Change Management

Change Management and Agility Coaching for Leaders and Teams

Change That Starts Fast. Change That Lasts.

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Leadership team working through an organizational change together
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Recognition

Ranked #2: Top Executive Team Offsite Facilitators in Ohio (2026) ↗

How does a change management coach help leaders lead change that lasts?

Steve Weiss is an executive coach and leadership consultant in Cleveland, Ohio who helps leaders and teams lead change that lasts. A change management coach helps leaders tell the truth about why change is needed, name what people must let go, and build a shared future worth reaching for.

Change leadership coaching is for leaders and teams in the middle of change: a new strategy, a restructure, a merger, a turnaround, or a team worn down by too many changes at once. I have led many change processes successfully in nonprofit leadership. I believe emotional intelligence and resilience are the foundation every other leadership skill stands on, and both can be coached. Leading change tests both at the same time.

Based in Cleveland, Ohio· In person across Northeast Ohio and nationwide, virtual worldwide

ICF ACC Credentialed, Level 2 Certified Executive Coach · Certified Hogan Assessments Consultant

Is This For You?

  • Leaders responsible for a change they did not design
  • Leadership teams starting a merger, restructure, or new strategy
  • Organizations where urgency has turned into change fatigue
  • Managers who have to carry change to their people

Change Management Consulting vs. Change Leadership Coaching

Both have a place. The difference is who builds the change, and whether people are still carrying it a year later.

Focus

Change Management Consulting

The change plan, processes, and communications

Change Leadership Coaching

The leaders and teams who carry the change

Who builds the plan

Change Management Consulting

The consultant designs it

Change Leadership Coaching

Your leaders build it and own it

What drives people

Change Management Consulting

Urgency and compliance

Change Leadership Coaching

Urgency first, then a shared ambition

How resistance is handled

Change Management Consulting

Managed through communication plans

Change Leadership Coaching

Understood through what people are losing

What remains afterward

Change Management Consulting

A finished project

Change Leadership Coaching

Leaders ready to lead the next change

Change Management Models Compared

Every well-known change model gets something right. The burning platform to burning ambition approach builds on them by focusing on what keeps people moving after the crisis passes.

Lewin (unfreeze, change, refreeze)

Core idea

Loosen the old way, make the change, then lock in the new way

Strength

Simple and memorable

What it leaves out

Assumes things stay stable after the change

Kotter's 8 Steps

Core idea

Urgency, a guiding coalition, a vision, then anchoring the change in culture

Strength

A strong organizational roadmap

What it leaves out

Says less about what individuals feel and lose

Prosci ADKAR

Core idea

Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement

Strength

Tracks change person by person

What it leaves out

Treats desire as a step to manage rather than something to build

Bridges Transition Model

Core idea

Endings, the neutral zone, new beginnings

Strength

Takes loss and letting go seriously

What it leaves out

Says less about urgency and direction

Burning Platform to Burning Ambition

Core idea

Fear starts change, and a shared ambition sustains it

Strength

Explains why change fades and how to make it last

What it leaves out

Depends on leaders with the self-awareness to make the shift

What You Walk Away With

An honest picture of the platform.

Your team agrees on what is really at risk, without exaggeration.

A shared burning ambition.

People see a specific future worth reaching for, and they helped shape it.

A plan your people own.

Commitment is built in because the people carrying the change built the plan.

Leaders who stay steady.

Your leaders can read what their people are carrying and keep moving anyway.

Capacity for the next change.

Your organization gets more agile, not more tired.

How Does Change Leadership Build Organizational Agility?

An agile organization can change again and again without breaking. Change that runs only on urgency works against agility, because every round of fear leaves people more tired and more skeptical. That is change fatigue.

Change that runs on a shared ambition builds agility instead. When people know what they are building, they adjust the route on their own, without waiting for the next crisis. Agile leadership means keeping the destination clear while the path keeps changing.

Change Management Services and Programs

Team working through choices together during A Different Game

A Different Game

(signature team experience)

One morning

A live leadership experience for teams facing change. Your team runs a struggling enterprise with the clock running, and every team works with the same three choices: pay, let go, or bet. The pressure is real, the stakes are fictional, and the patterns that show up belong to your team. The experience moves people from a burning platform to a burning ambition, and the morning ends with each person declaring what they will build and how they will lead the change.

Change Leadership Coaching

(one-on-one)

Three to six months

Coaching for a leader who is personally leading a change. Together we work on telling the truth about the platform, naming what people are being asked to release, building the shared ambition, and your own steadiness along the way.

Change Kickoff Offsite

(leadership team)

One day

A facilitated session where your leadership team agrees on the real threat, names what will be let go, and builds a shared picture of the future, then leaves with a 90-day plan. A Different Game can open the morning, with the offsite work in the afternoon.

Leading Change Through Your Managers

(workshop series)

Four sessions

Change often breaks in the middle layer, where managers carry decisions to their people without the full picture. This series equips managers to explain the change, respond to resistance, and support people through what they are losing.

Change Readiness with Hogan

(assessment)

Two to four weeks

Hogan assessments show how each leader is likely to behave under the pressure of change. This works on its own or as the first step of coaching or an offsite.

Team Resilience After Change

(team program)

Two to three sessions

For teams worn down by repeated change. We rebuild energy, trust, and a shared sense of direction, so the team becomes more agile and the next change meets a ready team instead of a tired one.

First 100 Days

(new leaders)

100 days

A new leader is a change for everyone around them.

Offerings at a Glance

A Different Game

Who it is for

Leadership teams and intact teams facing change

Format

Live, in-person team experience

Typical length

One morning

You walk away with

Each person's declared commitment to lead the change

Change Leadership Coaching

Who it is for

A leader personally leading a change

Format

One-on-one, in person or virtual

Typical length

Three to six months

You walk away with

A leader who can carry the change and the people in it

Change Kickoff Offsite

Who it is for

A leadership team at the start of a change

Format

Facilitated session, often opened with A Different Game

Typical length

One day

You walk away with

An agreed picture of the threat, the losses, the ambition, and a 90-day plan

Leading Change Through Your Managers

Who it is for

Middle managers carrying change to their teams

Format

Workshop series, in person or virtual

Typical length

Four sessions

You walk away with

Managers who can explain the change and support people through it

Change Readiness with Hogan

Who it is for

Leaders and leadership teams before a change

Format

Assessments plus individual debriefs

Typical length

Two to four weeks

You walk away with

A clear view of how each leader is likely to respond under pressure

Team Resilience After Change

Who it is for

Teams worn down by repeated change

Format

Team sessions

Typical length

Two to three sessions

You walk away with

Restored energy, trust, and direction

First 100 Days

Who it is for

Leaders new to a role

Format

One-on-one coaching

Typical length

100 days

You walk away with

A strong start that brings the team along

Which Change Engagement Fits Your Situation?

A big change is starting and the leadership team is not aligned

Best fit

Change Kickoff Offsite, opened with A Different Game

You personally are leading the change

Best fit

Change Leadership Coaching

Managers are struggling to carry the change to their people

Best fit

Leading Change Through Your Managers

You want to know how your leaders will react under pressure

Best fit

Change Readiness with Hogan

Your team is exhausted from too much change

Best fit

Team Resilience After Change

You are a new leader, and you are the change

Best fit

First 100 Days

How Do Your Leaders Respond Under the Pressure of Change?

Change puts every leader under pressure, and pressure brings out patterns people rarely see in themselves. As a certified Hogan consultant, I use three Hogan assessments to make those patterns visible before they shape the change.

Hogan Personality Inventory

How each leader tends to show up day to day

Hogan Development Survey

The behaviors that surface under stress and pressure, the moments change creates

Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory

What each leader cares about, which shows what kind of ambition will move them

Key Concepts in Change Management

Change management
The practice of helping an organization and its people move from the way things are to the way they need to be, with the least disruption and the most lasting commitment.
Change leadership
The human side of change management. It is how leaders build understanding, commitment, and energy for a change, rather than relying on plans and announcements alone.
Burning platform
A crisis serious enough that staying where you are is riskier than changing. The term comes from the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster and was introduced by change consultant Daryl Conner.
Burning ambition
A future so specific and so worth reaching that people move toward it on their own. Leadership consultant Peter Fuda described the shift from burning platform to burning ambition as the key to change that lasts.
Change fatigue
The exhaustion and cynicism that build when people face too much change, too much urgency, or change without a clear direction.
Organizational agility
An organization's ability to change again and again without breaking, adjusting direction without waiting for a crisis.
Psychological safety
A shared belief that people can speak up, admit mistakes, and raise concerns without punishment. Change moves faster when people can say what they are really worried about.

Change Management Coaching in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio

Leaders across Cleveland and Northeast Ohio can work with Steve Weiss in person on change management coaching, leadership team offsites, and A Different Game, delivered on-site at your organization. Whether your organization is a growing company, a nonprofit, a school, or a health system, the work starts with the people who have to carry the change.

  • Based in Cleveland, serving leaders across Northeast Ohio in person
  • Also serving Akron-Canton and Columbus
  • On-site engagements nationwide, including A Different Game and offsites
  • Virtual change leadership coaching for leaders worldwide

Read More About Leading Change

Common Questions About Change Management Coaching

What is change management?

Change management is the practice of helping an organization and its people move from the way things are to the way they need to be. Good change management covers the plan and the people, because a change only works when people carry it.

What does a change management coach do?

A change management coach works with the leaders who are carrying a change. The coach helps them communicate honestly, understand resistance, build commitment, and stay steady under pressure, so the leaders, not an outside consultant, own the change.

How is change management coaching different from change management consulting?

A consultant typically designs the change plan for you. A coach helps your leaders design it themselves. Plans people build are plans people keep.

What is A Different Game?

A Different Game is a live leadership experience where teams run a struggling enterprise against the clock and choose to pay, let go, or bet. It moves teams from fear of what happens if nothing changes toward a future they want to build.

How long does a change engagement take?

It depends on the change. A Different Game is a single morning. A kickoff offsite is one day. Change leadership coaching typically runs three to six months.

Do you work with organizations outside Cleveland?

Yes. I am based in Cleveland and work in person across Northeast Ohio, on-site with organizations nationwide, and virtually with leaders worldwide.

What is change fatigue, and how do teams recover from it?

Change fatigue is the exhaustion and cynicism that build after too much change or too much urgency. Teams recover when leaders acknowledge what the changes cost, give urgency an end, and replace fear with a shared direction worth working toward.

How does change management relate to organizational agility?

Agility is the ability to change repeatedly without breaking. Change that runs on fear wears people down. Change that runs on a shared ambition builds the capacity for the next one.

What are the most common change management models?

The best known are Lewin's unfreeze, change, refreeze model, Kotter's 8 Steps, Prosci's ADKAR model, and the Bridges Transition Model. The burning platform to burning ambition approach adds what most of them say less about: how to keep people moving once the crisis passes.

A Conversation About the Change Ahead

Based in
Cleveland· Coaching available nationwide and worldwide

If your organization is facing change and you want your leaders moving toward something rather than only away from something, I would welcome a conversation.

Free 30-min call · No obligation · Response within 24 hours

📞 (216) 288-4548✉️ Email Steve