Who are we?

The 5 Forces of Change is a company of successful change practitioners dedicated to taking the pain out of change, enabling organisations to innovate and adapt successfully.

The team has over 20 years experience of bringing about substantial changes in major organisations such as Marks & Spencer, PruHealth, GSK, The Northern Trust and Sainsbury’s, in the UK, South Africa and the USA.

The organisation is led by Anthony Greenfield, author of The 5 Forces of Change.

Why is the 5 Forces of Change different?

It helps you take control of change and make it happen for yourselves – faster and more sustainable – by showing you how to work with the grain of human nature.

How does it work?

By equipping leaders to engage people positively with change and enabling those affected by change to take control of their reactions and adapt faster. This is achieved through two groundbreaking workshops, Leading Change and Embracing Change, based on the book ‘The 5 Forces of Change’. The training can be run by you or facilitated by us.

We also offer consultation and bespoke services.

A brief overview:

1 Certainty

The first casualty of change is certainty. At worst people fear for their jobs; at the very least they become unclear about what the future holds and their role within it. Morale takes a hit and so too does performance. The antidote to uncertainty is trust. Great leaders work overtime to inspire trust through words and deeds.

2 Purpose

When an organisation goes through major change things become foggy. People’s sense of direction is diminished and they become less confident about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Decision-making becomes harder and there is a danger that people simply tread water. Turbulent times are often the making of great leaders – people with a clear and unequivocal sense of purpose.

3 Control

Change can lead to strong feelings of unease as people sense that they have lost power over their working lives and become victims to outside forces. This causes people to opt out of change or rebel against it. Good restaurants would never force their customers to eat something they didn’t order for themselves. Great leaders go one better – they get people into the kitchen helping to prepare the meal.

4 Connection

One of the hardest things about change, and perhaps the least understood, it the effect it has on our attachments. We identify ourselves with the job we do and the way we do it. We value our relationships with colleagues, customers and suppliers. We become attached to our organisation, our team, or even our desk. Great leaders know their role is to lay the past to rest and as well as to exhort people to join them in the new world.

5 Success

At a time when people need all the confidence they can get, they find that the definition of success is shifting. What is more, their performance is dropping as they struggle to adjust to new ideas and new ways of working. Great leaders understand that in times of change success is a precious commodity that must be carefully nurtured.