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Change Management Planning

Change Management Planning visual

Overview

Change Management Planning helps teams define the change, understand impacts, and establish a practical approach for managing adoption.

This area provides the foundation for a successful change initiative by clarifying why the change is needed, what outcomes it is intended to achieve, who and what will be impacted, and how the project team will work together to support readiness and adoption.

For more information about the OCM CoE model, visit the OCM CoE main page.

Why It Matters

Successful change requires a clear foundation from the start. Change Management Planning helps project teams align on the purpose of the initiative, identify the people-side impacts of the change, and establish a coordinated approach for supporting stakeholders and end users.

This work reduces ambiguity, strengthens project alignment, and helps ensure that downstream engagement, communications, training, and readiness activities are targeted to the needs of impacted audiences.

Supporting Activities 

Vision for Change clarifies the purpose, urgency, and desired future state of the initiative so stakeholders understand why the change is needed and what success looks like.

This activity helps teams:

  • Articulate the reasons for the change.
  • Define the expected benefits and risks of not changing.
  • Establish a shared vision that can guide messaging, engagement, and planning.

OCM Strategy & Plan defines the overall approach for managing the people side of change across the project lifecycle.

This activity helps teams:

  • Establish OCM scope, goals, and roles.
  • Identify key change management activities, timelines, and responsibilities.
  • Align change management work with project milestones and expected outcomes.

Change Impact Assessment identifies how the change will affect stakeholder groups, roles, processes, tools, and ways of working.

This activity helps teams:

  • Understand who is impacted and how.
  • Assess the degree of impact across people, process, and technology.
  • Use impact insights to inform engagement, communications, training, and readiness planning.

Team Building aligns the project team around shared goals, roles, expectations, and ways of working.

This activity helps teams:

  • Build trust and collaboration across the project team.
  • Clarify responsibilities, decision-making expectations, and ways of working.
  • Strengthen team alignment and accountability throughout the initiative.

OCM CoE Support

The OCM COE partners with campus units and project teams to establish a strong foundation for managing change. We work with teams to define the vision for change, understand organizational impacts, and develop a right-sized change management strategy that aligns with the initiative's goals, complexity, stakeholder impact, and adoption risk.

Our level of engagement is tailored to each initiative. Depending on the magnitude of change, we may provide strategic guidance, collaborate with project teams to develop planning deliverables, or provide hands-on support to establish the change management foundation.

Support may include:

  • Facilitating Vision for Change and Case for Change development 
  • Developing or reviewing an OCM Strategy & Plan
  • Conducting or advising on Change Impact Assessments 
  • Facilitating project team alignment and team-building workshops 
  • Providing planning templates, tools, and best practices aligned with UCLA's OCM methodology 
  • Advising teams on how to scale Change Management Planning activities based on project size, complexity, stakeholder impact, and adoption risk 

For access to the OCM CoE resources, including how-to toolkits, templates, and sample materials, please contact us via email: dtsocmcoe@it.ucla.edu. We are also available to answer any questions about the OCM methodology or to discuss your OCM needs.