What Does a Change Manager Do?

A change manager focuses on implementing strategies for individuals, teams, or organizations to advance and manage change. Their responsibilities may include assessing the impact of potential changes, designing actionable plans, and collaborating with diverse teams to facilitate a smooth transition. 

Discover what a change manager does, your responsibilities in this role, the skills needed for change management, and a change manager’s salary and job outlook. If you're ready to explore this career path now, consider enrolling in the Strategic Leadership: Impact, Change, and Decision-Making Specialization from Dartmouth, where you'll learn how to understand common leadership mistakes and how to balance the rational and the emotional to make the best possible decisions.

What is change management?

Change management refers to the structured process of altering aspects of an organization to enhance its success in the business environment. It is crucial for businesses, especially in the modern era, to frequently adapt to technological advancements, new competitors, and changes in laws and regulations.

A recent survey found that 65 percent of respondents believed effective change management helped keep their projects on schedule, indicating its importance in the business world [1]. As more organizations recognize how change management contributes to success, the demand for change managers is likely to grow. 

Companies such as Domino's Pizza, British Airways, Netflix, Nokia, and Coca-Cola utilize change management to improve their operations. For a specific example of effective change management, consider Mattel, the global toy company. It employs a diverse workforce that speaks multiple languages. It experienced communication barriers that led to significant challenges when employees adopted the onboarding Workday platform, resulting in numerous technical support tickets. To address this, Mattel partnered with a change management organization to create personalized, interactive guides in each language to help employees navigate Workday. This system allowed employees to manage the change effectively, resulting in a higher completion rate.

What is a change manager?

As a change manager, you will develop and implement strategies that help organizations make complex changes. You will use concepts like empathy, strategic planning, and oversight to ensure that new initiatives are executed efficiently while minimizing issues and maintaining stakeholder engagement.

Change manager job responsibilities

In this role, you may have various responsibilities involving the assessment, design, and collaboration necessary to effectively initiate organizational change. Key responsibilities include:

• Assessing the potential impacts of changes on a business and its employees while identifying methods to mitigate these effects

• Creating plans, such as communication strategies, training programs, and engagement projects, to facilitate effective change execution 

• Collaborating with teams throughout the organization to ensure that changes align with business goals and current operations

• Evaluating the success of changes by establishing metrics to measure their effectiveness

• Resolving conflicts during the change management process and aligning differing perspectives on organizational goals

What is the difference between a project manager and a change manager?

A project manager primarily focuses on the processes and procedures required to complete a project, such as developing software. A change manager concentrates on the employees affected by the changes implemented by the organization.

What skills do you need to be a change manager?

As a change manager, your primary goal is to help organizations successfully make transitions and continually improve. This requires dynamic communication skills to help employees and stakeholders understand the purpose of the transition and the process for its implementation. You will build human relationships while facilitating successful organizational change, requiring a range of workplace and technical skills. 

Workplace skills

• Communication: Ability to clearly explain change initiatives to stakeholders

• Leadership: Capability to manage resistance, motivate others, and guide teams through change

• Time management: Skill in prioritizing tasks and meeting deadlines

• Grasp of employee behavior: Ability to build trust, show empathy, and involve employees in the change process to facilitate buy-in 

• Strategic vision: Capacity to align changes with the long-term goals of the business

Technical skills

• Risk management

• Evaluating change using key performance indicators (KPIs)

• Data-driven decision-making 

• Knowledge of scheduling tools

• Proficiency in project management tools

Change manager salary and job outlook

According to Glassdoor, change managers' median total pay across all experience levels is $148,000 [2]. The job outlook for management occupations is positive, with an above-average growth rate when compared to all occupations. You can expect 1.2 million jobs to open each year from 2023 to 2033 within the management sector [3].

How to become a change manager

To become a change manager, you can start by earning a bachelor’s degree in fields such as business administration, psychology, human resources, or a similar area. This foundational knowledge can help you understand business operations and human behavior. You may also consider pursuing a master’s degree in change management to develop your expertise, as several universities now offer graduate degrees in this field. 

Once you’re prepared to enter the workforce, you can begin your career in an entry-level role, such as a change coordinator, before advancing to a change analyst position. From there, you can progress to a change manager role.

If you already have experience in change management, obtaining a certification like the Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP) can enhance your skill set and demonstrate to employers your commitment to effective change implementation. The Association of Change Management Professionals (ACPM) offers the CCMP certification, which requires at least three years of prior experience in the field. Additionally, two change management certifications that do not have prerequisites include:

• Prosci Certified Change Practitioner: Offered by the Prosci Change Management Certification Program

• Certified Problem and Change Manager (CPCM): Provided by the Global Association for Quality Management (GAQM)

Learn more about change management on Coursera

A change manager guides individual teams or organizations through transitions involving new technologies, policies, or procedures and sudden changes due to unforeseen circumstances. Considering how changes around artificial intelligence impact your teams? Read our Insider Story, AI Problem-Solving Tactics: Expert Insights from Vanderbilt’s Dr. Jules White for expert insight.

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