Your All Access Pass can be used immediately following purchase and with no download restrictions. It is valid for 1 year and is not renewed automatically. You will only be charged once.

These resources will empower you to:

• Act more strategically and in an advisory capacity, without the need to create new change management tools, templates and training resources
• Ensure senior leaders understand the importance of effective change management and their participation in sponsoring change
• Quickly implement change management learning programming
• Achieve strategic uplift of organizational change capabilities

The sitewide All Access Pass is perfect for individuals responsible for supporting the implementation of successful change management within organizations:

• Change Managers
• Project Managers
• Frontline Managers
• Senior Sponsors
• Change Advocates/Ambassadors

Change Activation resources are methodology agnostic and can be used to support all change management methodologies. Our compatibility guide maps which of the Change Activation materials can be used to support the stages of methodologies

Methodologies include ADKAR, AIM, BCG Change Delta, Bridges Leading Transition, Change Leader’s Roadmap, GE CAP, Kotter, Kubler Ross Change Curve, Kurt Lewin, LaMarsh, PCI, Prosci and the Viral Change Roadmap.

*Note: Information regarding proprietary change management methodologies is provided here for information and comparison purposes only and is not endorsed by the publishers of such methodologies. Links to other websites are provided as useful sources of information. Inclusion of a link to another website does not imply endorsement of any kind. We do not monitor external websites and are not responsible for their availability, quality or content.

The Communication objectives plan helps you to select the optimal communication channels (such as presentations, email, meetings, posters, social media, etc) for communications throughout your project.

This tool helps you with:

• Identifying the principles and objectives of the change communications
• Defining who will coordinate the communications
• Outlining roles and responsibilities for communicating with various stakeholders
• Identifying a budget (if needed)

Ideally use this tool when your project is in an early phase to help coordinate communications. It can be used following performing a stakeholder analysis and gap analysis, but before change readiness assessment.

Stakeholder profile document

Understanding and documenting your stakeholders’ influence level, attitude and knowledge about your project is a crucial step in your planning.

This tool gives a good overall ‘stakeholder report card’, prompting consideration of the stakeholder’s influence level, attitude and knowledge about a potential change.

It is also a place to record stakeholders’ expectations of the change, their engagement history and their relationships with other stakeholders/groups.

Ideally this tool is utilized during the planning stage for a change; however, it may be used at any phase of change given that the attitudes and levels of influence of stakeholders may shift during the course of an initiative.

Results of your stakeholder analysis may inform your:

• Learning and coaching plan
• Communication strategy – to ensure that the right messages are provided to the right stakeholders at the right time in the right medium (communication channel)
• Sponsor engagement plan

Stakeholder Communications Matrix

Make sure the right people get the right messages via the right channels at the right time.

The stakeholder communications matrix helps you to identify the various stakeholder groups affected by your project and to formulate the right messages for each group in order for the organization to be appropriately aware and engaged during the execution of your project.

This tool ensures the right people get the information relevant to their roles and responsibilities and engages them in owning the success of the initiative.

The stakeholder communication matrix tool can also be used alongside the communication channels matrix to coordinate messages that are delivered regarding changes to the various stakeholder groups, ensuring communications are targeted and effective.

Stakeholder matrix

Map those people affected by your project to ensure your change management efforts are targeted.

This essential tool helps you map the stakeholders of your project according to their likely attitude towards the project and their power levels (influence) upon the project.

The stakeholder matrix is ideally used at the beginning of your project as it assists in identifying those particular groups and individuals that may need more attention or communication activities.

Stakeholder mapping is also useful at subsequent points during a project, particularly if the change is taking place over a protracted period whereby stakeholder(s) may change or their relationship to the project may be modified.

Sponsor roadmap worksheet

The consistent involvement of senior sponsors is the most important determinant of project change management success. Use this tool to create a transparent roadmap for sponsor involvement throughout your project.

This tool enables you to outline the activities to which each internal/external sponsor, senior executive, and employee has committed-to in support of the project, creating a useful roadmap. Use this tool during discussions with senior leaders to guide conversation about change management activities that will support adoption of your project.

Sponsorship-style assessment

Encourage senior leaders sponsoring your project to reflect on their personal style and the way that they are likely to support your project.

You can use this tool the beginning of a project or whilst engaging sponsors to consider their responsibilities to supporting your efforts. It is a non-threatening and novel self-assessment that guides senior leaders to be better contributors to the success of organization change projects.

Given that the consistent involvement of senior sponsors is the most important determinant of project change management success, it’s extremely helpful to encourage sponsors to improve the quality of their involvement and remind them of the multi-faceted nature of their responsibilities regarding change initiatives.

They are asked to reflect on the extent to which they believe they reflect the seven sponsor characteristics: the primary sponsor, the mediator, the unblocker, the purse holder, the mediator, the planner, and the visionary. All instructions are included so you can send this tool directly to sponsors or introduce it to them during a meeting or facilitated planning session.

PESTEL analysis (one page)

PESTEL analysis is used to conduct a structured investigation of the external environment in which your team or organization operates.

This easy-to-use tool helps you considere the political, economic, social, technological, environmental (ecological), and legal environment. Use it during the early planning phases of your project, including when conducting a gap analysis.

The results of the PESTEL analysis may be used to inform the decisions about the desired future state as well as plans for individuals and teams affected by the change. If conducted prior to a SWOT analysis, the results of the PESTEL analysis can provide insights that you can then include as opportunities and threats.

SWOT worksheet

Useful planning tool that you can use to identify and document strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relating to your project.

Conducting a SWOT analysis prompts you to consider both the positives and shortcomings of the current situation, which are used to identify the desired state and what is needed to achieve it. You can then use these findings to assist in planning change management activities for your project.

Environmental forces analysis

Helps you identify and prepare for the external forces that may impact the success of your project.

This tool guides you to consider these factors:

• Market conditions
• Customer demands
• Stakeholder needs
• Technologies
• Regulatory environment
• Availability of raw materials

This analysis is similar to a PESTEL analysis, however it also encourages you to consider what actions that you will start, stop, or do differently in order to support the success of the project.

An environmental forces analysis is useful at any phase of a change and may also provide helpful insights as a regular business practice. The results (and the tool itself) can also be used during ongoing strategic planning as a reminder of the need to be aware of how the environment is continually changing

Risk assessment template

A crucial step in ensuring you understand the various threats to your project’s success and the success of your change management efforts.

This tool prompts the people planning a potential change to consider the various types of risk that may be encountered including Human, Project, Operational, Reputational, Technical, Financial, Natural, and Political.

The tool will assist you in increasing awareness levels of the various potential risks that exist and prompt you to minimize or mitigate each of these risks in order to ensure that the change project has a greater likelihood of long-term success.

Managing resistance worksheet

Ensure leaders and managers identify the primary reasons their people resist change and plan how best to overcome or mitigate the damaging impact of their resistance.

This is particularly useful when planning a change that may be unpopular due to perceived negative impacts on particular stakeholder groups. It may also uncover latent resistance and reasons not previously recognized.

This tool is used during the planning stage of the project change, ideally after performing a gap analysis. This tool also assists in the identification of the four main reasons that individuals resist change initiatives:

1. They don’t understand the change
2. They don’t like the impact of the change on them personally
3. They don’t like the change
4. They don’t like you (or those people they perceive as responsible for the change)

Resistance contingency planning matrix template

Enables you to identify likely forms of resistance to your project, assess the damaging impact of the resistance if it does occur, consider preventative actions to take.

Given that some form of sponsor/group resistance is likely during a change initiative, use this matrix to begin the development of your people risk mitigation plan for your project.

This tool also prompts you to clarify which individual or group is responsible for managing each of the likely sources of resistance identified.

This tool is can be used during the planning stage of your project, after the desired state has been identified (during gap analysis). You may also wish to refer to the on-demand video ‘Managing Resistance’ to review the four main reasons that individuals resist change initiatives.

Appreciative Inquiry Worksheet

Motivate your organization’s leaders to support your project.

Share this self-reflection tool with individuals involved with your project to motivate and inspire them. The tool invites them to consider what they value most about their work and what successful projects looked and felt like in the past. It enourages them to envision ways they might leverage their personal core values and competencies to maximize the success of the project.

The appreciative inquiry worksheet tool can be used during a gap analysis to inform the desired future state, and findings from it can also inform your cultural analysis. It may also serve as a helpful reminder during team members’ coaching sessions during change.

Personal lessons from change worksheet

Ensure people learn the lessons from successful projects.

This tool helps develop an individual’s appreciation of well-managed change efforts that they have witnessed during their career. It then invites them to consider how the organization can improve the way that change is implemented and to benefit from the lessons learned from previous successes.

By encouraging people to consider these things at the beginning of a project, you can ensure that the organization learns from the successes and shortcomings of projects.

Personal change readiness self-assessment

Encourage people to think about how ready for change they are.

Share the change readiness self-assessment tool with people impacted by changes due to your project. It prompts them to investigate their attitudes towards risk, control, and flexibility.

The self-assessment is an ideal conversation starter around the idea of personal readiness to change and one’s willingness to adopt new behaviors. It can be used during training and coaching sessions to help individuals become more aware of their personal disposition to change and identify the need to overcome challenges and/or lead through example of their positive outlook.

Coaching using G.R.O.W. template

Equip managers and leaders to effectively coach employees using the proven G.R.O.W. model for coaching.

Coaching people who are required to make large behavioral changes due to a project’s implementation is extremely important in ensuring that they sustain those changes over time.

The G.R.O.W model is an effective framework for coaching both in the context of organizational change as well as being a part of the regular ongoing development of team members. It’s main benefits are that ‘coachees’ feel supported, are heard, have guidance to assist them to resolve challenges they are facing, and can access resources that can help them.

Outcomes from coaching sessions may be used to inform a training needs assessment for that individual; coaching typically involves the coachee taking the initiative to work towards their goals.

Stakeholder training needs analysis template

Analyzing the training needs of stakeholders is an important step in devising a change management plan for your project.

The tool helps you to identify where training interventions will be needed and what learning methodologies will be most effective. This is a crucial part of your planning process, given that the success of a project relies on ensuring that individuals affected are given the necessary skills, information and insights to adopt the right behaviors.

You can use this training needs analysis at any time however, it is particularly useful whilst conducting stakeholder analysis during the planning phase of your project.

Powerful vision statement worksheet

Create inspiring overall vision statements for your project.

This tool helps you to create powerful vision statements by offering guidelines for ensuring that the message powerful, clear and evokes an emotional response in the target audience.

The vision statement for a change initiative can inform the overall communication strategy of a change and woven into each message in the communication matrix, in order to continue to give stakeholders a sense of the overall big-picture purpose of the change project.

Storytelling structure template

Create and share powerful stories to keep people motivated during projects that bring significant change.

Storytelling is a powerful art, and this story structure template helps leaders, managers and others to inspire and motivate those people affected by changes by using the proven narrative arc structure used in effective story development.

This template can be particularly helpful when planning communications for your project and can be used in conjunction with the communications channel matrix and with the message crafting template.

Key message planning

Make sure the critical messages supporting your project are properly planned.

This tool ensures that you identify the audience of a each message that will support your project, the best channel for delivery of the message, and a broad overview of the message content.

Crafting the message follows the completion of the communication channels matrix, and this tool aids in outlining the content that will be delivered. Your completed key message planning tool provides a simple, indispensable guide for those responsible for implementing a communication plan for your project’s change management.

Stakeholder Communications Matrix

Make sure the right people get the right messages via the right channels at the right time.

The stakeholder communications matrix helps you to identify the various stakeholder groups affected by your project and to formulate the right messages for each group in order for the organization to be appropriately aware and engaged during the execution of your project.

This tool ensures the right people get the information relevant to their roles and responsibilities and engages them in owning the success of the initiative.

The stakeholder communication matrix tool can also be used alongside the communication channels matrix to coordinate messages that are delivered regarding changes to the various stakeholder groups, ensuring communications are targeted and effective.

Communication channels matrix

Coordinate the messages delivered about your project to stakeholder groups whilst ensuring you use a wide variety of communication channels to achieve maximum impact.

This tool ensures you don’t make the mistake of relying on just emails and PowerPoint presentations when communicating with your people. As well as offering a comprehensive list of communication channels you can use, it coordinates your communications efforts and ensures that you address the different preferred communication styles of various stakeholders.