Some Conversation Starters for Change Management

1. “You seem like someone who really enjoys what they do — how did you get into it?”
• Adaptation for change-management: “You seem very invested in this team/process. What drew you to it originally and how has that changed with this initiative?”
2. “That’s a great point. I never thought about it that way. Can you tell me more?”
• Adaptation for change-management: Use when someone makes an observation about the change: “That’s a great insight; I hadn’t thought of it like that. Could you unpack it further for me?”
3. “What’s been the best part of your week so far?”
• Adaptation for change-management: “What’s been the highlight in your team’s week in relation to the change so far?” This helps identify positives in change work (often overshadowed by resistance).
4. “That sounds like there’s a story behind that - what happened?”
• Adaptation for change-management: Useful when someone mentions something briefly about the change: “You mentioned the rollout went smoother than expected. What is the story behind that? What happened?”
5. “What is something you’ve been enjoying lately?”
• Adaptation for change-management: “What is something you have enjoyed lately in the context of how the change is unfolding? Could be small, could be big.”
6. “What is got your attention these days?”
• Adaptation for change-management: “What’s currently getting your attention in this change effort?” Good for checking where focus is going and aligning priorities.

More on integrating conversation starters into your change-management list

Extra to the above list of starters (aware, emotions, sense-making, implementation, embedding phases, etc), you could insert these additional ones under each phase to enrich the variety.

For example:

• Awareness phase: “What’s got your attention these days (in relation to the change)?”
• Exploring emotions/reactions phase: “What’s been the best part of your week so far around the change?”
• Sense-making phase: “That sounds like there’s a story behind it, what happened?”
• Implementation phase: “What’s something you’ve been enjoying lately in how things are going?”
• Embedding phase: “You seem like someone who really enjoys what they do. How did you get into it?  How is that influencing how you lead the change now?”

(main source: Lachlan Brown, 2025)