Free template
A change management plan is the part of a programme most likely to be written late and read never. This free template keeps it practical: who changes what, how they will hear about it, how they will learn it, how resistance will be handled and how adoption will be measured when the programme team has gone home.
By Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
A note before you start
Change management is not the communications plan. It is making sure every person who has to work differently knows what is changing, why, and how to do it before the day they need to, and then checking that they actually do. Most programmes manage the first part and stop. This template is built to stop you stopping, with adoption measured for six months after go live rather than assumed on the day.
Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
Start with the impact assessment, because everything else follows from who is affected and how much. Build communications around the questions people will actually ask rather than the messages the programme wants to send. Train people on their own work in the new process, not on the features of the new system. Agree the adoption measures before go live and name who reports them for six months after. Run our free change readiness assessment first to see where the plan needs most effort.
[Organisation name] | Version 0.1 | [Date] | Owner: [Name, role]
| Programme | Sponsor | Change lead | What is changing | Who is affected (numbers by group) | Go live date(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Why this change is happening, what will be different for customers and staff and what happens if it does not, in language a line manager can repeat in a corridor.
| Stakeholder or group | Interest in the change | Influence | Current position (advocate, neutral, resistant) | Target position | Owner of the relationship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group | Process changes | System changes | Role or skill changes | Size of impact (high, medium, low) | Number of people | Support required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Result of the readiness assessment, the gaps found and the actions to close them before go live.
| Readiness area | Finding | Action | Owner | By |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | Key messages and questions to answer | Channel | Sender | Timing | Feedback route |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Role | What they need to be able to do | Method | Duration | When | Delivered by | Completion measure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anticipated resistance | Source and reason | Response | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
Agreed before go live, reported for at least six months after.
| Measure | Definition | Baseline | Target at 30, 90 and 180 days | Source | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Who owns the new ways of working after the programme closes, how new starters will be trained, how the measures continue to be reported and when the change will be reviewed.
| Risk to adoption | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Template by PEF Consulting Partners, pefconsultingpartners.co.uk. Free to use and adapt.
Related reading: change management consultancy, the free change readiness assessment, benefits realisation consultancy, the target operating model template.
The case for change, stakeholder analysis, impact assessment, readiness findings, communications and training plans, resistance management, adoption measures and the arrangements for sustaining the change after the programme closes.
A first version during design, as soon as the future processes are known well enough to assess impact, and refined through build and test. Written during the final quarter before go live it is a communications schedule, not a change plan.
Pick a handful of measures that show the new way of working is being used: transactions through the new process, exceptions, time to complete, support tickets, survey results. Baseline them, set targets at 30, 90 and 180 days and name who reports them.
If adoption is the part of your programme nobody owns yet, a short confidential conversation is a cheap way to change that.