The Treasury leads the government’s investment management system, and in this role supports some key capabilities such as Change Management, due to the important part this plays in the successful realisation of investment benefits.
Effective change management is about understanding the impacts of change and leading a smooth transition to a defined future state. This could include technology changes, environmental changes or organisational changes to realise benefits.
Change Management covers a broad range of types of change, environments, required skills and methodologies. Change can be managed in 3 stages:
- Preparing for change
- Managing the change
- Sustaining the change
Change is often (but not always) associated with a programme and realising benefits. The Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) methodology includes the role of Business Change Manager (BCM) to be responsible, on behalf of the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO), for defining and measuring benefits and managing the transition of business operations to effectively integrate change into the business. This includes preparing affected business areas for transition to new ways of working and supporting business leaders to successfully sustain changes to business operations.
The guidance on this page is applicable to change practitioners, programme/project managers, decision makers and others involved with change management in their organisation. We have provided some generic templates and examples that should be tailored to suit each change initiative.
Change Management templates
The following example templates should be adapted to suit both your organisation and the size, scale and complexity of the proposed change.
| Document | Description |
|---|---|
| Change Management Plan (DOCX 117.48 KB) |
A simple plan template that covers the key information to be agreed with stakeholders for the three stages of change. |
|
Change impact assessment tool (XLSX 53.12 KB) |
Some change impact assessment tools with graphical output. (Source: MBIE)
|
| Summary impact assessment diagram (XLSX 37.KB) |
Change Management references and examples
The following examples and references may be applicable or adaptable to a change initiative or may provide useful background learning.
| Document/Link | Description |
|---|---|
| Change Management Institute |
Useful resources for change managers including some videos that explain change management in simple terms. |
| A checklist for change |
Useful resources for change managers including ‘A Checklist for Change’ (Source: Tregaskis Brown) |
| Change Management lifecycle diagram (PDF 360.27 KB) | An example change management lifecycle from Stats NZ showing the activities in each stage. (Source: Stats NZ) |
| Defining the business change (PDF 751.58 KB) |
An example from MBIE of some techniques to define the scope and nature of a change. (Source: MBIE) |
| Business readiness dashboard (PPTX 79.16 KB) |
An example from MBIE of how business readiness can be tracked and reported. (Source: MBIE) |
| Stakeholder Assessment Matrix (XLSX 54.08 KB) |
An example stakeholder analysis template. (Source: MBIE) |
| Communications Plan (DOCX 167.91 KB) |
An example communications and stakeholder engagement plan. (Source: MBIE) |
| Better Business Cases |
BBC provides a systematic way for stakeholders to think and work together to give decision makers the information they need to invest with confidence. In a Detailed Business Case it includes a Change Management section in the Management Case that asks for a summary of the change management plan, communication/stakeholder plan and staff development strategies. In an Implementation Business Case, the latest version of the change management plan should be attached, along with details of an initial change impact assessment, along with the confirmed staff and communication arrangements. |
| Investor Confidence Rating | The ICR is a rating of an agency's investment management environment. It is an indicator of the confidence that investors have in an agency’s capacity and capability to realise an investment result if funding were committed. |
| Cabinet Office Circular: CO (19) 6 (DPMC website) |
Sets out Cabinet’s expectations for the management of investments and the resulting assets, both physical and intangible. |
Change Management Community of Interest
The Treasury is supporting improvement in Change Management practice, capability and performance. To assist with these improvements, the Treasury convenes an all of government Change Management Community of Interest. This is open to all change management practitioners and other interested parties across government. If you’d like to know more, or would like assistance with change management in your own organisation please contact [email protected]. If you are a New Zealand Government employee you can also access the Change Management Community of Interest on the PSI website.
Many change management professionals are also members of the Change Management Institute. The Institute has Wellington and Auckland chapters.
Change Management Training
Some agencies have developed training material for practitioners and business leaders. This is often shared through the community of interest with many past papers are available to government agencies on the PSI.
The following presentation on leading change provides a useful overview for senior managers and stakeholders:
- Leading Change – a seminar for senior managers (PDF 805KB )
Training providers in New Zealand:
Training courses are available from various suppliers to cover all aspects of change management. Please contact suppliers directly to address your training needs. Change management training courses are available from the following providers:
- APMG International (https://apmg-international.com )
- APMG Business Books (https://apmg-businessbooks.com/books/change-management) if you’d like to read in your own time
- Prosci (https://www.prosci.com/)
- Search for “NZ change management training” as there are other training offerings