Effective Change Management: Dan Hayes
Dan Hayes attended the Effective Change Management professional short course.
This course is delivered through the Smart and Inclusive Leadership project, which is part funded by the European Social Fund. Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is pleased to offer free (fully funded) places on this course to support employees of small and medium businesses that are based in Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire.
Dan Hayes, Effective Change Management course graduate
Designing organisations that are built to last means they need to adapt and evolve quickly. Understanding what enables this and understanding the characteristics of organisations and their readiness, is why this course caught my eye.
Dan Hayes, Effective Change Management course graduate
Below is the written question and answer session with Dan Hayes, who took the Effective Change Management professional short course.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your business?
I was born in Nottingham and now live back here after an expat career within the financial services in London, Tokyo and then Geneva.
I am passionate about sustainable technology especially within the aviation and transport sectors. In 2016 I co-founded VRCO LTD, a sustainable aerospace company designing an electrical Vertical Take-off and Landing aircraft (eVTOL). I have exited VRCO and now provide advisory services and support to others. These include Evie Autonomous, which builds world leading autonomous pods and Cavonix which develops the underlying autonomy platform. I am also the interim CEO of Volaron OU, a company based in Estonia, which is developing an electric fluidic jet engine. In August 2022 I was appointed to Advanced Blast & Ballistic Systems Limited.
I am married to Lisa-Marie, we have two daughters, Luciana born in 2012 and Gabriella born in 2015 along with three cats and a dog. Lisa is the CFO for Nottingham based Magical Mushroom Company, which makes sustainable packaging from mycelium.
I love the outdoors, especially skiing and running. In 2018 I took up trail running and completed my first 100km ultra run. I am a member of the Green Party’s (UK) Tax and Fiscal Working Group.
What first attracted you to the Effective Change Management course? What were you hoping to learn?
Change is a permanent feature of our lives. We are living in a time of exponential change. Twenty years from now, the rate of change will be 4x what it is today. That means a year of change (at today's rate) will take place in three months. Forty years from now, the rate of change will be 16x what it is today. A year of change will take place in eleven days.
Designing organisations that are built to last means they need to adapt and evolve quickly. Understanding what enables this and understanding the characteristics of organisations and their readiness, is why this course caught my eye.
What did you learn in the course that you found particularly useful?
The course exposed us to different management approaches, such as Halocracy and various benchmarked best practices around change management. The exposure to this tool kit was very useful.
It was tricky to find time to complete the assessment. However, this really provided the catalyst to properly consider the optimum approach to making an effective change in our organisations. Once over the hump of reviewing the various models and frameworks, bringing it all together for a relevant application was very useful.
I found having access to the University’s resources a great by product and provides my first point of call for research around topics.
How much time would you say you invested into the course?
Outside the six sessions, I spent around 20 hours over five days to complete the final report.
What benefits would you say it had for your business?
My main focus, Evie Autonomous, is growing rapidly and so ensuring we implement best practice around change management is really beneficial. I would certainly favour candidates who have this type of understanding and I think this has enhanced my capabilities. The key will be the culture and engagement we create at Evie.
Would you recommend this to other people? And if so, why?
Yes, the structure was well laid out and the approach to learning, a combination of face to face and online sessions worked well. The content and delivery by industry experts makes it is particularly relevant.
How to access the support available
If you are interested in our Effective Change Management course, please contact ECM@ntu.ac.uk.