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Course · Leading Change with Evidence · Founding enrollment
Work on a live change of your own, module by module, with the research behind each step graded.
Leading Change with Evidence is a self-paced course for managers leading a change from the middle. You work with the Change Toolkit templates and the research behind each step, graded for how strong it is.
Founding enrollment See the modules
$399 one time · Change Toolkit included · Full refund within 14 days of enrollment if you haven't completed Module 2.
Founding enrollment is the course's first enrollment period.
Try the first lesson free: Module 0, 50 minutes.
Gabriel Lopez did his doctoral coursework in organization development at Benedictine University and writes Unfrozen, a newsletter on how change moves through organizations. More about Gabriel
The modules
Each module ends with a short quiz (pass mark 80%) and an assignment applied to your own change. All 11 modules are open. Work through them at your own pace.
Module 0: Orientation and the evidence lens
50 minLearn to read a study's evidence grade, see how the course works, and pick the live change you will work on throughout.
Module 1: Define the change and set a baseline (Week 0)
3 hWrite the why, the future state and the success criteria for your own change, name the sponsor and roles, and record a baseline to share back with your team.
Templates: Change plan (part 1), Team charter
Unfrozen Loop: Week 0
Module 2: Impact, readiness and capacity
3 h 15 minAssess your change group by group: what changes in the work, how ready people are, what else they are carrying, and what could go wrong.
Templates: Change impact assessment, Premortem, Change load worksheet, Team Loop Check
Unfrozen Loop: Week 0
Module 3: Surface both ways: stakeholders and sponsorship
3 h 5 minMap your stakeholders, set out what you need from your sponsor, and build a route for bad news to travel up through the managers in the middle.
Templates: Stakeholder map, RACI chart
Unfrozen Loop: Part 1
Module 4: Make sense together, top included: communication
3 h 5 minPlan two-way communication for each group, with their own manager as the messenger and a way to hear back, and check it for the ways a cascade breaks down.
Templates: Communication plan, Conversation kits
Unfrozen Loop: Part 2
Module 5: Start it close to the work: learning and readiness
3 h 10 minDesign a small pilot with the people who do the work, plan the training managers need, and write a readiness plan.
Templates: One-on-one meeting
Unfrozen Loop: Part 3
Module 6: Execute and adjust
1 hFit the change into the project plan, set up feedback from the front line, and decide how the plan will change when the feedback says it should.
Templates: Change plan (part 2)
Module 7: Review on a rhythm, then hold the pace: measurement and sustainability
3 h 5 minRun an after action review on your change, choose measures and a review rhythm, and plan how the change will hold once the project ends.
Templates: After action review, Team norms
Unfrozen Loop: Part 4
Module 8: The middle's own weather
50 minLook at the load and support of the managers carrying your change, treat their capacity as a risk to the change, and plan what comes off their plate.
Unfrozen Loop: Part 5 and the ring
Module 9: Close the change
40 minEvaluate your change against its objectives, write up lessons learned, hand over ownership and release the people and budget it used.
Module 10: Capstone and final exam
1 hBuild a full change plan for your own change from the toolkit templates, with guidance, then take a 40-question final exam. The hour covers 10 minutes of guidance, 40 minutes of exam and 10 minutes to save the capstone; your own work on the plan comes on top.
Templates included
The hands-on work in every module uses the Change Toolkit, and enrollment includes it with an internal use license: 15 templates as Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, each with a worked example and a one-page guide to running it. It comes with your course login.
How the course uses evidence
Every research claim in the course shows its evidence grade from the same sources as this site: the Evidence Library and the Atlas of the Middle. Where no controlled study has tested a practice, the course says so and labels the advice as judgment. The structure follows the Unfrozen Loop, which is not yet proven as a whole.
How the course grades evidence, with examples of graded steps
Your instructor
Gabriel Lopez, MBA, doctoral coursework in Organizational Development (Benedictine University), with Accenture transformation and Gartner research experience.
Eight years in the U.S. Army, including two deployments to Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom). Lead instructor at the NCO Academy at Fort Carson, Colorado, and named the installation's Instructor of the Year. He writes Unfrozen, a newsletter on how change moves through organizations.
Certificate and credit
You receive a certificate of completion stating instructional hours. This is not a certification. Applications for HRCI recertification credit and ACMP Qualified Education Provider status are planned; credit is not yet approved.
Founding enrollment
Founding enrollment
$399 one time
- All 11 modules, 23 instructional hours, self-paced
- The Change Toolkit, internal use license
- Certificate of completion stating instructional hours
- A free digital copy of Unfrozen, the book, when it's out
All 11 modules are open. Work through them at your own pace. Payment is handled by Stripe. After paying you are signed in on the next page and can start Module 0 right away. A confirmation with a Start Module 0 link also comes by email.
Refunds: Full refund within 14 days of enrollment if you haven't completed Module 2.
Common questions
Who is the course for?
Managers carrying a change, HR and OD partners who support them, and change leads who run the plan across teams. You work on a live change of your own from the first module.
How long does it take?
The modules add up to the instructional hours shown on this page, self-paced. The hours are counted by one rule for every module: reading the lessons, worked cases and reading guides, plus fixed minutes for the reflections on your own change, case questions, guided exercise steps, study readings and their questions, self-checks, quiz questions and assembling each assignment. The steps you take at work, such as a conversation with your sponsor, are not counted. All 11 modules are open.
How does each module work?
Each module sets out what you will be able to do, shows the evidence grade for each research claim, and uses the toolkit templates for the hands-on work. It ends with a short quiz (the pass mark is 80%) and an assignment applied to your own change.
Where do I ask questions?
In the course's private LinkedIn group, Leading Change from the Middle. The link is on your course home page once you enroll.
Is this a certification? Is it worth it without one?
No. This is not a certification. What you get: 23 measured instructional hours in 11 modules, applied to a live change of your own; the evidence grade for each research claim; a short quiz in each of Modules 0 to 9 and a 40-question final exam, each with an 80% pass mark; an assignment on your own change in every module, ending in a capstone change plan; and the Change Toolkit with an internal use license. When you have passed every quiz and the final exam and saved every assignment, you can create a certificate of completion stating instructional hours. Applications for HRCI recertification credit and ACMP Qualified Education Provider status are planned; credit is not yet approved. Whether it is worth it depends on what you need. If you need a credential that an employer or professional body recognizes, this course does not give you one today. If you need a worked plan for a change you are leading, with each research claim graded for how strong it is, that is what the course is built for. The first lesson is free, and there is a full refund within 14 days of enrollment if you haven't completed Module 2.
What does founding enrollment mean?
Founding enrollment is the course's first enrollment period. All 11 modules are open, and you can start as soon as you have paid. Founding members also get a free digital copy of Unfrozen, the book, when it's out.
Is the Change Toolkit included?
Yes. Enrollment includes the Change Toolkit with an internal use license: all 15 templates as Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, each with a worked example and a run guide. It comes with your course login. The templates each module links to are free on unfreeze.us; the toolkit adds the editable files, worked examples and run guides.
Can I get a refund?
Full refund within 14 days of enrollment if you haven't completed Module 2.
A course from one person's practice and published research. It is not legal, HR or medical advice.