Strategic Change Lead program
Transform your career by elevating your strategic leadership skills.
Feel valued and empowered as a strategic leader working on a change or transformation program.
A practical 6 month development program to build your strategic leadership skills in a change context.
Book now“Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing.”
- Bennis & Nanus
The big idea
Being a change manager is one of the hardest roles in an organisation
Often we’re in a time pressured environment, brought in too late to make a meaningful difference. Our role can involve having to give people more senior than you feedback about the things that are going wrong on the project and doing everything we can to make sure the people are represented effectively, especially when no one sees it as important.
It can be easy as a Change Manager to feel like an optional inclusion, or someone that’s only called on when there’s a people problem. It’s a little bit like being a session musician that’s only called on to add input when there is a specific part they want you to play.
I spent 10 years as a change manager, and for the last few years I became very frustrated. Not only did I often have to argue for change management resources to be included or considered in the transformation program, but leaders around me couldn’t see that I had anything else to offer. It felt like I was pigeonholed as a change manager and people couldn’t see any of the other value I could add to their organisation.
The good news is that I managed to find my way out, into a range of senior Program roles: Director of Transformation, Program Director of a large Merger, and Head of Transformation for a global financial services organisation.
Now I want to help you do the same. Whether you want to be in a change lead role, a program role, or a leadership role, this program is intended to help you feel more valued, sought after for advice and help you change how you are perceived.
The Challenges You’re Facing
“There is nowhere for me to go. I am a senior change manager or change lead and then what?”
“I spend half my life explaining what change management actually is, and then justifying why I am not just a project manager. No one seems to value my input”
“My day rate has not moved in three years, and I can’t see how I’m going to earn more as a change manager.”
“I think I have gone as far as I am going to go as a change manager and I feel trapped”
“Every time budgets tighten, the change budget is the first thing to go. I feel dispensable”
The Strategic Leadership ladder
How are you seen and valued in your organisation? This ladder shows the areas to focus on at each level.
| Level | Status | Outcome | Area of focus | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Valued | Sought after for strategic advice | Guiding decisions | +$20k |
| 4 | Respected | Included before decisions are made | Shaping commercial outcomes | +$10k |
| 3 | Acknowledged | Credited for the difference you make | Creating impact | +$5k |
| 2 | Utilised | Called on for a specific role or tasks | Managing risk | $0 |
| 1 | Undervalued | Asked to justify why you are there | Aligning expectations | -$5k |
What you get
As a result of this program you will:
- Be perceived as a strategic leader, regardless of your current level.
- Improve your awareness of strategic issues and challenges faced by your stakeholders and leaders to enable you to demonstrate valuable insight for change.
- Learn how to use judgement to objectively focus on what matters and assess challenges in light of their overall impact.
- Elevate your credibility by increasing your commercial fluency, balanced with consistency and honesty of message, pitched for your stakeholders, meaning they take your concerns seriously.
Is it for you?
This program is ideal for you if:
- You are an experienced change manager and want some support to get to the next step in your career
- You are a new change lead and want some support to be exceptional in your new role
- You can commit some time to work on your development outside of mentoring sessions and masterclass (estimated commitment 2 hrs per month)
This program is not ideal for you if:
- You are new to change management
- You are looking for a certification or methodology
- You can't spare 2hrs per month for your development
Insight, Judgement and Credibility
The three qualities of Strategic Leaders
Insight
What the change means for the whole organisation, beyond the impact of the change itself.
Diagnosis: finding the real problem
Systems view: seeing how all the parts connect and knock on to each other
Foresight: spotting what is coming next and helping the organisation manage it
Judgement
How to manage the change in context, beyond showing care for the people affected.
Objectivity: staying neutral and not taking decisions personally
Knowing what matters: keeping perspective on which problems are the bigger ones
Proportion: matching the response to the size of the risk
Credibility
Why leaders take what you say seriously.
Consistency: giving the same advice for the same situation and doing what you said you would
Commercial fluency: speaking the language of the business
Honesty: saying the difficult things clearly, without making them personal
How it works
One-to-one mentoring
You’ll have 3 one-to-one career mentoring sessions over a 6 month period to understand your specific challenges and support your development. The first session will identify the core focus areas for development and create a learning plan to navigate the materials in the online library.
Online learning
Online learning material focussed on building your strategic change leadership presence, to progress at your own pace. Focussed on micro-learning and different learning styles, Luella’s focus is practical tools and examples you can use.
Two live masterclasses
Two online masterclasses for everyone enrolled in the program to bring their experience together:
A half-day masterclass on leadership of Transformation Programs (covering both Program and Change).
The next masterclass is scheduled for 29th Jan 12.00pm - 4:00pm AEDT (9.00am - 1.00pm AWST).
A half-day masterclass on Strategic Leadership covering topics including strategic decision making, communication, visibility and reporting.
The next masterclass is scheduled for 19th March 12.00pm - 4:00pm AEDT (9.00am - 1.00pm AWST).
Tools and templates
Access to Luella’s change tools and templates for use on your change programs.
Member webinars
Regular webinars exclusive to members on leadership and change
Support between sessions
Ad-hoc support between mentoring sessions
What’s included
Everything in the program
| Inclusion |
|---|
| What we do together |
| Half day change masterclass (valued at $625) |
| Half day strategic leadership masterclass (valued at $625) |
| Individual mentoring, 3 sessions of 1 hour at $625 each (valued at $1,875) |
| Light touch mentoring and troubleshooting in between sessions (valued at $1,000) |
| Regular change topic webinars, 6 at $150 each (valued at $900) |
| Email series before and after each masterclass (valued at $1,000) |
| What you keep |
| Workbook (valued at $20) |
| Self-assessment baseline and re-score (valued at $100) |
| Personal development plan (valued at $500) |
| Transformation Vault (valued at $5,000) |
| Strategic Leadership Vault (valued at $5,000) |
| Leadership book and notebook (valued at $60) |
| Total value: $16,705 |
Pricing and payment
Enrol in the Strategic Change Lead program
Introductory price, increasing in early 2027. The program and Vault access run for 6 months from sign-up. All prices exclude GST. Full terms are on the terms of engagement page.
Two payments
ex GST. The second payment is taken 2 months after enrolment.
Enrol: 2 paymentsWhat people say
“Having spent a considerable time working in procurement related roles, I was looking make a change in a direction that would allow me to leverage my skill set and further my professional development. In discussing my workplace challenges, my strength areas and those I was looking to develop, Luella provided pragmatic and empathetic advice around potential next steps. Luella’s support and guidance meant I was comfortable making confident and informed steps forward to my new role.”Career mentoring client
“Luella is a wonderful coach / mentor and has supported me through my professional and personal growth and development over the years. She is the first person I think of when I’m in need of career advice and she has a strong ability to listen, assess the situation and help identify the way forward. She does this with understanding, honesty and humour.”Career mentoring client
“Luella has helped me navigate both specific situations and broader career direction challenges. She has coached me through difficult conversations and made me feel prepared for whichever direction the conversation may go. She has also helped me to explore other options that I haven’t considered. … she has been a great sounding board for me and celebrates my successes, listens to my concerns and challenges my thinking when I’ve needed it.”Career mentoring client
“I loved your research and reminder how important it is to equip supervisors and managers, and how to do it. As change people we know this but it often falls into the too hard basket.”Change Manager
“So good to hear the summary of your research. I loved your analogies re passing the message onto different teams. Also fascinated by your academic research into storytelling. It would be great to hear even more about that one day. Sounds like a presentation in itself!”Associate Director, change consultancy
“You were fabulous. Your research insights were appreciated.”Co-founder, Rethink Change
About Dr Luella Forbes
Luella has spent 25 years delivering and consulting on large transformations, mergers and restructures for global organisations including KPMG, Chevron, Prudential and Mercer. She was a Program Director for one of Australia’s largest super-fund mergers and led part of the COVID response for WA. She has spent her whole career helping organisations create the engagement and commitment needed to deliver significant change.
Luella helps senior leaders to lead complex change, bringing her experience as a leader, program director and organisational change expert to find the balance between delivery and culture that creates the best environment for change.
Luella is also an experienced career coach, passionate about helping people perform at their best.
Luella has two doctorates in change, leadership and storytelling, from Durham University in the UK and emlyon Business School in France. Thesis: “Storytelling for Change: Telling Trusted Change Stories”.
