Change Management Foundation and Practitioner course

Understand the setting in which change is taking place and how that context should influence the approach.

• Change management and benefits realisation
• Levels of adoption and what they imply for the effort needed
• Planned and emergent change
• Systems thinking and organisational culture
• Force-field analysis and the forces helping or hindering change
• Approaches such as ADKAR and evolving step-based models
• Delivery strategy, agile practices and continuous change
• The purpose and components of a change strategy

Understand why people respond differently to change and how those responses can be supported.

• Individual differences and human responses to change
• Social neuroscience and what it can tell us about reactions to change
• The change curve and phases of transition
• Motivation, reward and punishment
• Positive psychology, resilience and Appreciative Inquiry
• Resistance to change and how to distinguish resistance from well-founded concerns
• Learning and the development of competence through change

Understand the roles, behaviours and team dynamics that help change succeed.

• The roles of sponsors, line leaders, change agents and change managers
• Leadership demands created by organisational change
• Building, leading and maintaining effective change teams
• Supporting collaboration and effective teamwork through change

Understand how to identify, analyse and engage stakeholders and build communication around their needs.

• Stakeholder identification and analysis
• Understanding stakeholder needs, influence and interests
• Developing engagement approaches
• Building communication strategies
• Managing messages and communication channels
• Overcoming communication barriers and appealing to both hearts and minds

Understand the practical work needed to assess, implement, measure and sustain change.

• Assessing the areas and severity of change impact
• Considering change readiness
• Measuring progress and adoption
• Supporting implementation and benefits realisation
• Sustaining change and maintaining momentum

Use Foundation knowledge to decide how momentum can be created, monitored and sustained throughout a change initiative.

• Assess what may strengthen or weaken momentum
• Select actions that support continued adoption
• Relate change progress to outcomes and benefits

Move beyond recognising learning needs to defining useful learning objectives and considering how people will build new competence.

• Identify learning needs created by change
• Define learning objectives
• Consider how instruction and learning support should be designed

Use listening, feedback and coaching principles to support people as they adapt.

• Active listening
• Constructive feedback
• Coaching conversations and support

Recognise sources of conflict and choose responses that help maintain relationships and progress.

• Identify likely causes of conflict
• Consider different approaches to handling conflict
• Select appropriate responses for the scenario

Use facilitation to support co-design, co-creation and co-production where collaborative change is appropriate.

• Principles of collaborative change
• Facilitation of groups and workshops
• Balancing participation, direction and decision-making

Practitioner assumes that you already understand the Foundation concepts, language and syllabus. Passing Foundation satisfies the prerequisite and allows you to progress to the Practitioner assessment.

Foundation tests knowledge and understanding across the five syllabus areas. It does not require the same scenario-based application as Practitioner.

Practitioner tests whether you can use the Foundation knowledge in a realistic organisational scenario, select appropriate approaches and make sound judgements about what should happen.

Foundation is closed book. Practitioner is open book and permits the official Change Management Study Guide. The combined course includes the official digital study guide.

After passing Foundation you receive the Foundation certificate. After passing Practitioner you gain Change Management Registered Practitioner status.

The Foundation certificate does not expire. Registered Practitioner status is current for 5 years. To maintain Registered status, APMG requires re-registration between years 3 and 5.

You can retake the relevant exam, but free resits are not included. An additional exam fee applies for another attempt.