10 change management courses for IT leaders

Implementing change in an organization is no small task — it requires time, energy, budgeting and employee and stakeholder engagement. For IT leaders who are responsible for organizational change management with hardware, software or services, there are plenty of training programs to help strengthen your change management leadership skills.

Check out these 10 change management courses, where you’ll learn all the right skills to effectively plan for, implement and manage change in the enterprise.

Top 10 change management courses

• Alison.com Introduction to Change Management
• ASQ Change Management Training
• Business Training Works Change Management Course
• The Knowledge Academy Change Management Foundation
• Lynda.com Change Management Foundations
• LinkedIn Change Management Foundations
• MSU Strategic Change Management
• Northwestern Kellogg Driving Organizational Change
• Pink Elephant Organizational Change Management 
• ProSci Enterprise Change Management Bootcamp

Alison.com Introduction to Change Management

Alison.com offers a free course that will prep you in the basics of change management with a class that takes an average of two or three hours to complete. It’s self-paced and covers the fundamentals of organizational structure, how to manage and adapt to change and what goes into understanding the complexities of change management in a business setting. You can watch the videos on your own time — and it’s free — which makes it a great option for anyone looking to learn the basics or to brush up on their change management skills.   

Course fee: Free

ASQ Change Management Training

ASQ offers four courses on change management: Lean Leadership Skills Workshop, Lean Enterprise, Cost of Quality Implementation and Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence Certification Preparation. The Lean courses are both held in a classroom setting, the COQ course can be attended virtually and the certification course can be completed online. ASQ offers both individual training and organizational training for companies that want to bring training directly to employees.

Course fee: From $700 to $1,300 depending on the course, membership status and location

Business Training Works Change Management Course

The online Change Management Course from Business Training Works is self-paced, but you’ll have to finish within the 30-day window beginning when you purchase the program. It takes an average of three to five hours to complete but if you need more time, you can extend your access for an additional fee. The course covers the five-step ADKAR model for change management, Kotter’s Eight Step Process for implementing change and the three steps of the Cisco Change Roadmap. The course promises to cover everything you’ll need to know to overcome any challenges or obstacles while implementing change in your business.

Course fee: $79

The Knowledge Academy Change Management Foundation

The Knowledge Academy offers an online training program in the fundamentals of change management. It teaches participants the skills to overcome resistance or employee dissatisfaction that might arise when implementing change. It’s a three-day course that you can attend virtually, in person or online; businesses can also pay to have the course brought in-house. The classroom course is currently being revamped, but will be available again once it’s updated.

Course fee: $2,295 for the virtual course, $419 for the online course

Lynda.com Change Management Foundations

The free course on Change Management Foundations offered by Lynda.com covers the basics of organizational change management. You’ll walk away with the skills to create a change plan and then communicate, implement and manage that plan. It covers how to evaluate your plan to make sure it is as effective as possible and how to help encourage employees to embrace and work through a change cycle.

Course fee: Free

LinkedIn Change Management Foundations

LinkedIn offers multiple online programs in change management — but the Change Management Foundations course is a great place to start. LinkedIn’s training videos are easy to watch on the go, as you can download them for offline viewing. The foundations course video is just under two hours long, but it’s broken down into manageable sections so you can learn at your own pace. If you’re familiar with the basics, you can move on to other courses such as the Seven R’s of Change Management, Leading Change or How To Set Up a Change Management Plan.

Course fee: $29.99 per month, with annual subscription; 1-month free trial

MSU Strategic Change Management

Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business offers an executive development program in change management. The course focuses on identifying areas of change, encouraging buy-in, planning for risk and flaws, budgeting resources and improving organizational process. The course is entirely online, taught through video-based lectures that are also designed to work on your mobile device. If you complete two courses, you’ll also earn a professional certification from MSU.

Course fee: $1,980 per course

Northwestern Kellogg Driving Organizational Change

Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Executive Education offers a four-day course on driving organizational change. The course will engage you in “project-focused learning using your own challenges as a platform for putting the latest theories and tools into practice.” Organizations are encouraged to send entire teams and departments on the retreat, giving them a chance to work through organizational issues in a fresh setting. It’s an expensive workshop at $8,700, but the fee includes lodging and most meals.

Course fee: $8,700

Pink Elephant Organizational Change Management 

The Organizational Change Management course from Pink Elephant targets four major areas of change management: Change and the individual; Change and the organization; Communication and stakeholder engagement; and change management in practice. The program will also qualify you for ACMP, CMI and PMI credits, and if you pass the exam, you can qualify for a designation from CMI or ACMP. Courses are self-paced and online, but organizations can also hire Pink Elephant to bring training into the office.

Course fee: $729 for online and self-paced, $1,695 for the scheduled virtual course and $1,995 for public courses

ProSci Enterprise Change Management Bootcamp

The Enterprise Change Management Bootcamp from ProSci takes place at the company’s headquarters in Fort Collins, Colorado. Events are held every two months on-site, but you’ll be responsible for all accommodations and meals if you attend. The one-day course covers organizational strategy, developing HR change management strategies, delivering sustainable results, defining a strategy and a future vision for organizational change and the best practices around enterprise change management. The focus is on large-scale change at an organizational level, rather than project-based change.

Course fee: $889