Program Overview
Most change initiatives fail not because the strategy is wrong, but because the behavioural conditions for change are incomplete. Leaders often push vision and communication (motivation), but neglect two equally critical conditions:
Capability (do people actually know how and feel able?) and Opportunity (does the system, culture, and power structure allow it?).
This program equips leaders to diagnose and design change through the COM-B
lens so change becomes practical, measurable, and sustainable.
Program Objectives
Diagnose why change is stalling (beyond “communication and buy-in”)
Apply the COM-B model to identify missing conditions for behaviour change. Build leader-led interventions across Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation. Design change that survives real-world complexity, pressure, and resistance. Create an implementation plan that embeds new behaviours into culture and systems.
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From intention to sustained behaviour in people, teams, and culture.
Program Modules
1
An Introduction to Inclusive Leadership
- Explore the core principles of inclusive leadership and the traits that define an inclusive leader.
- Understand the benefits of adopting an inclusive leadership style.
2
Practicing Self-Awareness as a Leader
- Discover your identity as a leader and the importance of self-awareness in mindful leadership.
- Reflect on your leadership journey, values, strengths, and areas for improvement.
- Unpack and address unconscious biases.
3
Building Relationships as an Inclusive Leader
- Develop emotional intelligence to communicate effectively and empathetically.
- Practice active listening and employ insightful questioning techniques.
4
Creating and Living a Shared Vision
- Learn to create a psychologically safe environment that fosters creativity and innovation.
- Align leadership with personal and organizational values to cultivate an inclusive culture.
1
The Psychology of Change Failure
-
- Why change initiatives stall (behavioural, not strategic causes)
- Compliance vs. commitment
- The illusion of communication as change
- Introducing COM-B as a behavioural operating system for transformation
- Experiential: Participants map a failed or struggling change initiative onto COM-B and identify the missing conditions.
2
Leading Capability (C)
From awareness to behavioural competence
- Psychological capability: sensemaking under uncertainty, belief systems, mental models, identity, self-efficacy
- Skill capability: leadership micro-skills (feedback, dialogue, decision-making, emotional regulation), learning transfer and practice design
Tools:
- Change Skill Gap Diagnostic
- Self-Efficacy & Readiness Mapping
- Learning-in-the-flow-of-work design
Key question: “What must people become capable of thinking, feeling, and doing differently?”
3
Leading Opportunity (O)
Designing the environment where change can actually happen
- Physical opportunity: structure, workload, KPIs, systems, time, process (where the system contradicts the strategy)
- Social opportunity: culture, norms, power, psychological safety, informal influence networks, role-modelling and symbolic acts
Tools:
- System Friction Mapping
- Cultural Enabler / Blocker Scan
- Power & Influence Mapping
Key question: “What in our system currently makes the old behaviour easier than the new one?”
4
Leading Motivation (M)
Engaging hearts, identity, and habit systems
- Reflective motivation: purpose, meaning, narrative, identity shift (“Who are we becoming?”), values-based leadership (ACT integration)
- Automatic motivation: threat, loss, uncertainty, status, belonging, habit loops, emotional triggers, resistance as protection
Tools:
- Change Narrative Canvas
- Identity-Based Commitment
- Emotional & Habit Loop Mapping
Key question: “What part of people is committed and what part is protecting itself?”
5
The COM-B Change Leadership Lab
Designing real change using the model
Participants work on a live organisational change (e.g. digital transformation, culture shift, performance turnaround, DEI, safety, agility). They design:
- Behavioural outcomes (what must people do differently?)
- COM-B diagnosis
- Targeted interventions across Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation
Using Behaviour Change Wheel logic, leaders explore levers such as:
- Education
- Enablement
- Modelling
- Environmental restructuring
- Incentives
- Cultural rituals
6
Embedding & Transfer
From workshop insight to behavioural reality
- Implementation intentions (If–Then planning)
- Peer accountability structures
- Leadership habit design
- Measurement through behaviour (not sentiment alone)
Program Format
Our COM-B Change Leadership program can be delivered as a focused executive lab or as a modular journey depending on your change agenda and timeline.
Interactive Sessions
Brief, focused presentations on key concepts.
Real-World Application
Collaborative discussions to share insights and experiences.
Expert-Led Discussion
Opportunities to learn from and support each other.
Collaborative Learning
Activities designed to encourage personal reflection and growth.
Integration with ChangeWorks Signature Programs
This program naturally integrates with:
- Adaptive Resilience / Psychological Flexibility (ACT) → Motivation & Capability
- Self-Efficacy (Bandura) → Capability × Motivation
- Sense of Belonging → Social Opportunity
- Influence Without Authority → Social Opportunity & Motivation
- Ontological Leadership → Identity-based Motivation
- Leader as Coach → Capability building & reflective motivation
Possible Program Formats
- 2-Day Executive Lab – Strategic Change Leadership (COM-B in action)
- 4-Module Journey – Virtual + In-person (application between modules)
- COM-B Change Leader Certification – Practitioner pathway for internal change leaders
- Organisation-Wide Change Architecture Sprint – Design sprint for enterprise change programs