Change management is a vital skill for IT, project management, and development. Here are the top certifications to help hone and demonstrate your change management skills.
Businesses are constantly evolving their use of technology, resulting in almost constant organizational change. Currently, AI is sweeping through business and tech across every industry, and getting an entire organization on board with any emerging tech, especially one as contentious as AI, requires strong leadership and change management skills to implement change and make it stick.
Whenever an organization implements a new process, updates an existing one, deploys new technology, or fine-tunes services, its leaders must be mindful that even a simple change to a single process can start a domino effect, introducing issues in a range of other processes that must also be addressed. That’s why it’s vital to have a strong change management plan in place so the company can remain agile and flexible, without interruptions or downtime.
But every change management plan, large or small, requires skilled professionals who understand the intricacies of change management.
Change management is relevant to nearly every industry, but it’s particularly important for businesses looking to improve processes, increase efficiency, and reduce errors and risk in IT, project management, and software and product development.
Looking to become an agent of change at your company? Here are 10 change management certifications you can earn to prove your skills.
Top 10 change management certifications:
- Acuity Institute Change Management Professional Certification
- APMG Organizational Change Management Foundation
- Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP)
- Certified Local Change Agent (CLCA)
- Certified Problem and Change Manager (CPCM)
- Change Management Institute Certification
- Change Management Specialist (CMS)
- ITIL Foundation
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Prosci Change Management Certification
Acuity Institute Change Management Professional Certification
The Acuity Institute offers a Change Management Professional Certification designed for change leaders to validate their skills and expertise around initiating change in a project management environment. The self-paced online course covers topics including change management fundamentals, system factors, initiating change, planning change, executing change management plans, and overseeing change management success. Learners in the program will also complete a simulated project that allows you to practice the top skills required to be a successful change leader. The simulation is based on a hypothetical company facing problems that modern companies deal with that require change management skills.
Exam fee: $799 for course and exam
APMG Organizational Change Management Foundation
The Organizational Change Management Foundation Certification, created by APMG International in collaboration with CMI, certifies your ability to support organizational change. The exam focuses on the key skills for change management, including motivating employees, engaging stakeholders, assembling teams, and delivering on effective change strategies. Once you pass the Foundation level exam, you’ll qualify to take the Practitioner level exam, which is designed for change project managers, transformation managers, senior responsible owners, business change managers, and change program managers.
Exam fee: $390
Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP)
The CCMP certification, offered by the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP), aligns with the ACMP’s Standard for Change Management. The standard was developed by ACMP as a collection of generally accepted practices in change management, and is the foundation of the CCMP exam. It was developed by The Standard Working Group (SWG), led by group chair Sumreen Ahmad, and claims status as the first legally defensible, globally accepted standard for change management. It’s one of the more popular and widely recognized certifications for change management. You’ll need three years’ experience and 21 hours of training in the field of change management to qualify for this certification.
Exam fee: $595 for members, $745 for nonmembers
Certified Local Change Agent (CLCA)
The Certified Local Change Agent certification from APGM International is designed for those in a supporting role during organizational transformation, people who need to understand the fundamentals and principles of change management, or those responsible with assisting the organization during times of change. This includes team leaders, supervisors, junior and senior managers, nonmanagerial staff, and anyone who wants a better idea of what change management entails. The exam covers approaches to helping others engage with organizational change, aligning changes with departmental or organizational changes, developing change plans, and creating relationships between change professionals in the organization.
Exam fee: Varies by course vendor
Certified Problem and Change Manager (CPCM)
The CPCM certification, offered through the Global Association for Quality Management (GAQM), focuses specifically on identifying and fixing problems in an organization. This course is best for those working with development processes or overseeing product lifecycles. It covers everything from identifying areas for change, implementing that change, encouraging employee buy-in, and creating resilient strategies.
Exam fee: $150
Change Management Institute Certification
The Change Management Institute (CMI) offers three levels of accreditation to prove your skills as a change manager: Foundation, Specialist, and Master. The content of each exam is based on the institute’s Change Manager Competency Model. At the foundation level, you’ll need to send in a written application that provides your capabilities and competencies, along with a reference from a manager who has directly observed your behavior in a change management role. You’ll also need to complete relevant change management education, either through a CMI-endorsed course or one that aligns with the Change Management Body of Knowledge (CMBoK). For the Specialist level, you’ll need three to six years of experience operating at the project or program level, and submit a written assessment with references that provides evidence of your skills. You’ll also need to complete a virtual interview with an independent assessor. The Master level is for highly experienced, senior change practitioners to stand out from their peers as leaders in the profession, and is best suited for those with more than seven years’ experience.
Exam fee: Foundation: $525, discounted to $450 with CMI-endorsed training; Specialist: $675; Master: $1,050
Change Management Specialist (CMS)
Offered through the Management and Strategy Institute (MSI), the CMS certification covers the basics of change management and how it’s applied in the workplace. The training material covers the key competencies required to function in the role of a manager within a changing corporate environment, and the program covers the basics of change management principles, as well as helps students understand how it can be applied within an organization. The course also focuses on why organizations fail, how change is inevitable, different types of change, leadership and management styles, theories of change, how change impacts everyone in the organization, how people react to change, and the principles of effective organizational change management. Training and the exam take place online, so it’s easy to work into a busy schedule since it’s self-paced.
Exam fee: $299.95
ITIL Foundation
ITIL 4, offered by Axelos is an IT service management framework with a strong emphasis on change management. ITIL helps give businesses a standardized yet customizable and flexible framework to help with the selection, planning, delivery, maintenance, and lifecycle of IT services. Change management is inherently a big part of ITIL, because the focus is on constant and continuous improvement. If you work in an ITIL environment, the ITIL Foundation certification is a great way to demonstrate you have the capabilities for IT service management and the change that comes with creating, fine-tuning, and implementing change management.
Exam fee: $669 for the self-paced course
Project Management Professional (PMP)
The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) is another great option for those looking to validate change management skills and expertise. Project and change management often go together as PMI states that a project is a task with a defined end target, and that the role of project management is to manage the change process that’ll help achieve the end goal, while keeping time and budget in mind. Change management and change process often require full-time management, and that can often fall to project managers. The PMP certification is a perfect fit for anyone who finds themselves straddling project and change manager.
Exam fee: $425 for PMI members; $675 for nonmembers
Prosci Change Management Certification
This certification focuses on Prosci’s ADKAR model of change management, a proprietary methodology the company says is useful for IT professionals. It takes place over the course of three days, where you’ll learn how to apply Prosci’s methodology and the ADKAR model to real-world projects. The exam fee is steep, but includes hotel accommodations, all meals, and any activities included in the program. The company also handles hotel reservations, as it’s a requirement to stay at the venue for the three-day workshop. Workshops take place in a variety of locations across the US, typically at picturesque resorts and vacation spots. You can also opt for a virtual experience instead.
Exam fee: $4,500 for the online course or $4,850 for the in-person course
