Today’s business landscape is everchanging, through new technologies and global change, it’s key for organisations to be prepare through training their mangers with skills and knowledge needed for change leadership.
While some may assume change leadership is only needed for major organisational change, it is crucial for organisations to consider all change that they may face, no matter how small it may appear. The principles of change leadership apply to any organisational move, from introducing a new software to large organisational restructures.
In this article LMP Education will cover the key elements of change leadership and how to create a training plan for change leadership.
What is change leadership?
Change leadership refers to the ability to influence, inspire, and guide people through organisational transformations. This is done through fostering a vision, building commitment and managing the human side of change.
Not to be confused with change management that is about the structure and process involved with organisational change, change leadership focuses on the human side of change and how to best support individuals through it to ensure everyone is fully aligned.
What is a change leadership training plan?
A change leadership training plan is a continuous development plan (CPD) that focuses on supporting leaders and mangers through change. The plan showing include a structured programme that is designed to equip leaders and managers with the skills, tools and mindset needed to guide teams through organisational change.
Why do managers and leaders need change leadership training?
Change leadership is only effective when all managers, leaders and executives are aligned and working together to drive change. This should also extend to their teams, ensuring everyone is backing the same ideas is key, and this can only be done if everyone has the right skills to navigate this change.
When should you consider putting a change leadership plan in place?
You should not wait for change to be on the horizon to start implementing a change leadership training plan. While having a general understanding of what change your leaders may need to work around, a key aspect of change leadership is managing change even when unexpected, and so you should start preparing for it as soon as possible.
What should a training plan for change leadership include?
The training plan should include general training and support for leaders and managers, highlighting key skills all managers should have, but should also focus on developing specific skills for organisational change. These key skills include:
Change Methodologies
Introduction to specific change frameworks like ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement), Kotter’s 8-Step Process, or the Bridges Transition Model.
Strategic Communication
It’s crucial for any manager or leader to have strong communication skills, however, for change leaderships these will need to be refined. Managers should be able to craft and deliver a compelling “why” behind the change to gain buy-in.
Support & Reinforcement
Manager should be supported through change just as much as their teams, and support should be offered after training throughout their time in the organisation.
Creating a training plan for change leadership
Like many other training plans, a change leadership plan needs to be led by the training and development procedures of your organisation. The process of creating the training plan should be as follows:
Identify the relevant team members in need of training
Fist, review your organisation and identify the team members that need to attend this training. While all leaders and managers should be aligned on change, not everyone needs to attend this training. Those who attend it will depend on their relevancy to change and how their existing skills match with the change requirements.
With change leadership, often “champions” will need to be identified as those who can help drive and support their colleagues through change. Lean on those champions and ensure they are fully supported and trained.
Divide the types of training they require
Change can come from a variety of areas, such as introducing new processes, adopting new technologies, or restructuring the business. Review each leader and manager in isolation and identify the type of change they will need to be most involved in and adapt their training according to their unique specialism. For example, a HR leader will not need to have a deep understanding of how a new technology works, just how it may impact the business, while an IT manager will need to have that deeper knowledge.
Work with the team to create a training schedule
Once all team members and their needs have been identified, work to create a training schedule that ensures that they have time to complete this training without neglecting their regular job responsibilities.
Funded training programmes for change leadership
One way to get ahead with change leadership is by offering ongoing training to your teams. There is a range of funded training programmes available that organisations can use to outsource their training and support their teams.
LMP Education’s Level 5 Professional Coaching Programme
This 12-month programme will provide learners with structured training to develop their skills and knowledge as a qualified coach. Available in a bespoke programme for three key sectors, business, education, and Early Years, the Coaching Professional programme equips learners with all the required tools to adequately support and coach individuals within their sector.
Upon completion, learners will gain a recognised Level 5 Professional Coaching qualification as well as Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) Level 5 Certificate in effective Coaching and Mentoring.
Learn more about the Professional Coaching Programme.
If you are interested in utilising funded training programmes to support your business, book a discovery call with the LMP team today!
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