Taking a deep dive into Organisational Change

“The Executive Diploma has enabled me to take a more sophisticated and confident approach to understanding and advising about change.” Former Organisational Change participant, Shelagh O'Leary, offers an insight into how the programme allowed her to grow in confidence and apply immediate evidence-based practice. 

I have advised and developed strategies around organisational change for the last 20 years, having worked as a HR professional in the public and not-for-profit sector for the entirety of my career.

More recently however, it struck me that the speed of change in the sector warranted a revamp from the traditional models of top-down and planned change that we’re all used to. Many of us who work in a human resources capacity are often at the centre of advising leaders on the approach to and implications of change.

I wanted to be confident in the advice I was giving to managers and leaders in my role. This meant I needed to come from a strong and current evidence base and update my knowledge. The Executive Diploma at Warwick Business School (WBS) enabled me to take a deep dive into organisational change, as well as a range of related subject areas which were covered over the year-long programme. This included effective strategy, the behaviour and psychology of change, culture change and agile approaches to change including design thinking. At each stage we applied the theory to our own organisations.    

The range of expertise in the staff was impressive – you knew you were exposed to the most current and innovative practice which really made you think about your own approach as well as personal response to change. My peers on the course were supportive and worked in many different sectors and jobs which also helped to grow my thinking.

The programme has enabled me to take a more sophisticated and confident approach to understanding and advising about change. My organisation, like many others, has been undergoing substantial change, particularly over the last year. The timing of the Executive Diploma is ideal, as we embark on the development of a new strategy and cultural change programme. This has given me the opportunity to look at a range of different approaches and understand the behavioural aspects to the changes. 

Although it was intense at times, studying the Executive Diploma in Organisational Change was manageable alongside my job. It has enabled me to reflect on my role, grow in confidence and apply evidence-based practice immediately.

Find out more about The Warwick Executive Diplomas