What is Change Management Training?

18/02/2016

What is Change Management Training?

Before we answer the question 'what is change management training?' let’s clarify what we mean by change management.Change management is the process, the tools and the techniques that an organisation will implement to manage the people aspect of change within an organisation. It specifically relates to the process of planned change that is required to a deliver a planned business objective.Project management is the other side of the coin and addresses the act of managing the physical activities required for a business to go from point A to point B in order to achieve the planned business objective.Change management training is the development of individuals to manage their teams, and extended teams, during the process of change, to ensure a successful outcome.When you introduce any change to the organisation, you are ultimately going to be impacting one or more of the following:

Processes
Systems
Organisation structure
Job roles

The existing teams will all have highly vested interests in each of these elements.

In order to successfully manage a change programme, organisations either need to employ people who have managed a similar project, or offer support via their leadership and development programme.

At Cegos, we believe there are five important stages to becoming a successful change manager.

1. Creating a vision of the future

As a line manager, the success of any project is based on whether you can effectively share your vision with your team, and at the same time define their individual roles and manage their expectations.

2. Understanding how people react to change

Understanding how people react to change will help you as the change manager provide the right type of support, to the right people, at the right time. This will help minimise the initial resistance, and maximise the contribution from those who will support and champion the project - ultimately this means you will have more people working with you, and less people working against you!

3. Managing your stakeholders

One of the most important skills for any manager is to be able to build, maintain and influence formal and informal stakeholder networks. These networks will be used to deliver key stages within the overall project as well as a valuable feedback resource to identify potential areas of conflict and therefore key partners that can be relied upon to help resolve issues.

4. Change management tools and strategies

Can you identify the appropriate strategy to successfully implement your change programme? How will you spot and track the change accelerators and constraints? If you can manage these strategies and tools effectively, then you will be able to anticipate the consequences and effects of change on your entity or team.

5. Triggering the dynamics for sustainable change

Any change programme is only as successful as the planning that is put into it. A great change manager will be able to build and maintain short and long term perspectives surrounding the project, will be able to foresee potential obstacles and engage and motivate their team to focus on success and not flounder at the first hurdle.

What is Change Management Training?