9 free change management training courses for business leaders
Change management is a vital component in the running of any successful business
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Change management is essential for business success, helping organizations achieve goals quickly and efficiently. It is a collective term for approaches to support and help individuals and teams in making organizational change. By helping employees understand and embrace change, businesses can minimize disruption and maximize the benefits of change – a constant element of business transformation and improvement. However, a recent study by McKinsey found that 70 percent of change initiatives fail, impacted by factors such as change resistance, lack of communication and poor planning.
“Change management is an absolutely vital component in the running of any successful business,” Thom Dennis, CEO of culture change and development consultancy Serenity in Leadership, tells PEX Network. “It serves as the backbone of the effective implementation and sustainability of any initiative.” It extends beyond simply tracking schedules and milestones; it cultivates the human aspect of transformation, he adds. “Adjustments to processes or operations invariably impact employees, and their buy-in is crucial.”
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Effective change management can be the difference between projects that succeed and those that fail. Without it, businesses transformation and improvement efforts can be doomed from the start. That said, change management is not an easy discipline to master.
Here are nine free training courses designed to help business leaders grow and develop their change management skills, knowledge and understanding.
1. Introduction to change management – Alison
This course introduces the key concepts and practices involved in organizational change including people, ideas and strategies. Participants learn how to build an effective change strategy around increased competition and technological advancements. It also outlines how to play an effective role within an organization that is going through a period of change and adjustment.
REGISTER: All Access: Change Management for Business Transformation
2. Change management – Great Learning Academy
From Great Learning Academy, this course explores how effective change management helps an organization make smart choices. Participants learn how to increase productivity, decrease risks and implement changes successfully at an individual and organizational level. Upon completing the one-hour self-paced course, which includes several modules and an assessment, learners will receive a certificate of completion.
3. Change agility in the workplace: Become a change agent – Udemy
This Udemy course outlines the strategies needed to handle the constant change faced in the modern workplace on an individual level. Instructed by learning and development expert Shelley Osborne, the course centers on five change-focused mindsets that should be adopted and concrete strategies to put them into practice. Participants will learn how to:
- Use situational awareness to better comprehend change as it happens.
- Work through the five stages of change to navigate emotional responses to change.
- Adopt ideation techniques to help generate innovative approaches to new situations.
- Reframe circumstances to confront change with a new perspective.
- Discuss how to make decisions without knowing the full picture.
- Identify the questions you need to answer in order to clearly communicate a change.
READ: 15 elements of effective change management
4. Hybrid working: Change management – The Open University
This course aims to help participants apply a sustainable human-centered approach to change initiatives focusing on the approaches, frameworks and tools needed to manage the process in a caring way. It outlines the functional and operational changes that help organizations deliver their strategies, as these tend to be the change initiatives that most members of an organization frequently experience.
5. Diploma in change management – Alison
This change management certification course teaches how to build effective change strategies and play a more effective role in any organization undergoing a period of change. It covers the reasons why organizations change as well as how to plan and execute change, providing valuable change management skills and strategies. The course will be of interest to professionals looking to play a prominent role in change management processes, as well as small business owners who want to learn more about guiding their employees through change.
6. Removing barriers to change – University of Pennsylvania
Professor Jonah Berger, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, has designed this course to teach the REDUCE framework, showing how to develop skills of persuasion and influence. By the end of the course, learners will know both the strengths and weaknesses of certain strategies for removing barriers to change as well as how to leverage those strategies to achieve change in both business and life.
READ: Change management – the unsung hero of business transformation
7. Facilitate innovation and manage change effectively – Udemy
This course teaches managers how to work effectively with team leaders to manage change processes. It also includes implementing change strategies and processes, as well as evaluating the impact of change on the employee and the organization. Participants learn about methods for encouraging innovation and the signs/stages of conflict as well as strategies for conflict resolution.
8. Bitesize course/change management – HFMA
Free for staff members of the UK National Health Service (NHS) this course, provided by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), delves into the definition of change and the process of change management. It also explores three change models that can help to deliver successful change. It is suitable for budget and operational managers, clinical and medical, finance staff, governors and board members and primary care workers.
9. The science of change – Udemy
In this course Jennifer Hancock, bestselling author and founder of Humanist Learning Systems, explores the science of behavioral change and how it can be applied to support mentees so they can succeed. It consists of a set of video lessons with lecture notes for reference and is ideal for life coaches/mentors looking to improve their knowledge and skills. Learning outcomes include creating change management plans that incorporate a necessary unlearning process and motivating others to persist with the change process.
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