Werfen: Training the ability to manage change
A bilingual two-day workshop that took Werfen's senior managers through the full change process.
The client
For more than 50 years Werfen has developed in vitro diagnostic solutions for haemostasis, critical care and autoimmunity. The company has expanded quickly, particularly in Asia Pacific, and remains a family-owned business with a centralised decision-making structure.
The challenge
Werfen's success was part of the problem. The centralised management approach meant the business could not adapt fast enough to rapid market growth in China and Asia Pacific.
Werfen asked ClarkMorgan for senior management training in change management planning and communication. Leaders in the Beijing office were a mix of local Chinese and international staff, so the training had to run in both English and Mandarin.
What we designed
ClarkMorgan designed a customised two-day workshop that took managers through the change process, from the first idea to planning, communicating and implementing.
The course encouraged managers to empathise with their staff and to win buy-in for planned changes instead of forcing change on people. It also covered cross-cultural points relevant to a mainly Chinese workforce. Two senior ClarkMorgan trainers with long experience in the China market led the programme.
Day 1: Preparing for change
- Aligning your team's skills to change
- Creating a plan for communicating change
- Key mistakes in change management
- Obtaining buy-in through involvement
Day 2: Initiating change
- Delivering difficult messages
- Five resistors to change
- Reframing to generate valuable emotion
- Helping others deal with change: the Change Curve
- Influencing people's behaviour
The result
Managers worked with real examples of change at Werfen and shared how their teams had reacted. From that, the senior team reached agreement on how future change should be implemented.
The workshop worked so well that it became an annual event, in both English and Mandarin.
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