Change Management playbook

44 pages. Six parts. One playbook for turning change into an organised, measurable program.

This 44-page playbook gives consultants and project professionals a clear method for understanding the lessons, designing and running change across the life of a program.

Four phases. Six streams of activity. Six types of change. One usable playbook.

Use it to plan an approach, test a program already underway, organise change activities, select the right tools, brief leaders, track commitment and measure adoption.

A usable change management playbook for client delivery.

Inside the playbook

Part 1: ConsultantCafé point of view

My view of change management, drawn from years of consulting and program delivery.

This section covers commitment, the architecture of change, the different demands created by different change types, and the reason a change plan must reach far beyond communications and training.

Part 2: The change method

The complete ConsultantCafé change management method, organised into four phases and six streams of activity.

It gives you a repeatable structure for planning the assignment, talking with the client and organising delivery from the first conversation through to review.

Part 3: Phase deep dives

The four phases are:

Initiate. Develop. Implement. Evaluate and review.

Each phase sets out what needs to happen, what needs to be produced and what must be true before the program moves ahead.

When you are staring at a blank page and someone has asked for “the change plan”, this is the section that gets you moving.

Part 4: Stream playbooks

Six streams of activity, mapped across the four phases.

This section helps you see which activities belong together, when they are needed and which tools can help. Use it to plan delivery, allocate responsibilities, identify gaps or challenge a program that has become a collection of disconnected tasks.

Part 5: Types of change

An ICT implementation does not ask the same things of people as a cultural change program. A policy reform does not run like a merger. Organisation design creates pressures that a process update may never touch.

This section covers six change types:

ICT, process, cultural, organisation design, policy, and mergers and acquisitions.

Use it to adapt your approach to the change in front of you.

Part 6: Running the program

Governance. Measurement. Common traps. Keeping the method useful once delivery starts moving fast and the plan begins collecting coffee stains, red flags and executive amendments.

This section helps you run change as a managed program, not a collection of activities hoping to add up.

Use this playbook when you need to

• develop a change approach for a client or program
• assess whether an existing approach has gaps
• plan activities across a delivery timeline
• connect stakeholder commitment, communications, readiness, adoption and measurement
• select tools for a particular type of change
• explain change delivery to leaders, clients or your project team
• turn an unclear brief into an organised plan

Who it is for

This playbook is written for consultants, project professionals, change practitioners and managers who need to deliver change, contribute to it or review it.

Why I made it

I made this playbook to give consultants a stronger starting point.

It is the document I would have valued when I was first asked to design a change approach: something structured enough to guide me, practical enough to use with a client, and honest enough to recognise that change becomes difficult once people, priorities and delivery deadlines collide.

Your access options

Paid Café Regulars can download the change management playbook free as part of their paid subscription.

A paid subscription also gives you access to weekly ConsultantCafé articles, monthly Café Shot masterclasses, and ConsultantCafé playbooks, tools and templates during your subscription.

Not a Café Regular?

Purchase the playbook as a standalone download, or join ConsultantCafé as a paid subscriber and download it free with your membership.