Lewin's Change Management Workshop

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Map an upcoming or current organizational change across three sequential stages to identify necessary mindsets, support systems, and routines.

Use it when: Use when a team faces an organizational change and needs to plan practical support and anchoring routines rather than just project task deadlines.

Skip it when: Skip when the immediate need is technical incident management, rapid crisis response, or when the team has no authority to alter how work gets done.

Group arrangement: Small working groups of 3 to 5 people (for 7 participants use groups of 3 and 4; for 17 use three groups of 4 and one of 5), plus whole-group alignment

Timing: The original source outlines a 115-minute sequence across seven steps.

Materials and tools

• Sticky notes (3 pads per small group, different colors if possible)
• Markers (1 per participant)
• 4 flip chart pads or large wall poster sheets
• Blue painters tape for wall display
• Digital whiteboard or breakout rooms if meeting online
• 1 countdown timer

Before participants arrive

1. Label three large poster boards or flip charts: '1. Unfreeze', '2. Change', and '3. Refreeze'.
2. Prepare a fourth poster titled 'Change Map & Commitments' divided into three matching columns.
3. Arrange seating in small tables of 3 to 5 people with sticky notes and markers on each table.

Say this to open

Change brings up practical friction and personal reactions. Today we will use Kurt Lewin's three-stage model: Unfreeze, Change, and Refreeze. We will pinpoint what habits need to loosen, what support we need while adjusting, and what concrete routines will lock in new ways of working.

How to run it

1. Reflect on change experiences 10 minutes

   Say the opening script. Ask each person to write one word on a sticky note describing how organizational change usually feels. Form pairs to compare words for 3 minutes. Bring the room back together, collect words on a flip chart, and spend 4 minutes asking the room: What patterns do you notice?

2. Introduce the three-stage model 10 minutes

   Present Lewin's three stages: Unfreeze (breaking status quo habits and showing why change is necessary), Change (the transition period of learning new behaviors), and Refreeze (establishing new standard routines and stability). Offer one concrete example. Ask up to three volunteers: Which stage do you find hardest?

3. Explore the Unfreeze stage 20 minutes

   Direct small groups to answer the Unfreeze questions on their prompt sheet using sticky notes: What is not working well enough right now? What habits or routines hold us back? What facts or data show the need for change? After 14 minutes, have groups post their notes under the '1. Unfreeze' board. Ask the whole room: What needs feel most urgent? Mark the top three.

4. Explore the Change stage 25 minutes

   In the same small groups, give groups 18 minutes to address the Stage 2 Change prompt sheet questions: What new behaviors are needed? What support or training is required? What might slow people down? What early wins can we create? Groups post notes under '2. Change'. Facilitate a 7-minute whole-room review focused on: What support will help the most?

5. Explore the Refreeze stage 20 minutes

   Small groups take 14 minutes to answer the Stage 3 Refreeze questions: What must become routine? How will we reinforce new behaviors? What risks could pull us back to old habits? What structure or recognition will help? What anchors must we protect? Groups post notes under '3. Refreeze'. Spend 6 minutes as a whole group identifying two or three anchors the team must protect.

6. Assemble the change map 20 minutes

   Direct groups to move the highest-priority notes from the three category boards onto the main three-column 'Change Map'. Work together as a full group to cluster duplicates and sequence items chronologically. Ask: Does this map reflect what we need? Adjust items until the group confirms agreement.

7. Make personal commitments 10 minutes

   Ask every participant to write down one specific action they will complete this week to support the transition. Run a rapid round-robin where each person speaks their commitment aloud or writes it on the map. Optional: pass if an individual action is still pending review. Set a calendar date to review progress.

Debrief questions

• Which of the three stages currently has the most unanswered questions for us?
• What is the single biggest risk that could pull us back into old habits?
• What support do you need from leadership or peers this week to take your first step?

Finished output: A consolidated three-column Change Map listing priority issues to unfreeze, support needed during transition, and stabilizing routines, along with specific individual commitments for the coming week.

Remote

Use breakout rooms of 3 to 5 participants. Set up a shared digital canvas with four boards corresponding to Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze, and the consolidated Change Map. Keep whole-group instructions and debriefs in the main meeting room. Participants post digital sticky notes directly to the shared board.

Hybrid

Pair in-person participants with local table partners and remote participants in virtual breakouts. Choose one uniform documentation method: either assign a designated in-person scribe who mirrors room sticky notes onto the digital canvas, or have all in-person and remote participants contribute directly to the digital board from their own laptops.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may submit written notes to the board without speaking aloud during large group debriefs.
• During the final commitment round, participants may say 'pass' or choose to record a private operational task rather than disclosing personal habits.

If the session gets stuck

Participants turn the Unfreeze conversation into personal blame or venting about colleagues.

Intervene and redirect the group toward workflow bottlenecks, structural habits, and objective data rather than naming individuals.

Small groups create vague transition support requests such as 'better communication'.

Ask groups to specify the exact mechanism, such as 'a 15-minute weekly standup on Tuesdays' or 'a written cheat sheet for the new software'.

Terms used here

• Unfreeze: The process of highlighting why the status quo no longer works and loosening ingrained habits.
• Refreeze: Establishing new behaviors as standard operating routines so people do not revert to previous ways of working.