Overview
Introduction
In a Workday implementation project, there are a lot of meetings!
Many of them overlapping, back-to-back, and seemingly endless. As a change management consultant, showing up to the right meetings makes all the difference between being a strategic partner and being overwhelmed by your calendar.
Reality check - You can't attend every meeting; but you also can't afford to miss the critical conversations where change insights are buried in technical discussions, where resistance first shows up as a "design question," and where your future champions are sitting in the back row asking thoughtful questions.
Use this toolkit to help you understand which meetings to prioritize, how to make the most of the meetings you attend, and how to add value with your people-side of change perspective.
Being a Strategic Attendee
Showing up to the right meetings isn’t just about being in the room — it’s about knowing where you can add the most value.
Start with the Meeting Intelligence Gathering Worksheet.
Use before, during, and after each essential meeting to capture not just what was said, but the change insights hidden beneath the surface—stakeholder sentiment, resistance indicators, champion opportunities, and the specific intelligence you need to build an effective change strategy.
Pro Tip:
After every meeting, try to fill in this one sentence: "Because of what I heard today, I need to update the [Comms Plan / Training Material / Stakeholder Map] to address [Specific Issue]."
Define your objectives before each meeting
Capture both what people say AND how they say it
Document change impacts in real-time
Identify patterns across multiple sessions
Meeting Intelligence Gathering Worksheet Template
Getting on the Invite List
The change management workstream is not always considered a critical path to success on a Workday implementation project. And we sometimes get left off the invite list for essential project meetings.
When this happens:
❌ Don’t take it as a personal offense. Reframe it as an opportunity to educate the team on the value of including change management in the discussions and decisions.
✅ Do act as a strategic advisor by:
Being knowledgeable of the key project meetings you should attend
Getting yourself on the invite list instead of waiting for the PMO to realize they need you
And most importantly, showing up fully prepared to drive alignment, readiness, and adoption
To get the best results, it’s helpful to frame this request as a way to reduce project risk and ensure a smoother go-live. PMOs love anything that prevents "surprises" later in the project.
Email Template
Not quite sure how to request a meeting invite? Download this email template to get you started.