The Growth Speak Agency
Jeff Skipper
International Expert in Designing & Leading Change
About Jeff
Organizations around the world struggle to implement dramatic change. That’s where Jeff Skipper comes in. An expert in accelerating change, Jeff guides corporate leaders to plan and implement successful change initiatives. Leaders discover how to ignite engagement, convert grudging compliance into deep commitment, and realize their strategic goal.
Based in Canada, Jeff is an international change leadership consultant, speaker, and author of Dancing with Disruption: Leading Dramatic Change during Global Transformation. He works with organizations in energy, finance, technology, and other industries to develop the strategy that precedes effective change.
Clients, such as Bayer, BP, and The Salvation Army, have engaged him to achieve dramatic results during strategic transformation. Backed by deep expertise in leading change, Jeff guides leaders to develop effective change plans based on the twelve proven strategies he presents in his book. This empowers leaders to reach their goals faster with greater buy in throughout the entire organization.
For more than twenty-five years, beginning with a twelve-year career at IBM, Jeff has guided change projects by focusing on the people side of change. He holds a master’s degree in organizational psychology and is a Certified Change Management Professional. As CEO of a transformation services company, he grew it to seven figures in just five years.
Jeff and his family live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. When he isn’t traveling, you might find him driving a Zamboni at the local community arena.
Watch Jeff Speak
Speaking topics
Leading Change – For Leaders
How to Dance with Disruption: Leading people through strategic transformation
Why do some employees do everything in their power to avoid making difficult changes? Why do others jump in with both feet? Why are some leaders more successful at getting people on board? It’s not charisma. The good news is that there are proven steps backed by psychological principles you can apply to anticipate the response to change and help people embrace it successfully. In this session you will learn:
How to apply a 5-Point Early Warning System to predict employee responses and select tactics to address potential issues in advance.
How to leverage help, heart, and hope to inspire adaptation.
A simple method to diagnose perceptions, assess impact and determine how much support to provide when rolling out a change.
From Resistance to Resilience: Lessons in Leading Change
There are no breaks from change. The next ones begin before you’ve embedded the last. As pressure to adapt increases, so does resistance, threatening to block the results you are expecting. And yet, resistance can be your friend; a critical tool on the road to greater resilience. Resilience is a muscle to be developed. To the extent we understand the reasons for resistance, we can convert that energy into long-term resilience, enabling employees to embrace parallel changes with aplomb. In this session you will learn:
How people respond to change: The Commitment Continuum.
The four personas of resistance and their root causes.
How to defuse resistance and convert it to resilience.
Achieving Ignition: How to Build a Strategic Narrative for Change
Do NOT send me another forgettable memo about a change that’s coming! Leading successful change means having a message that cuts through the growing noise and shrinking attention span. It’s not an easy task for any leader. Messaging tuned to the mindset of every generation requires strategic thinking. The right language and images can capture hearts and heads, building a powerful force for change. In this session you will learn:
Why your audience needs purpose more than plans.
The three elements required to inspire adaptation.
How to translate your goals into powerful narratives that connect the dots between change, customer, community, and country.
Navigating Change – For Employees and Volunteers
Navigating Change, Building Resilience
Why is some change harder to embrace than others? Why do some people avoid it while others jump in with both feet? Understanding the reasons why people respond to change the way they do reveals practical approaches for navigating it successfully. You have the power to flip change from challenge to opportunity. In this session, you will learn:
The 4 F’s behind our responses to change.
How to bounce forward by leveraging the community around you.
How to maximize your energy for change
Topics for Consultant/Practitioner Audiences
The Critical Path to Effective Change
Your clients want it all: speed, results, and minimal disruption. Following an exhaustive change methodology will get you there – eventually. We don’t have that kind of time! Wouldn’t it be nice if someone compressed change management into a streamlined approach with all the best proven tactics? Well, here it is. In this session you will learn:
How and why people interpret and respond to change the way that they do
A process for diagnosing change impact in 10 minutes
How to build a complete change plan, from sponsorship to support
Five critical levers necessary for minimizing resistance
Ten secrets used by the most effective change leaders
How To Assess Impact with Just Two Questions
Put away the massive spreadsheets! With relentless change we need a way to rapidly determine how people will respond and whether they will resist. Working with clients ranging from non-profits to software development I’ve reduced impact assessment to two critical questions easily answered. Not only does it speed up the process, but it creates a simple visual easy for executives to grasp. It’s the best tool I’ve used for establishing resistance hot spots and identifying what needs to be done to reduce fear of change, inspire action, and achieve success.
Describe the downside of exhaustive impact assessments
Identify the two critical questions for assessing impact
Build a simple visual that identifies potential resistance points
Learn how to present your findings effectively to executives to drive buy-in for next steps
Other Topics
How I cleared $4 million in revenues in one year
How to develop your own IP (intellectual property) that sets you apart
How to land new engagements by speaking the language of outstanding value
Create deliverables that WOW without spending days to build them
Wrap up engagements in a way that opens the door to the next
Book Jeff to Speak
Reach out to marie@growthspeak.agency today!