Upcoming sessions
Spring 2026 session
| Date(s) | May 21, 2026 |
| Time | 8:30am - 4:30pm |
| Format | In-person |
| Location | James W. Burns Executive Education Centre |
| Cost | $965 +GST |
Registration and fees
For this session, program fees cover all materials, breakfast, and lunch. Materials will be provided at the start of the program unless otherwise noted. For any questions, please contact our team or visit our FAQ page.
Overview and impact
Organizations were built for stability. Stability isn’t a flaw. It is the foundation that makes organizations work. But the pace of external change has shifted dramatically. Geopolitical shifts that once unfolded over years now land in weeks. Technology cycles that gave organizations a decade to adapt are now measured in months. The average employee faces ten planned organizational changes per year. A decade ago, it was two.
Thriving in this environment requires more than a change management framework. Through our one-day Change Management program, you will build the capacity to adapt continuously. Not managing change as a series of events, but developing the agility to respond without undermining what makes you and your organization valuable. From organizational restructuring to the adoption of AI, the principles you will develop here apply to the changes your organization is navigating right now.
You will gain a practical, human-centered approach to leading change. One that works with psychology rather than against it, builds momentum from the ground up, and equips you to navigate uncertainty and make decisions that move your organization forward.
At the conclusion of the program, you will receive a Certificate of Completion from the I.H. Asper School of Business’ James W. Burns Executive Education Centre.
Learning outcomes
- Differentiate between planned and experimental change approaches by analyzing the conditions of a current organizational challenge to select an appropriate response strategy.
- Explain why people resist change at the fundamental level and apply human-centered strategies to reduce this resistance.
- Apply pull-system thinking so movement happens because conditions support it, not because someone issued a directive.
- Map your organization’s adoption curve and identify who moves first, who needs proof, and where momentum typically stalls.
- Design a minimum viable change around a real challenge you are currently navigating — whether that is a structural shift, a cultural transition, or something like AI adoption — and leave with something actionable from day one.
- Develop a simple, sustainable four-question daily habit that makes adapting to change something you do continuously, not something you schedule once a year.
Participant profile
This program is ideal for anyone who leads, sponsors, or navigates organizational change — regardless of sector, level, or prior experience with change management.
It is particularly valuable for those who seek to move beyond frameworks and develop a genuine capacity to lead change in real, complex environments.
Return on investment
For you
- Act with confidence under uncertainty: Quickly recognize the type of change you are facing and decide the best course of action.
- Lead people through change: Address resistance before it stalls progress.
- Prioritize for impact: Focus your attention where it will move the organization forward.
- Tools you can use the next day: Leave with a minimum viable change, a mapped adoption curve, and a daily habit to guide ongoing adaptation.
- A skill set that transfers: A skill set that transfers across restructures, cultural shifts, and emerging challenges like AI adoption.
For your organization
- More effective change initiatives: Reduce friction, fatigue, and misalignment by addressing human factors from the start.
- Faster adoption: Create conditions that support buy-in and help changes take root more quickly.
- A leadership team better equipped for change: Treat adaptability as an ongoing capability, not a one-off event.
- Sustained engagement across teams: Move beyond top-down directives to approaches that maintain momentum and commitment.
- Long-term resilience: Equip your organization to respond to disruption more fluidly, with practical habits and processes that endure.
Instructor
Joel Semeniuk
Instructor, Change Management, James W. Burns Executive Education Centre
President and CEO, Primal
Biography
Joel Semeniuk has over 35 years of experience building and exiting companies, co-authoring three books, and speaking at over 70 events across 33 countries. He founded Imaginet Resources in 1997, which won the first-ever Global Microsoft Partner of the Year award in Application Lifecycle Management. He later served as Chief Strategy Officer at Communitech, leading national programs that connected Canadian startups with enterprise and government markets, and has established tech startup accelerators in Silicon Valley, London, Hong Kong, and the Vatican.
He is President and CEO of Primal, a Waterloo-based AI company with 180+ patents, focused on AI governance in high-trust environments, including healthcare, law, defence, and government.
Discover more
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James W. Burns Executive Education Centre
2nd floor
177 Lombard Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 0W5