Navigate Change With Confidence Through Sympathetic Change
We guide creative businesses through change with empathy, expertise, and a people-first approach that delivers lasting results.
​Why Change Management Matters
It’s no secret that change is inevitable, nor is it groundbreaking to say that businesses must adapt to survive and thrive. In times of opportunity or uncertainty, the speed at which a business can seize new opportunities and mitigate threats is a defining factor of success.
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What’s less discussed, however, is that change is hard, risky, and often exhausting.
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The road to success is littered with unread decks.
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You’ve seen them - the meticulously crafted presentations sitting on your Google Drive. The ones your team poured countless hours into but no one ever acted on. Decks filled with bold visions, game-changing tools, and promises of revolutionary ways to work that ultimately went nowhere.
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You’re not alone. Across industries, data shows that most change initiatives fail. According to Boston Consulting Group, only 30% of change initiatives succeed, while 26% are outright failures, and 44% deliver lacklustre results. Similarly, McKinsey & Company reports that a staggering 70% of large-scale transformations fall short of their goals.
These failures don’t just cost time and money; they take a toll on your team. Employees experiencing organisational change are twice as likely to suffer from chronic stress (55% compared to 23%)*.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
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Change Is Hard, But It Can Be Managed
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Let’s be clear: change will always come with a cost. However, with proper change management, you can significantly reduce those costs while maximising the return on your investment. Effective change management ensures your business achieves its goals without damaging team morale or well-being.
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Where We Come In
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For many small and medium-sized businesses - and even large organisations - change management is not intuitive. It requires specialised expertise and practical experience that most companies can’t justify keeping on staff full-time.
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That’s where our change management consulting services come in. We provide the skills, strategies, and hands-on support you need to navigate organisational change successfully. With our expertise, you’ll not only overcome the challenges of change but turn them into opportunities to strengthen your business.
* CBIA 2024
What is Sympathetic Change?
There are countless change management models, each offering valuable insights. However, in our experience, these models often don’t translate well to the businesses we are most passionate about - those that are smaller in scale, people-focused, and driven by creativity.
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To bridge this gap, we developed our own approach: Sympathetic Change.
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It begins with a simple insight: If you want to change the way people behave, you first need to understand the way they feel. This is not a platitude but a principle grounded in hard-earned lessons from dozens of change initiatives. All successful change initiatives run on trust - trust that you will deliver on your promises, that you have no hidden motives, and that the change will not make their job harder or, even worse, take it away from them. Trust starts with listening.
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When trust is established, you can co-create solutions that align with your strategy while engaging your team in the process. By understanding your people and speaking their language, you build a communications plan that resonates deeply. By the time you implement the plan, you’ll have engaged at least 25% of the impacted team members and set the stage to engage the rest during optimisation.
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The Sympathetic Change Process
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Let’s break it down into six key steps:
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Actively Listen: Truly listen to your team - don’t just survey them. Understand how they feel about the challenges you’re addressing and build trust by engaging in meaningful dialogue.
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Co-Create the Solution: Bring key stakeholders together in structured sessions to design solutions that align with your strategy.
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Collaborative Planning: Involve your team in developing a change plan that respects their challenges and bandwidth while addressing organisational needs.
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Speak Their Language: Communicate effectively, addressing aspirations and concerns, and repeat the message until it feels like you’ve over-communicated - it’s essential for clarity and buy-in.
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Implement Collectively: Engage change agents at all levels and go on the journey together. Avoid imposing change; instead, build momentum from within.
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Optimise Collaboratively: No change is perfect from the start. Turn challenges into opportunities by capturing feedback, optimising solutions, and transforming sceptics into advocates.
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Each of these steps requires expertise, insight, and skill to deliver effectively, and that’s where we come in. With our Sympathetic Change approach, we’ll guide you through every phase of your change journey, ensuring it’s not only transformative but also human-centred and sustainable.
Why Choose Creative Grid?
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We’ve been there. We’ve experienced the highs and lows - the grand successes and the difficult setbacks. We’ve witnessed the energy of a shared vision and the frustration of misaligned teams. Through it all, we’ve learned one unchanging truth: success begins and ends with people.
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That’s why at Creative Grid, people are the focus of our practice.
We understand that every business is unique, with its own challenges and ambitions. That’s why we tailor every solution to your specific needs, always grounded in a human-centred approach. Whether you’re navigating growth, adapting to change, or striving for operational excellence, we work with your teams to build trust, create clarity, and deliver results that last.
Our Services: Tailored Change Management Support
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At Creative Grid, we understand that every organisation’s journey is unique. That’s why we offer two flexible formats for our change management services, designed to meet you where you are and deliver the support you need:
Consultant Model
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We guide and advise your team through every stage of your change program, providing strategic expertise and actionable insights to ensure success. This format is ideal for organisations that need external expertise but want to lead the implementation themselves.
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What We Offer
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Tailored advice on designing and executing change programs.
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Guidance and tools for the end-to-end implementation of our Sympathetic Change approach
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On-call support to address challenges as they arise.
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Rate
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£125 per hour.
Perfect For
Organisations seeking expert guidance while maintaining internal ownership of change initiatives.
Practitioner Model
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We embed within your organisation, taking a hands-on role to lead and execute your change program. From stakeholder engagement to full implementation, we manage the process end-to-end to deliver impactful and sustainable results.
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What We Offer
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Full embedding within your team to lead change initiatives.
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End-to-end management of change programs, including planning, execution, and optimisation.
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Practical, real-world solutions tailored to your business needs.
Rate
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£650 per day.
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Perfect For
Businesses seeking dedicated, hands-on support to drive change with minimal disruption.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is change management?
Change management is the process of preparing, supporting, and guiding people through organisational change. It focuses on building trust, engaging teams, and ensuring the successful adoption of new processes, systems, or ways of working. At Creative Grid, we specialise in Sympathetic Change, a people-centred approach designed to drive lasting results.
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What does a change management consultant do?
A change management consultant provides expert guidance on planning and executing change initiatives. At Creative Grid, our consultants work alongside your team to design strategies, advise on best practices, and address challenges as they arise—ensuring your change program is both practical and achievable.
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What is the role of a change management practitioner?
A change management practitioner takes a hands-on role, embedding within your business to lead the change program from start to finish. From engaging stakeholders to executing and optimising your change strategy, our practitioners manage the entire process to ensure smooth implementation and measurable success.
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How do I decide between a consultant and a practitioner?
It depends on your needs. If you want expert advice while retaining ownership of your change program, a consultant is the best fit. If you need dedicated, hands-on support to manage and deliver change, a practitioner provides the leadership and expertise to make it happen seamlessly.
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How is change management different from transformation?
Change management typically focuses on guiding people through specific shifts, such as adopting new tools or processes. Transformation, on the other hand, involves a broader overhaul of business operations, strategies, or culture. With our Consultant and Practitioner services, we can support both change management and business transformation initiatives.
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What types of businesses do you work with?
We specialise in creative businesses of all sizes—from startups and agencies to established organisations. Our experience spans industries where innovation and collaboration are key, helping businesses thrive at the intersection of creativity and commerce.
Let’s Get Started
Are you ready to turn change into an opportunity? At Creative Grid, we help businesses like yours navigate transformation with confidence and clarity. Whether you need expert advice or hands-on leadership, our Consultant and Practitioner services are designed to deliver tailored solutions that work for your organisation.