Methods & Knowledge · Compendium

The Change Guide.

Practical knowledge on every aspect of change management — from diagnosis through strategy, steering and communication to dealing with resistance, conflict and crisis. Like a good textbook, only livelier and more current.

13 chapters · 5 phases

Phase 1

Diagnosis & strategy

Diagnosing your change project It starts with a clean diagnosis: analyse the need for change quantitatively as well as qualitatively — and check which past experiences shape your organisation's capacity for change. Open chapter Typology of change processes Find out what kind of change lies ahead of you. The typology places your project with its particular features and aligns the strategy precisely to it. Open chapter How to develop a change strategy The strategy builds on the diagnosis: making the change objectives concrete, sketching the process in outline — and above all clarifying how the solutions will land with those affected and be implemented. Open chapter
Phase 2

Steering & responsibility

The role of the management board in the change process The management board does not lead operationally; it steers the whole. What matters is understanding change as a social process — with orientation, encouragement and the persistence to see decisions through even against resistance. Open chapter Employment law and co-determination for change managers Change managers do not have to be lawyers — but a basic knowledge is a must. Otherwise it is easy to overlook the works council's co-determination rights and, with the best of intentions, to walk into one legal minefield after another. Open chapter The management of change Advanced project management: "thinking in terms of change", familiarity with the emotional dynamics of the change curve — and communication as the core of the task, not an afterthought. Open chapter
Phase 3

Communication & methods

Communication as a success factor Projects fail when they only develop solutions on the substance and postpone communication to later. Here you learn how to involve those affected early and make solutions viable. Open chapter Methods of change The communication toolbox: from the large event through information markets to the newsletter — which instrument works when, together with a short guide to putting it into practice. Open chapter
Phase 4

Resistance, conflict, crisis

Dealing with resistance, conflict and crisis Resistance is the normal, unavoidable companion of change. How reactance turns into conflict and conflict into crisis — and how you dissolve that dynamic instead of letting it escalate. Open chapter The most common crises and their causes Learning from other people's crises instead of trying out every mistake yourself. Typical crises in change projects — best headed off in advance, and put out as fires if necessary. Open chapter
Resistance is nothing bad in itself — merely the meeting of incompatible intentions and expectations.
From the Change Guide · chapter "Dealing with resistance"
Phase 5

Controlling, psychology & practice

Change controlling The more complex the project, the greater the risk of losing the overview. A set of instruments that shows where the sub-projects stand and which milestones should be reached when. Open chapter The psychology of change "There is nothing so practical as a good theory." Why understanding the psychological mechanisms behind change will immediately improve your practice — give us a chance. Open chapter Case studies and project examples What does change management look like in practice? Example projects show our approach, the thinking behind it and the changes they led to. Open chapter

Change management consulting

Change on the horizon? We support the whole change process.

In a free initial consultation we assess your starting position and propose a concrete next step — from analysis through to implementation.

Free initial consultation →