conversation rehearsal
- Work in trios: employee, manager and observer. Rotate roles.
- Practise acknowledging a concern, clarifying facts and agreeing a next step.
- Use the observer to identify promises without authority or missing listening.
Worksheets
Worksheet A
- Leadership responsibility
- Visible action
- Resources or decision required
- Owner and evidence date
Worksheet B
- Concern and underlying need
- Known facts and unknowns
- Response and support route
- Follow-up commitment
Illustrative example
Illustrative, not a real case
- Illustrative: an employee cannot find a workable quiet setting.
- The manager asks about the task and routes the provision problem to FM.
- They agree when the employee will receive a response.
Completion criteria
- Managers can explain what is fixed and still open.
- Commitments have owners and dates.
- Unresolved issues have a route beyond the manager.
Follow-up
- Publish the manager support sheet and maintain an issue owner.
- Review commitments at the next leadership meeting.
Points of attention
- Do not rehearse manipulation or compulsory enthusiasm.
- Separate personal support from public issue reporting.
Workplace phase and change activities
Workplace: Deliver (phase in the Workplace method)
Change Management
- Prepare
Why this workshop helps: Prepares leaders to decide, model practices and remove barriers; sets escalation routes.
Adapting outside a workplace setting: Replace workplace examples with situations from your own change; the structure can stay.
These links and notes are editorial guidance of the Codex, not a new or validated template. The workshop text and files on this page are unchanged.
Planned sessions
No sessions are planned.
Sources and downloads
Sources
Weiner (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change
Why here: Informs the attention to leadership commitment and resources as part of organisational readiness. The workshop does not measure readiness and does not use the ORIC questionnaire. It does not validate this workshop.
- Finding:
- Shared commitment and confidence in collective capability are distinct aspects of readiness.
- Limitation for workplace:
- A conceptual theory, developed for collective implementation. A workshop conversation is not a validated readiness measure.
Damschroder et al. (2022). The updated Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research
Why here: Informs the view of leadership engagement and escalation routes as implementation determinants. The leadership commitments are our own design and are not CFIR. It does not validate this workshop.
- Finding:
- CFIR supports structured examination of context, barriers and facilitators, with attention to recipients and equity.
- Limitation for workplace:
- Use selected relevant constructs. The 7P lens is our organising synthesis, not the CFIR structure or a validated scale.
Downloads
- Facilitation slides (English)pptxEN · v1.0 · AvailableLog in to download
- Facilitation slides (Dutch)pptxNL · v1.0 · AvailableLog in to download
- Worksheet A: Leadership commitmentspdfEN · v1.0 · Availablepage 19Log in to download
- Worksheet A: Leadership commitmentspdfNL · v1.0 · Availablepage 19Log in to download
- Worksheet B: Difficult conversation rehearsalpdfEN · v1.0 · Availablepage 20Log in to download
- Worksheet B: Difficult conversation rehearsalpdfNL · v1.0 · Availablepage 20Log in to download
- Facilitator guide (English)pdfEN · v1.0 · Availablepages 34-36Log in to download
- Facilitator guide (Dutch)pdfNL · v1.0 · Availablepages 34-36Log in to download
Last reviewed: 2026-10-02