Change Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Change Managers, Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CM-073

Before you join: Participants should have experience working on projects, operational improvement, HR initiatives, technology implementation, policy rollout, or team leadership.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Organizations often install new systems, redesign services, merge teams, or introduce controls with sound technical plans yet uneven adoption. Staff may receive inconsistent messages, managers may lack answers, and sponsors may treat communication as a substitute for leadership. The result is delayed benefits, informal workarounds, compliance exposure, declining morale, and projects that meet delivery dates without achieving the intended operating change. Change managers and leaders need a disciplined way to assess impacts, build commitment, prepare people, and verify adoption.

This five-day Change Management Training Course equips participants to structure and lead organizational change from the initial case through sustained use. It applies the Prosci ADKAR Model, Kotter's 8-Step Process, the Bridges Transition Model, stakeholder analysis, RACI, impact assessment, communications planning, resistance management, training readiness, and adoption measurement. Participants learn to distinguish project outputs from behavioural outcomes; establish sponsor and manager accountabilities; segment affected groups; select communication and learning actions; manage resistance; and use leading indicators to intervene before rollout problems become entrenched.

Delivery is instructor-led in a classroom or live online, using short briefings, cases, facilitated analysis, simulations, and planning work drawn from transformations such as core-banking implementation, public-service process redesign, ERP deployment, merger integration, and policy change. Participants test decisions against operational constraints and receive practical feedback. Each participant leaves with a structured change management pack: a change charter, stakeholder and impact analysis, engagement and communications plan, resistance log, training plan, adoption dashboard, and first-90-day action plan. A certificate of completion is issued to participants who complete the course.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess organizational readiness, change saturation and adoption risks using structured diagnostic criteria
  • Build a change strategy using ADKAR, Kotter's 8-Step Process and impact analysis
  • Create stakeholder maps, personas and engagement plans for affected groups
  • Define sponsor, manager and champion responsibilities using a RACI matrix
  • Develop communications plans that connect change rationale, impacts, actions and support
  • Manage resistance through listening, issue logging, manager conversations and escalation protocols
  • Design role-based training, performance support and go-live readiness plans
  • Construct adoption dashboards and first-90-day action plans for sustained change

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce credible change plans for active projects rather than relying on communication alone
  • Lead difficult conversations with affected staff and managers using structured resistance techniques
  • Explain adoption risks clearly to sponsors, steering groups and project teams
  • Build evidence of change-management capability through reusable workplace deliverables
  • Improve career readiness for transformation, programme, project and operational leadership roles

For your organisation

  • Earlier identification of readiness gaps, sponsor weaknesses and change saturation risks
  • Clearer ownership of adoption activities between project teams, managers and HR functions
  • Reduced disruption from unmanaged resistance, rumours, workarounds and unclear role changes
  • Better training and communications targeted to affected roles and operational timing
  • Stronger evidence that business benefits are being adopted and sustained after go-live

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define a change case, assess readiness and distinguish delivery outputs from adoption outcomes.

  • Business case components: problem definition, benefits, costs, risks and assumptions
  • Change types distinguished by scale, pace, uncertainty and stakeholder disruption
  • Change saturation assessed against concurrent initiatives, capacity and delivery deadlines
  • Readiness criteria connect sponsor commitment, resources, skills and local conditions
  • Benefits maps trace activities, adoption behaviours and measurable business outcomes
  • Scope boundaries separate change management responsibilities from project delivery responsibilities

Participants can identify affected groups, assess change impacts and prioritize engagement actions.

  • ADKAR diagnoses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement gaps
  • Stakeholder segmentation ranks influence, impact, attitude and engagement requirements
  • Power-interest grids identify sponsors, advocates, blockers and affected groups
  • Persona profiles capture role-specific impacts, concerns, channels and timing
  • Impact assessments compare current-state and future-state processes, roles and controls
  • Stakeholder maps record ownership, dependencies, decision rights and escalation routes

Participants can establish leadership roles, governance routines and accountability for change delivery.

  • Sponsor coalitions define visible leadership behaviours, decisions and resource commitments
  • RACI matrices assign change deliverables, accountabilities, consultation and information flows
  • Governance cadence coordinates steering groups, workstreams, risks and decisions
  • Change manager role boundaries align with project, communications, HR and operational leads
  • Local champion networks establish selection criteria, briefing routines and feedback routes
  • Escalation protocols resolve adoption barriers through agreed authority levels

Participants can select a change approach and sequence activities around operational constraints.

  • Kotter's eight steps sequence urgency, coalition, vision, action and reinforcement
  • Change strategy selects directive, participative, negotiated or developmental approaches
  • Wave planning sequences pilots, releases, training and support around operational constraints
  • Bridges Transition Model distinguishes endings, neutral zones and new beginnings
  • Dependency mapping exposes handoffs, technology releases, policy approvals and staffing constraints
  • Integrated roadmaps align project milestones with adoption activities and measures

Participants can create targeted communications that explain change and prompt required action.

  • Audience-channel matrices match messages to stakeholder needs, influence and timing
  • Message architecture connects rationale, personal impact, required actions and support
  • Leader communication plans specify talking points, forums, ownership and frequency
  • Two-way feedback mechanisms capture questions, rumours, concerns and improvement ideas
  • Communication calendars coordinate announcements, manager briefings, training and go-live messages
  • Plain-language drafting explains process changes without technical or policy ambiguity

Participants can diagnose resistance and respond constructively without weakening necessary change requirements.

  • Resistance analysis separates rational concerns, emotional responses, politics and capability gaps
  • Listening techniques surface objections through structured interviews, focus groups and observations
  • Resistance logs record source, issue, response owner, due date and status
  • Manager conversations use inquiry, acknowledgement, choice and clear expectations
  • Negotiation options address legitimate interests without diluting non-negotiable change requirements
  • Conflict escalation distinguishes interpersonal disputes from design defects and resource constraints

Participants can plan learning and performance support for people adopting new ways of working.

  • Learning needs analysis identifies role tasks, proficiency gaps and performance consequences
  • Role-based curricula combine awareness, process knowledge, practice and post-launch support
  • Training readiness checks confirm materials, facilitators, environments, access and attendance
  • Performance support includes job aids, checklists, FAQs and supervisor coaching
  • Pilot feedback revises learning materials before scaled deployment
  • Knowledge transfer measures distinguish attendance, understanding, competence and workplace application

Participants can monitor adoption risks and use evidence to direct corrective action.

  • Change risk registers define triggers, probability, impact, mitigation and contingency actions
  • Adoption indicators track participation, proficiency, compliance, sentiment and workarounds
  • Leading measures detect readiness problems before benefits and performance results decline
  • Pulse surveys test message recall, confidence, manager support and unresolved concerns
  • Dashboard design links change measures to operational, customer and financial indicators
  • Decision thresholds trigger corrective action, sponsor intervention or rollout pauses

Participants can support go-live, reinforce new behaviours and transfer ownership to operations.

  • Go-live support plans coordinate floorwalkers, help channels, incident triage and feedback
  • Reinforcement mechanisms align recognition, performance management, controls and leadership routines
  • Benefits reviews compare expected outcomes with adoption data and operational evidence
  • After-action reviews document decisions, lessons, unresolved issues and ownership transfers
  • Embedding routines transfer accountability from project teams to line management
  • Change fatigue responses adjust sequencing, communications, workload and support intensity

Participants can assemble a practical, accountable change plan for a current workplace initiative.

  • Change charter consolidates case, scope, outcomes, risks and governance arrangements
  • Stakeholder engagement plan schedules sponsor, manager, employee and union interactions
  • Integrated action plan sequences communications, training, resistance responses and measurement
  • First-90-day milestones define decisions, deliverables, owners, dependencies and review dates
  • Personal leadership commitments specify observable behaviours for leading through uncertainty
  • Peer review tests plan assumptions, gaps, feasibility and accountability

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Change management charter template
  2. Stakeholder and change impact analysis
  3. Sponsor and manager RACI matrix
  4. Communications and engagement plan
  5. Resistance and adoption risk register
  6. First-90-day change action plan

Who should attend

  • Change Managers — responsible for planning and coordinating adoption activities
  • Project Managers — need to integrate people-focused work with delivery milestones
  • Programme Managers — oversee multiple initiatives competing for organizational capacity
  • HR and Learning Managers — prepare roles, managers and training support for change
  • Operational Managers — lead teams through new processes, systems or controls
  • Transformation Leaders — sponsor major business, service or technology change

Skills and tools covered

Change strategy designStakeholder engagementResistance managementSponsor alignmentAdoption measurementImplementation planning

Tools and standards

Prosci ADKAR Model, Kotter's 8-Step Process, Bridges Transition Model, RACI matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course combines focused instructor briefings with case analysis, group exercises, simulations and individual application planning. Participants examine realistic change situations including system deployment, operating-model redesign, policy implementation and merger integration. They analyse stakeholder impacts, make sponsor and communication decisions, respond to resistance scenarios, and interpret adoption data. Facilitators provide feedback on the quality, feasibility and sequencing of participant plans. Classroom and live online delivery use the same structured materials, facilitated discussion and practical outputs.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working on projects, operational improvement, HR initiatives, technology implementation, policy rollout, or team leadership. They should understand how decisions, processes, roles and performance measures operate within their own organization. Familiarity with project plans, stakeholder groups and basic business cases is helpful. No prior formal change management qualification is required, and participants do not need previous experience with ADKAR, Kotter, RACI or specialist software. The course is not designed for participants seeking introductory people-management skills only.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have experience with projects, operations, HR, technology implementation, policy rollout or team leadership. No formal change management qualification or prior knowledge of ADKAR, Kotter or RACI is required.

Bring details of a current or planned change initiative if you can, such as a project brief, process change, system rollout or restructuring plan. You will use this material to shape practical planning outputs, but confidential information is not required.

It is designed for change managers, project and programme managers, HR and learning professionals, operational managers, and transformation leaders. It is particularly useful for professionals whose initiatives depend on staff adopting new systems, processes, roles or controls.

Project management focuses on scope, schedule, cost and delivery controls, while this course focuses on the people-side activities needed for adoption. Leadership training may address general management behaviours; this course provides specific change frameworks, plans and measurement methods.

Participants leave with templates and analyses that can be adapted to an active initiative, including stakeholder maps, communications plans, resistance logs and adoption measures. The course also helps participants identify the first sponsor, manager and employee actions needed after returning to work.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between ten connected modules, instructor input, case work, group exercises, simulations, discussion and individual application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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