Leading Yourself through Change.

Leading Yourself through Change, Video, 2006, LifePath LLC, $945.

Support: leader guide, participant materials including book, PowerPoint slides.

View the entire video. (No registration required)

Although change happens all around us everyday, not everyone deals with it productively. For some of us, the anxiety caused by change and the resistance to change can be emotionally draining and prevent us from moving forward in our personal or professional lives. Even if people are generally comfortable with change, they can still encounter that one change that throws them off course, not only affecting their life but also the lives of people around them.

For this reason, change management training is increasingly important. Dr. Julie M. Smith's video-based workshop, Leading Yourself Through Change, is a valuable resource to improve people's lives because it teaches them a skill crucial to our time and necessary in virtually all organizations.

Video with full support

The 23-minute video follows a woman named Anna through a change at work while demonstrating Smith's five action steps. The video is high quality, will seem relevant to most employees, and is short and interesting enough to hold their interest.

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This workshop package has everything needed to present a flawless workshop on the five-step process. I think little or no tweaking is needed to make the workshop a success. Because of the completeness of the package and the detailed scripts in the leader guide, even a novice presenter can look like an experienced presenter-facilitator.

Eleven copies of When "It" Happens @ Work: Five Action Steps for Leading Yourself Through Change--the book on which the workshop is based--are included in the workshop materials. I suggest purchasing copies of When "It" Happens @ Work for all the participants or, if that is cost prohibitive, circulating a few copies among the participants. The workshop will be very good even if participants do not have the book, but it provides a useful post-workshop resource for participants.

Action Planning Workshop upgrade

Dr. Smith's workshop has two versions: a One-Hour Video workshop and a Three-Hour Action Planning workshop. The Three-Hour Action Planning workshop (available for an $850 upgrade) includes a new leader guide, new PowerPoint slides, Audio CD with Tips for Leaders, and 11 participant kits.

To lead the three-hour version, the facilitator needs to be certified. The leader guide is well laid out and extremely easy to use. It walks the facilitator through the entire class, telling her when to start and stop the video and providing a script to go with each PowerPoint slide and activity introduction. It identifies which page the participants should refer to in their workbook and specifies how much time should be spent on each activity and discussion segment.

On two audio CD's, Smith talks about the thought process behind the workshop and covers topics such as how to sell the training in an organization, how others have used the training, and what a trainer needs to do to prepare to lead the workshop.

Finally, the package has 10 sets of participant materials, including cards and a puzzle used for workshop activities and a workbook that outlines the change process, explains how to alter unproductive habits, and helps participants create a plan of action.

Recommendation

If you are looking for a complete package to teach people at all levels of your organization to deal with change, Leading Yourself Through Change is a good choice. It also provides a good way to supplement an existing training program. The One-Hour Action Planning workshop is a good option for individuals with little or no training experience because the leader guide spells out everything for the presenter. This program is also flexible because it can be delivered as a brief one-hour event or a more complex three-hour session.

Review by Beth Summers

Product Ratings

Leading Yourself through Change

Holds user interest  ***
Acting/presenting    ***
Diversity            *** 1/2
Production quality   *** 1/2
Value of Content     ***
Instructional Value  ****
Value for the money  *** 1/2
Overall rating       *** 1/2