Launching a change management team - step two

Prosci and the Change Management Learning Center are proud to present a tutorial series focused on launching a change management team. The first tutorial presented data from the 2003 and 2005 Change Management Best Practices Study on change management team structure. Once you have created your change management team, this tutorial presents ways to educate your team about change management, including data from the 2005 benchmarking results. Upcoming tutorials in the series will address:

A case study on using ADKAR and change management webinars to kick off your change management team
What leaders would do differently regarding their change management team
Change management team obstacles and how to over come them

Educating your team about change management

Once you have decided on your change management team structure, you will need to decide what type of change management training your team needs. Each individual may need different types and levels of change management training depending on their change management experience and their role on the team.

Team member competency assessment guide

The following questions can be used to gauge the competency and experience of your change management team members.

Have you ever attended any formal change management training? If yes, with what company and how long was the training?
Have you ever been assigned to work on a change management team? If yes, what type of project and what was your role?
Have you supported the communications or training aspect of a business project? If yes, what type of work did you do?
Are you knowledgeable about any change management methodologies or approaches? If yes, describe.

Methods to educate your team

Participants in the 2005 Change Management Best Practices Study used a variety of methods to educate their teams about change management. Overwhelmingly, participants favored face-to-face, interactive approaches. Reading materials and handouts were the fourth most mentioned method. The most frequently cited sources for this education in rank order were:

2005 Benchmarking findings:
How did you educate your team about change management?

Face-to-face training
Workshops and public seminars
Meetings
Reading materials and handouts
Coaching
Discussions
Presentations

Face-to-face training

Training gives change management teams the knowledge, skills and tools they need to implement change management on their projects. Face-to-face training can be done by either internal or external resource. If internal resources do not have the necessary expertise, they can leverage and partner with an external resource to provide face-to-face training needed to get the team up to speed. The vendor of your change management methodology is another good source for the type of in-depth training needed by your change management practitioners.
Workshops and public seminars

Workshops and public seminars give participants a chance to gain knowledge about how to apply change management in a setting where experts and other peers can give input and feedback. Prosci conducts public session training in Colorado where participants bring their change project to the course and work on building the change management plans for their project while learning the methodology. This hands on approach allows participants to get started on their project while learning the methodology in depth.
Meetings

Meetings are a powerful forum for teams to get together and share their experiences, fears and concerns. The open atmosphere can be used to facilitate questions about the change and to share new information. Participants cited two ways to use meetings: either having periodic meetings dedicated to change management or by working change management in as a regular agenda topic for normal project meetings.
Reading materials and handouts

Reading materials are a valuable reference for change management teams, but be sure not to rely solely on them (remember, face-to-face is the most effective form of communication). Change management tutorials are a great source of reading materials and handouts.
Coaching

Coaching will be extremely important to spread the success of your change management project. Effectively coaching managers and supervisors will in turn allow managers and supervisors to be effective coaches to their employees. The ADKAR model is an excellent coaching tool - see the Employee Survival Guide to Change.
Discussions

Discussions are good ways to share success stories and to keep individuals that are being impacted by change informed on what is going on. Discussions can be one-on-one or facilitated in a group setting. Change management webinars are great team launching points for change management education and discussions.
Presentations

PowerPoint presentations can be used effectively to provide change management best practice research to executives or present the ADKAR model to managers and supervisors. Presentations can be found on the Change Management Pilot. Like reading materials, be careful not to underestimate the importance of live, face-to-face contact.

Summary

This tutorial presented best practice findings and approaches to educate your change management team. Educating the team is important, but there are some key messages that must be delivered before training - so participants are not wondering why they are learning this information. The next tutorial will look at preparing your change management team using the ADKAR model.

For more information and content to help your team:

The online CM Pilot or the hardcopy Change Management Toolkit can be licensed as source material for change agents in your organization;
Call Prosci at 970-203-9332; or
Ask an analyst

Email this page to a friend

Related Resources:

Best Practices in Change Management: 426 companies share experiences in managing change and lessons on how to build great executive sponsorship. Includes success factors, methodology, role of top management, communications, team structure and more. The report makes it easy to learn change management best practices and discover the mistakes to avoid when creating executive sponsorship.

Change Management Toolkit: a comprehensive change management process, including templates, worksheets, assessments, checklists and guidelines - a must have for change management team members and consultants.

Change Management Pilot: a fully electronic version of Prosci's popular change management toolkit with templates, worksheets, assessments, checklists, eLearning modules, ready-to-use presentations and guidelines.

NEW - Change Management Pilot Professional: a fully electronic version that combines the Change Management Pilot with the Change Management Guide for Managers and Supervisors and Employee’s Survival Guide - a combination that allows you to reach each level of the organization.

Change Management Guide for Managers and Supervisors: a guide specifically designed for managers and supervisors dealing with change - complete with team and individual coaching activities, best practices findings and frequently asked questions.

Change Management: the people side of change: a solid foundation in change management perspectives, theories, activities and practices.

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