Driving Effective Change: Chaos to Collaboration
This certificate program consists of three required courses (listed below) and one elective course option.
This certificate is comprised of four single-day courses.
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Change initiatives often fail not because of poor strategy but because leaders struggle to navigate conflict and stakeholders become polarized around deeply held beliefs. This course frames conflict management and resolution not only as critical leadership competencies but also as necessary drivers of effective change.
This course integrates research-informed theory and practical tools for engaging in disagreement productively, leveraging diverse perspectives and transforming tension into collective progress. Participants will learn how to lead across differences, manage emotionally charged conversations and create conditions where dissent strengthens—not derails—decision-making and implementation.
Drawing on organizational research, psychology and real-world leadership contexts, the course prepares leaders to operate at the edge of conflict and complexity, where meaningful change happens. Participants will be better prepared to move teams and organizations from stalemate to solution without suppressing difference or exacerbating polarization.
- Reframe conflict as a strategic leadership competency and a sign of organizational health and innovation rather than a risk to be minimized, avoided or managed.
- Learn to productively engage with disagreement in ways that increase organizational learning, decision quality and buy-in.
- Lead across differences by fostering psychological safety, productive dialogue and inclusive participation during periods of change.
- Transform stalemates into solutions by integrating diverse viewpoints into actionable change strategies.
How This Course Fits the Certificate
Designed as part of HDO’s change management certificate, this course deepens participants’ capacity to lead the human dynamics of change—where resistance, conflict and difference most often determine success or failure. This course explores the interpersonal and group dynamics that surface once differences emerge during periods of needed change.
Details & Registration
Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs): 0.6 CEUs will be awarded upon completion of this program (six hours of instruction)
One-Day Seminar Pricing:
Registration fee includes all course materials, catering (lunch and refreshments), WiFi access, and parking.
- Standard Registration: $1,000
- UT System Staff/Alumni Registration: $750
- Educator, Nonprofit, Government, Military Registration: $750
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If you have questions prior to registering, please see our Professional Training FAQ or contact HDO’s Enrollment & Success Coordinator at hdo-pro@austin.utexas.edu.
Course Leader(s)
Dr. North is a researcher, teacher and author in the field of psychology. In addition to teaching for Human Dimensions of Organizations (HDO Master’s Course, HDO 381: Individual Perspectives on Organizations and HDO Professional Training: Creativity, Failure, and Innovation) at the University of Texas at Austin, she teaches at UT’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and at Huston-Tillotson University.
Larry Schooler is an assistant professor of practice in the Department of Communication Studies in the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin, teaching courses in conflict resolution and facilitation. He also teaches in the Communication and Leadership degree program, the Bridging Disciplines program and the Plan II Honors program. He serves as a mentor for students in the Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies Bridging Disciplines Program.
Dr. Schooler also works as a mediator, facilitator and communications consultant for local, state and federal agencies, as well as nonprofit organizations. He has steered groups to consensus on contentious topics ranging from policing to affordable housing, from strategic planning and visioning to significant schisms within organizations.
His research interests include restorative and transitional justice, truth and reconciliation commissions, dialogue and deliberation, mediation and public participation in public policymaking. He is the author of a forthcoming book on North American truth and reconciliation commissions, and a manual on facilitating public meetings. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Dispute Resolution Center of Austin and the advisory board for IssueVoter and Unify America.
Dr. Schooler is the father of two boys and husband of one amazing woman! He enjoys podcasting, tennis, hikes and museums in his nonexistent spare time.
Who Should Participate
This course is designed for professionals who find themselves asking:
- Why does conflict emerge during change, and how can it become productive, rather than destructive?
- How do values, identities, and deeply held beliefs shape stakeholder responses to change?
- How should leaders show up when stakeholders disagree or become polarized?
- How do leaders stay effective when emotions run high so progress continues?
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