APMG Change Management PCM® Foundation and Practitioner

No prerequisites are necessary for attendance, although delegates would benefit from some experience of organisational change prior to attending the course.

Pre-Course Reading

Delegates are provided with access to QA's pre-course learning material that will help them prepare for the classroom sessions. The pre-course work is expected to take approximately 20 hours to complete (although delegates may wish to spend longer on this activity to help them prepare more effectively).

Target Audience

• Anyone interested in understanding the basic principles of achieving successful organisational change, transition or transformation.
• Team members involved in organisational change, transition or transformation projects.
• Professionals pursuing the Change Manager Practitioner Certificate
• Aspiring or current managers of organisational change, transition or transformation.
• Those performing key roles in the design, development and delivery of organisational change programmes, including:
  • Change Project Managers
  • Transformation Managers
  • Senior Responsible Owners
  • Business Change Managers
  • Change Programme Managers
  • Operational Line Managers

During this course, you will learn how to:

• Recognise the drivers for change
• Consider the impact of change on individuals within the organisation
• Identify different organisation cultures and understand their impact on the change process
• Select an appropriate framework to use as the basis for the creation of a change management plan
• Plan learning activities to support change
• Identify and analyse stakeholders to understand their influence on the change plan
• Create and implement a communications management plan
• Develop an effective change team
• Develop organisations that can respond well to change
• Establish appropriate governance structures (Practitioner level)
• Prepare for large facilitated workshops to encourage meaningful dialog with those affected by the change. (Practitioner level)
• Design change that really does become the new business as usual (Practitioner level)

In addition delegates will be provided with advice and guidance on the Foundation and Practitioner examination.

The Change Management Foundation and Practitioner course gives delegates the opportunity to comprehensively explore current thinking on how to manage organisation change. Classroom sessions will introduce delegates to the foundation and practitioner level content of The Effective Change Manager's Handbook and provide an opportunity to test their understanding through practical group work and the use of sample examination papers. Additional evening work will be required in the form of consolidation reading and further sample examination questions.

The course will cover the following syllabus areas:

Change and the organisation

Defining change

Organisations are exposed to wide variety of factors which they need to respond to in order to survive and prosper. Delegates will consider:

• Why their organisations need to change and the implications for this on the design of the change programme

Change, the organisation and the individual

A change management perspective

Successful change typically involves careful design and delivery of new products, services or processes. However the same care and attention is also needed for the 'people' element of any change. Delegates will consider:

• The impact of change on the individual and what implications this has when planning change.
• How different organisational cultures can affect the change experience
• What frameworks are available to support the creation of a 'people focused' change management plan
• Key roles in supporting successful change

Education and learning support

Change usually involves people learning new ways of working. Effective change management recognises this and incorporates learning and development into the change management plan. Delegates will consider:

• The process of learning
• Identifying and meeting learning needs
• The implications of 'learning styles' when designing learning interventions

Communications and stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder strategy

Change agents need to understand who will be affected by the change so that their requirements can be taken into account while minimising disruption to current operational performance. Delegates will learn how to:

• Identify and analyse stakeholders
• Develop effective influencing strategies

Communication and engagement

Effective communications are fundamental to any successful change. Delegates will consider:

• The theory of effective communications
• The use of different communication channels
• How to develop a communications plan
• How to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the communications

Change management in practice

Change impact

Change does not occur in isolation. Change agents will need to manage the relationship between the change journey, business continuity and successfully embedding the change. Delegates will be shown:

• Tools that help assess the wider impacts of the change and so ensure a comprehensive change management plan is developed

Change readiness, planning and measurement

Even if an organisation is effective today, change is likely to be heading its way. Successful organisations start planning for change long before it becomes a necessity. Delegates will learn how to:

• Build motivation to change
• Build organisational readiness for change
• Prepare for resistance

Personal and professional management

One individual is unlikely to be able to undertake all the activities to support successful change. Typically teams will be involved in supporting and shaping the change. Delegates will consider how to:

• Develop effective teams to help manage change

Project management: change initiatives, projects and programmes (practitioner level material)

Change agents will need to decide on the delivery mechanisms for change. Delegates will consider:

• What governance structures to put in place
• How different project management methodologies might impact on the management of change

Facilitation (practitioner level material)

Change agents will frequently be helping others to 'find answers' to difficult business problems. Delegates will consider:

• Approaches to running larger workshops (The use of a World cafe or Open Space Technology)

Sustaining change (practitioner level material)

After all the hard work how can we ensure that the change 'sticks'. Delegates will consider:

• What design factors help ensure that the change is permanently embedded within the organisation

Change Management Examinations

The Foundation examination is:

• Externally accredited by the APMG
• 40 minutes
• Closed book
• Multiple-choice (with 50 questions and a pass mark of 25/50)

The Foundation examination is taken on the afternoon of day 3 of the course.

The Practitioner examination is:

• Externally accredited by the APMG
• 2.5 hours
• Partial open book (The Effective Change Manager Handbook may be used)
• Objective text i.e. complex multiple-choice
• Covers 4 syllabus areas including the Foundation level material
• 80 marks available and a 40/80 pass mark

The Practitioner examination is taken on the afternoon of day 5 of the course.

Delegates will be provided with sample examination papers so they can check their understanding of the course material and prepare for the examinations.

Related Training Courses

• PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner (Project management to build capability to support change)
• Managing Successful Programmes (Planning capability delivery while integrating the change management work)