Description

Outline

The Change Management Toolkit provides learners with a comprehensive foundation in the frameworks, tools and implementation planning skills that drive successful change management initiatives. Learners will explore the most widely recognized change models, like ADKAR, Kotter's 8-Step and Lewin's 3-Step, and learn how to apply them alongside practical tools like stakeholder management, impact assessment and organizational readiness evaluations. By the end of this course, learners will have the knowledge and confidence to assess their organization's business operations and build data-informed plans supported by strategic, well-timed communication.

To put theory into practice, learners will apply these foundational frameworks to diagnose challenges and guide organizations through structured business transformations. The coursework prepares learners to conduct thorough stakeholder analyses, impact assessments and organizational readiness evaluations, ensuring their change management plans are grounded in data and organizational insight. Ultimately, learners will develop the skills to create strategic communication plans that deliver targeted, timely messaging to the right audiences throughout every phase of the project lifecycle.

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• analyze an organizational change initiative by applying Kotter's 8 Accelerators, Kotter's 4 Core Change Principles, and the Prosci ADKAR Model to diagnose the current change landscape and articulate a guiding vision for the change.
• apply a structured organizational change readiness assessment framework to identify enablers, barriers, and risks across key organizational categories, and draft an awareness-stage message that builds genuine urgency for a specific change.
• apply human-centered design principles to construct a stakeholder analysis and empathy map that accounts for varying levels of stakeholder readiness, enthusiasm, and resistance.
• develop a multi-stage communication action plan that delivers targeted, audience-specific messaging tailored to each stakeholder group and stage of the change journey, incorporating AI-assisted drafting.
• design a learning and training plan that builds organizational knowledge and ability through coaching, hands-on practice, and test-and-learn opportunities that prepares each impacted stakeholder group to thrive in the changed environment.
• evaluate the sustainability of a change initiative by establishing measurable adoption metrics, a short-term win and reinforcement strategy, and a plan for embedding change into organizational culture, compiled into a complete change management toolkit.

Course Format

This six-week course blends elements of asynchronous and synchronous components to provide learners with flexibility in project work, while also having face-to-face time with instructors and fellow learners via Zoom. 

Each week learners will:

• attend one 90-minute Zoom, during which learners will participate in discussions and workshop their project with the instructor and peers
• complete three to four hours of assignments or project work

Learners will be graded based on completion of assessed assignments/projects.

Testimonials

Registering yourself with a credit card or U of M EFS number?
Select your preferred section and click Add to Cart.

Registering others or via other means (check, invoice, third-party credit card)? 
Register using the Other Payment Type Form

Applies Toward the Following:

• Change Management Certificate : Required Courses