How to Conduct the Immunity-to-Change™ Process

With Robert Kegan, Ph.D. and Lisa Lahey, Ed.D.

Thursday - Saturday, September 19-21, 2013 from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm at MSPP, Newton, MA

This intensive, three-day program is designed to equip participants to incorporate into their own practices the Immunity-to-Change™ process (ITC) presented in Kegan and Lahey's How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2001) and Immunity to Change (Harvard Business Press, 2009). The Immunity-to-Change™ approach is specifically designed to help individuals, work teams and organizations make those personal and collective changes that are most important to them, but have proven resistant even to thoughtful plans and heartfelt intentions. The approach first generates a customized picture of something which is usually invisible; the way our current mindset produces exactly those behaviors which prevent progress on the goal we most want to achieve. This is the immunity to change. Once we see the real source of what has been preventing change, the approach guides us on a new path to accomplishing it.

Who Should Attend

Psychologists, clinical social workers and other mental health professionals with an interest either in (a) integrating the immunity-to-changeapproach into their practices, or (b) diversifying their practices with an approach to coaching grounded in well-researched psychological theory. (The program has long attracted internal and external coaches in business and public sectors, independent consultants, human resource officers, and corporate trainers, who want to learn how to conduct a powerful process effectively and safely, with groups as small as one and as large as 500, and some folks with these roles will no doubt attend, as well. But the intention in offering this particular version of the program at MSPP is to gather a group that is predominantly mental health professionals, so they can consider together the ways they might make use of the approach. (No prior familiarity with How The Way We Talk or Immunity To Change is necessary or assumed.)

Program Code: ITC13 | 20 CE Credits | $1,600 (includes refreshments and lunch each day)

CE Credits are available for Psychologists, Social Workers, Licensed Mental Health Counselors, Nurses & Educators

20 CE Credits are also available from the International Coach Federation (ICF)

Pre-Registration Required

 Program Outcomes - Participants will learn:

· How to conduct an Immunity-to-Change workshop (in a group or an individual coaching setting)

· The conceptual underpinnings of this powerful and complex learning process

· How to use the Facilitator's Guide as a resource for further developing your skills

· Typical challenges in conducting the workshop, how to spot them and address them

· How this work is being applied in various settings throughout the world

What the Training Equips You to Do

· Deliver an Immunity-to-Change workshop so that it fits your professional circumstances

· Understand the differences and similarities between this way of helping others and your accustomed approach

· Feel greater confidence in your ability to successfully conduct the workshop

Additional Takeaways from the Program

· A network of colleagues for future consultation or collaboration

· New ideas for how and when to use the ITC exercises

· An overview of the "coaching arc" that can follow the workshop

· Two source-books: The Facilitator's Guide to the Immunity-to-Change Workshop and Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization

· 20 hours of CCEs for ICF Members

Design Highlights of the Program

We begin with a three-hour version of an Immunity-to-Change workshop, conducted by its designers, thus putting all participants first in the "receiving role" of the ITC exercises. Everyone then receives a Facilitator's Guide to the training, and a homework assignment to prepare to lead the rest of us through a portion of an Immunity-to-Change workshop the next day in a "studio learning" format. Each participant will have the opportunity to "run" a portion of the workshop in a way that best matches how they are most likely to use it. Participants also, in turn, assist others' skill-building by playing the role of a learner in others' anticipated contexts, and by delivering constructive and appreciative feedback. Throughout the training process there will be frequent opportunities to talk about: predictable snags in facilitation and how to overcome them; the theoretical underpinnings of the process; modifications to accommodate a variety of teaching purposes or group configurations; an overview of the "coaching arc" that can follow the workshop; and the latest ideas about the delivery or uses of the process.

Robert Kegan, PhD, is the Meehan Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.  The recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, his thirty years of research and writing on adult development have contributed to the recognition that ongoing psychological development after adolescence is at once possible and necessary to meet the demands of modern life.  His seminal books, The Evolving Self and In Over Our Heads, have been published in several languages throughout the world. 

Lisa Lahey, EdD, is on the faculty of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and co-author of Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools. A developmental psychologist and educator, she led the research team that created the developmental diagnostic, now used around the world, for assessing adult meaning-systems. Her writing and practice focus on the joint goal of helping teams to better support individuals’ development and for individuals to enable teams to perform more optimally.