Course Description

Change management is a systematic approach to an organisation’s transition or transformation goals, processes, or technologies. It highlights how the advantages of a change outweigh the challenges of implementing it.

Change Management Practitioner is for anyone interested in understanding how to implement the principles of achieving successful organisational change as you will learn how to apply specific techniques to ensure a smooth transition during change initiatives while providing full support to the business – and its people.

Target Student

Aspiring or current managers of organizational change, transition or transformation.
Those performing key roles in the design, development and delivery of of organizational change programmes, including:

• Change Project Managers
• Transformation Managers
• Senior Responsible Owners
• Business Change Managers
• Change Programme Managers
• Operational Line Managers

Pre-requisites

You must have successfully passed the Change Management Foundation exam in order to be eligible to sit the Practitioner exam. We recommend you have previously attended the Change Management Foundation training course.

Course Materials

All students will receive a hardcopy of the required Change Management v3 Study Guide, sent to their preferred postal address, and the rest of the course materials will be provided in digital format.

Course Objectives

The key things students will learn are:

• Levers to help embed change and ensure its sustainability.
• Strategies to manage learning and development in support of change.
• A framework for coaching colleagues, including listening and feedback techniques.
• Core insights into handling conflict during periods of change.
• Approaches to facilitate collaborative design of change.

Course Content

The Change Management Practitioner course will build upon the various approaches and techniques that you learned in the Change Management Foundation course to prepare your organisation and its employees for successful adjustments.

Organisational Context and Approach
Building on the foundation, this section introduces systems thinking and its application through co-design workshops. Participants also dive into strategies for using Agile principles in continuous change cycles, ensuring the organisation remains adaptable.

People and Change
This part expands on the foundational knowledge, incorporating the Beckhard & Harris change formula and introducing positive psychology as a tool to boost change resilience. You will also learn practical approaches to addressing resistance, informed by Kanter’s strategies and Schein’s insights into survival and learning anxieties.

Change Leadership and Teams
You will learn how to support leaders and sponsors throughout the change process, fostering psychological safety within teams. The importance of team diversity is also explored, along with leadership techniques to maximise its benefits.

Stakeholders and Communication
Here, the focus shifts to developing detailed stakeholder engagement strategies, overcoming communication barriers, and crafting messages that resonate emotionally and logically. Participants will learn to create comprehensive communication strategies to keep stakeholders aligned and motivated.

The Work of the Change Manager
This section teaches you how to use emotional, procedural, and structural levers to drive change, manage conflicts, and build momentum. It also covers how to measure the effectiveness of change initiatives using data strategies to achieve lasting adoption.

Course Approach

This is the 2 Day Practitioner course and is a mixture of input and practical sessions teaching the Practitioner APMG Syllabus level, delivered by an APMG approved trainer with practical experience of change management. The course builds on previous knowledge from the Foundation level and prepares delegates for the Practitioner exam.

Delegates should spend approximately 4-6 hours studying the pre-course material to be well prepared for the course.

Exam Format

The APMG Change Management Practitioner exam is included in this course.

• Objective testing based on a case study scenario
• 5 sections of 16 marks each
• 40 marks required to pass (out of 80 available) – 50%
• 2.5 hours duration
• Restricted open book – The APMG Change Management Study Guide.