WVA | OD Café | July 2026 | Practical Management | Managing Change and Adaptation

In July, our Practical Management Conversation Café turns to the manager’s role in managing change and adaptation. We explore two connected questions: How do managers help enable change in the work system? How do managers help people move through the human experience of transition? Many change efforts place too much emphasis on communication, persuasion, and training, while the systems, processes, tools, performance measures, meetings, and decision rights remain largely unchanged. The result is predictable: people are asked to change, but the organisation around them still rewards and constrains yesterday’s behaviour. In this café, we explore change that is both effective and healthy. We will consider: -- why change is often poorly enabled, the difference between ordered and complex change, how systems and tools enable or constrain behavioural change, why managers are central to sustainable change, and how managers can support people through transition. The café is particularly relevant to executives, HR and L&D leaders, OD practitioners, and managers responsible for helping strategy become real in the organisation.