Beyond the Threshold: A Practicum in Human-Scale Change

Megan Zara

Leadership, Change & Human-Scale Design

Leadership training gives you scripts. This gives you the practice beneath them.

You already know how to announce a change well. You have probably done it more than once, said the right things, meant every word of it. And you have probably watched it not take, not because you said it wrong, but because something underneath the announcement was never addressed.

This course is not another framework layered on top of the ones you already carry. It is a practicum, built around the Threshold Check, four questions that surface what most change work leaves invisible: who a change actually requires something of, whether people have a pathway or just an invitation, what conditions are already true before you assume resistance, and who has to go first.

Across three weeks, you will run a real change you are leading through this practice, alongside other people doing the same, with live coaching, peer feedback, and space to sit with what you find. You will also spend real time with the canon most leadership training hands you unquestioned, Kotter, Lewin, ADKAR, and learn where it holds and where it does not, so you are working from something sturdier than a slide deck.

This is for people who already have the will to lead well. What it gives you is the practice.

What you’ll learn

You will leave leading change like someone who reads a room before they redesign it, not someone who redesigns first and hopes.

A narrowing method: name the easy, obvious answer first, then set it aside and get specific.
Practice generating three real candidates for "who," instead of settling for the first name that comes to mind.
A quick test for choosing the true answer over the safe one.

A method for turning "the change exists" into three steps someone can actually take.
A usability test: could someone act on your message with nothing more than what you gave them.

A simple way to rate trust, capacity, and history before you assume resistance.
A habit of backing every rating with real evidence, not a guess.
A reframe: your lowest score is the starting point for your plan, not a problem to solve first.

A method for naming your first mover clearly, not just in the abstract.
The four things a first mover usually needs: proof it worked, real support, recognition, a way back.
A discipline for naming, in one sentence, exactly what will be waiting for them.

Kotter's eight steps and Lewin's three-stage model, examined against real published critique, not just accepted as given.
ADKAR and Kegan and Lahey's Immunity to Change, tested against your own change, not just summarized.
A working sense of which parts of the standard playbook to keep, and which to set down.

A set of thinking routines, from Harvard Project Zero, for observing a situation clearly before reacting to it.
A habit of checking your own capacity and readiness before you ask it of anyone else.
A method for turning reflection into a written plan, every time, not just when it is convenient.

Learn directly from Megan

Megan Zara

Contact

Relational Leadership & Change Coach, Human-Scale Systems Design

Founder

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Who this course is for

Leaders and managers tired of announcing change well and watching it stall anyway, who want a sturdier practice than another framework.
Educators and program leaders designing curriculum or policy change who want people to actually arrive, not just receive an invitation.
Coaches, facilitators, and organizational consultants who want a research-grounded framework of their own to bring into client work.

What's included

Live sessions

Learn directly from Megan Zara in a real-time, interactive format.

Lifetime access

Go back to every session, recording, and resource whenever you need it, for this change, and the next one after it.

Community of peers

A cohort of people leading real change alongside you, working their own situations, not watching a recording alone.

Certificate of completion

A record of the practicum, useful if your organization supports or reimburses professional development.

The Threshold Plan worksheet

A working document you build in stages across all three weeks, not a workbook you fill in once and shelve.

A Canon Reframe Library

Real critique and current research on the leadership models you already know, Kotter, Lewin, ADKAR, so you know what to keep.

Maven Guarantee

Your purchase is backed by the Maven Guarantee.

Course syllabus

3 live sessions • 5 lessons • 4 projects

Week 1

Nov 11—Nov 15

Nov

Live Session 1: Who Exactly, and What Kind of Ask

Wed 11/115:00 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)

Week 1 Resoures

3 items

Week 2

Nov 16—Nov 22

Nov

Live Session 2: What's Already True, and Who Goes First

Wed 11/185:00 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)

Week 2 Resources

3 items

Schedule

Live sessions

1-2 hrs / week

Three 90-minute live working sessions, one per week, where you run your own change through the practice with real-time coaching and peer feedback. Recordings are available if you miss one.

Wed, Nov 11
5:00 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)
Wed, Nov 18
5:00 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)
Mon, Nov 23
5:00 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)

Projects

1-2 hrs / week

Building your Threshold Plan for a real change you are leading, in stages across the three weeks, using the worksheet and the thinking routines from each week.

Async content

1-2 hrs / week

The canon check readings, videos and podcasts, and thinking routines for each week, done on your own time between live sessions. Built to take about an hour, not a research project.