Everything You Need to Know | Best Approaches to Managing Organizational Change (Templates & Downloads!)
Good organizational change management templates and free downloadable roadmaps can make all the difference when it comes to how you approach a change project.
Rather than having to start from scratch, you can have half of the planning work done for you if you use the right template.
Some of the different change management plans and strategies you need to put together during a change project include:
- Organizational change communication plan
- Organizational readiness assessment plan
- Transformation training plan
- Resistance management organizational plan template
- Coaching and mentoring plan
- Organizational change management PPT project assessment plan
… and these are just a few!
Example of an Organizational Plan Template | AGS Cloud
Imagine the time you can save by having the structure for each of those change management plans already laid out for you and a template to use to input your data, with real-time analytics and charts built-in.
Read on to learn what’s in an organizational change management plan, the different approaches to managing organizational change, and for links to both FREE and paid downloadable and cloud-based organizational change management plan templates.
See Also: Importance of Change Management in an Organization | All You Need to Know
Importance of an Organizational Change Plan
Change management provides a structure and strategy to guide and help companies adopt new ways of doing things, new workflows, and adjust to new situations.
In order for any type of change to take hold and be successful, those being impacted by the change (employees, managers, customers, etc.) need to be guided through the change process. This change management process includes everything from gauging the impact of a change to training employees and leaders on new tools.
There are several moving parts to championing a successful change project which is why an organizational change management PPT or organizational change management plan template in the cloud or on Excel can be incredibly helpful.
What is an Organizational Change Management Plan?
To understand what an organizational change management plan is, you first need to understand why change needs to be managed.
There are two main aspects to a transformational or another type of company change that has to be planned and guided, these include:
- The processes
- The people
For example, if your organization is moving from using Excel spreadsheets (to manage customers) to an online CRM program instead. The “process” part of this would include installing and integrating the software, ensuring it was ready to be used, and planning all the different steps to get from the current state to the future state.
The people part of this change would involve making impacted employees and divisions aware of the change and ensuring that you note and address any misgivings or resistance they may have to the change in how they will do their job.
You would also need to ensure employees were properly trained on the new CRM program and given time to build proficiency.
People are naturally resistant to change, which is why the “people” part of an organizational change management framework can be the most challenging and requires the most attention.
An organizational change management plan looks at both the process and people part of any change or organizational transformation and provides a strategy to facilitate the change and successfully sustain the new process into the future.
How to Approach an Organizational Change Management Framework
Project management is a part of the change management process, so you want to approach an organizational change management framework in a similar way.
This means using organizational change management examples and templates to help in preparing all aspects of your change project and charting a roadmap through the preparation stage, implementation stage, and the post-go-live stage.
It’s important to follow a change management model or methodology when implementing an organizational change plan. Otherwise, you could end up leaving vital details out of your plan, which could leave you struggling to bring about the change successfully.
We’ll get into the different models and approaches to managing organizational change next.
Don’t Miss: Best Ways for Leading a Team Through Change in the Workplace
Approaches to Managing Organizational Change | Change Models
Change management models give you a framework for your organizational change management plan template.
For example, they may outline a specific number of steps that you should take from start to finish. They can also tell you the different stages that a person needs to be guided through for a change to be successful.
Using a change model or parts of several models is advisable because there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel. Many of these approaches to managing organizational change are based upon decades of study as to which factors contribute to successful change and which ones contribute to failure.
As an example, the Prosci ADKAR® model provides the following guidance as to what individuals need to drive a successful change. This includes:
- Awareness of the reason for the change
- Desire to get behind the change
- Knowledge of how to accomplish the change
- Ability to function well after the change (skillsets and behaviors)
- Reinforcement support after the change
There are also models, like the Kotter 8-Step model, that offer stages to use as organizational change management examples upon which to build your change project.
Kotter 8-Step Model for an Organizational Change Plan
You can click any of the links below to learn more about these different approaches to managing organizational change:
- The Prosci ADKAR® Model
- John Kotter 8-Step Model
- Kurt Lewin Model
- McKinsey 7-S Framework
- Bridges’ Transition Model
The best organizational change communication plan or other organizational change management examples to help you plan and execute a change project are those that utilize best practices from change management models, like those above.
This is exactly what AGS’s All-in-One Change Management Toolkit and individual modules do. They incorporate best practices pulled directly from the most well-respected change models and methodologies.
What Should You Include in an Organizational Plan Template?
When you first approach an organizational plan template it can be difficult to know exactly what to include. Because change management largely involves the “people” side of change, you need to incorporate activities designed to address resistance and guide people in the desired direction.
While an organizational change management template can vary according to company needs, structure, and the parameters of the change project, there are certain activities that are considered standard.
When planning an organizational change management PPT to share your roadmap with leaders and key stakeholders, here are some of the core activities that you want to be sure to include.
Project Assessment
A project assessment evaluates the scope, timeline, and details related to a change project. It’s an important first step, so you know some of the key information required to begin drafting your organizational change management template.
Impact Assessment
An impact assessment is used to identify exactly who inside (employees, teams, managers, etc.) and outside (vendors, customers) an organization are being impacted by a proposed change and how they are being impacted.
Readiness Assessment
How ready are employees for an upcoming change in a company’s processes or systems? That’s what you’ll identify during a readiness assessment, which will guide your training and resistance management activities.
Develop Change Champions Network
In most approaches to managing organizational change, it’s recommended to develop a network of change champions that will be advocates for a change throughout the organization.
Coaching & Mentorship
Change management teams often need to coach leaders, executives, trainers, and other stakeholders to ensure they can fulfill their role as change agents to help drive a project forward.
Stakeholder Assessment & Management
Once you’ve identified impacted stakeholders, you need to have a way to manage stakeholders, understand their levels of resistance, and their levels of impact to a project.
Communication Plan
It’s important to create an organizational change communication plan as part of your overall change project. Using a template to do this can be a helpful way to keep all project communications in one place.
Training Plan
If you have a change project that requires impacted employees to learn a new process or way of doing things, it’s important that your organizational change management plan include a detailed training plan.
Resistance Management
Resistance can quickly derail a change project and cause it to stall or be unsuccessful altogether. That’s why ongoing resistance management is an important activity to include in your organizational plan template.
Putting Together an Organizational Change Management Plan Template
Related: Guide for Managing Resistance to Change in an Organization
What’s the Difference Between a Free & Paid Organizational Change Management Plan Template?
Below, we have provided several links to both free organizational change management framework templates and paid organizational change plan templates and toolkits.
All these resources are designed to make managing a change management project easier and provide you with the framework you need to manage and execute all the activities mentioned above for a successful change management project.
The main difference between the free and paid organizational plan template is that the paid tools are much more in-depth and offer more features and capabilities. They go beyond a place to input data and plan activities and offer real-time analytics and online collaboration with others on your team.
- Free Tools: Templates, roadmaps, and organizational change management PPT, Excel, Word, PDF documents to use for change management.
- Paid Tools: More akin to a full software application for managing multiple aspects of a change project and include real-time analytics reporting, as well as guides, templates, databases, playbooks, itineraries, and more.
Both our free and paid tools can be a big benefit for planning and managing a change project, so we invite you to review all of them to see which you feel are the best match for your needs.
What is Organizational Change Management PDF?
Some people may see an organizational change communication plan or strategic playbook in PDF format, wondering, “Why is a non-editable PDF included?”
Some of the free organizational plan templates for change management that we offer include a PDF version. This is typically to use as a sample to reference side by side with an editable version.
For example, one of our free strategic playbooks has both an organizational change management PPT and organizational change management PDF version.
The PDF version is designed to use as a guide as you are editing the PPT version, so you can leverage prep work that’s been done for you by a team with over 15 years of change management experience.
Free Organizational Change Management Template Downloads
Are you looking for free change management templates, roadmaps, checklists, and other helpful guides to take several hours off your change project planning time?
Then look no further! We have several below that you can download directly from our website at no cost and use for your change management planning.
Free Change Management Tasks & Checklist (PDF & MS Word)
This free organizational change plan template is a complete checklist of change management tasks that you’ll undertake as part of a change project. It includes both the checklist and the details of each task.
You can download a version in MS Word and in PDF to use as a guide.
Download Change Management Checklist and Tasks
Free Change Management Plan Template (Excel)
This Excel organizational plan template gives you a way to plan and manage your change management strategy. It includes some helpful guides to get you started in the first two columns, and allows you to track your start date, due date, status, and more. It also includes a 1-year Gantt chart.
Download Change Management Plan Template
Free Resistance Management Checklist (Excel)
This Excel document includes a basic checklist of activities for managing your resistance mitigation strategy.
Download Resistance Management Checklist
Change Management Strategic Playbook (Excel with PPT & PDF)
This downloadable Excel document contains links to both an organizational change management PPT playbook and a PDF version.
The PowerPoint version is editable and provides you with a detailed template that you can use to outline your strategic change management plan.
The PDF version is a sample you can reference as you fill in the PowerPoint version with your project information.
Download Change Management Strategic Playbook
Free Change Management Roadmap Templates (PPT & Excel)
Inside this free tool, you’ll find a downloadable End-to-End Change Roadmap in PowerPoint and Excel format. As well as an Excel 12-16 Weeks Change Roadmap.
Download Change Management Roadmap Templates
Paid Organizational Change Management Examples (Excel & Cloud)
If you’d like something that can take you through a change project end-to-end or specific activity in change management, like an organizational change communication plan, then you may want to consider one of our paid organizational change plan Toolkits.
These are all available in both an Excel version and a cloud application that allows real-time collaboration with others.
AGS Cloud All-in-One Change Management Toolkit
AGS Cloud is designed to help you plan an end-to-end organizational change management plan and provides you with nine modules that cover all the main aspects of change management according to change methodology best practices.
You can choose to use the online version that gives you anywhere, any device access, and the capability to collaborate with others online on your organizational change management plan template. Or, if you prefer to have a bit more freedom customizing the interface yourself, you can choose the Excel version.
AGS Cloud | Organizational Change Management Planning with Real-Time Analytics
This ultimate change management planning tool includes everything you need to plan and manage all aspects of a change management project.
Purchase AGS Cloud All-in-One Change Management Tool
Each of the modules below is included in the All-in-One Change Management Tool. If you would like to purchase the individual modules, rather than the All-in-One, just click each module’s link below.
- Project Assessment
- Impact Assessment
- Organizational Readiness
- Change Champions Management
- Coaching Management
- Stakeholder Assessment & Management
- Organizational Change Communications Planning
- Training Planning & Management
- Resistance Management
Templates Can Mean a Faster, Better Organizational Change Plan
Any type of project planning can be a big undertaking, but especially when it has to do with planning for an organizational change.
Whenever processes or systems are changing in a way that impacts people, it adds an entirely different set of requirements to a project, including managing resistance, training users, and coming up with an organizational change communication plan.
We trust that these free and paid organizational change management plan templates, roadmaps, and cloud tools will make your change project planning go more smoothly and take much less time.
If there is ever a change tool or template you would like to see but is not yet available, just send us a message through our contact form. We’re innovators in change management and would love to help!
What is the Importance of a Change Management Plan?
There are several moving parts to championing a successful change project which is why an organizational change management PPT or organizational change management plan template in the cloud or on Excel can be incredibly helpful.
What is an Organizational Change Management Plan?
An organizational change plan is a documented plan that outlines both the process and people part of any change or organizational transformation and provides a strategy to facilitate the change and successfully sustain the new process into the future.
Note: Content on OCM Solution's ocmsolution.com website is protected by copyright. Should you have any questions or comments regarding this OCM Solution page, please reach out to Ogbe Airiodion (Change Management Lead) or the OCM Solution Team today. OCM Solution was previously known as Airiodion Global Services (AGS).
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