Change management resources

Many different organisations offer online resources and tools to help you develop and enhance your change management skills.

NHS Evidence (formerly the National Library for Health)

As part of the specialist Health Management library, you can find plenty of resources for dealing with change.

Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority SHA

Two very useful toolkits produced by Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority SHA:

The Change Management Toolkit is designed to help manage the process of change which we are all experiencing in the NHS. Some of the toolkit focuses on organisational change and some is personally focused. Some of the toolkit is written for general information; some of it requires some thought about values and priorities. It is intended to be a personal document, to complete as required and with personal results.
A Practical Guide to Managing your Career is designed to help us review and manage our careers through the change process. It recognises that change can bring opportunities for personal change and may create situations where people need to make career decisions based on the future of the NHS.

NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement - ‘Thinking Differently’

The Thinking Differently book will provide you with a range of practical approaches and tools that many NHS leaders and front-line teams have already used to fundamentally rethink pathways of care and service delivery. This guide will not only help you to learn how to improve the services you provide, but how to transform them.
Includes:

tools
concepts
flow diagrams
examples.

Free copies of the book are available from the NHS Institute, and sample chapters can be downloaded.

A video case study about using Thinking Differently in a healthcare context is available from HealthExec TV. The five minute video includes staff from Luton and Dunstable Hospitals Trust and Mersey Care Trust talking about how they’ve used creative thinking to improve patient services. Note you may need to register with the site to view this video.

Academy for Large Scale Change

Established by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, the Academy for Large Scale Change is the first of its kind in the world. The Academy will support NHS leaders at regional and national level to create the conditions needed to deliver large scale change in their local environment as they lead ground breaking transformation in the health service in England.

Places have been initially limited to around 70 of the most senior executives in the SHAs and the Department of Health. Events and a programme around these events are being run.

IDeA (Improvement & Development Agency) – project, programme and change management toolkit

Change management means different things to different people and different organisations. The information and downloads available from the IDeA describe change under two broad headings. First, the process that may be followed to bring about change. Second, the approach towards establishing a detailed understanding of an organisation’s 'change readiness' and 'change competence'. The latter is aimed specifically at understanding the nature and extent of resistance to change.

Geared at local councils, the change management toolkit available through IDeA provides:

case studies, and
toolkit.

BusinessBalls – advice for change managers

The BusinessBalls site offers plenty of advice, steps and tips for managing change within a business environment. It describes the theory behind managing change and links to research into how to do it.

Resources include:

theory and research underlying change management principles
links to research supporting change and benefits
templates
workshop ideas
case studies
descriptive and illustrative stories of success.

JISC - Infokit on Change Management

This JISC infoKit was developed out of a HEFCE Good Management Practice Project led by the University of Luton entitled 'Effecting Change in Higher Education'. The toolkit identifies 'pathways' through the vast array of approaches and tools available by suggesting activities change managers may undertake at different stages of the change lifecycle. The materials look at change around the use of information and learning technology within an education organisation, but the guidance given can be applied to any type of change project.

Resources available include:

check lists
action plans
templates
case studies.

CHANGEFIRST.COM – People-Centred Implementation (PCI®)

Previous clients of Changefirst include NHS organisations. They offer methodology and support for change management

They develop processes, tools and skills that build commitment and behaviour change to achieve successful business outcomes Changefirst® are the developers and suppliers of the powerful change management methodology - People-Centred Implementation (PCI ®).

PCI uses a robust set of tools to change how people work and behave. It is designed to help change managers plan their initiatives in a way that focuses on the people aspects of organisational change; whether they be new technology, outsourcing, restructuring, mergers or process improvements.

Office of Government Commerce - change management toolkit

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has some online tools and templates that might be useful for change managers in the NHS. Resources are divided into three stages:

Category sourcing strategy: This stage involves the assessment of the customer needs, analysis of the current position and review of the suppliers and supply market. Options will be identified and assessed and the agreed way forward and supporting business case will be created. This stage does not automatically lead into the supplier selection and award stage, but will do so in the majority of cases
Supplier selection and award: If the agreed strategy is to establish new contracts with a supplier or suppliers the activities in this stage will result in these contracts being in place. The method of going to market will have been agreed as part of the category sourcing strategy and the process will be compliant with the OJEU procurement rules.
Contract management: The awarding of the contract is not so much the end of the process but the start of the final stage. The effective management of the customers, suppliers and the contract are key to successful outcomes.

The OGC toolkit also includes case studies demonstrating effective change management and benefits management.

Office of Government Commerce – Capability Assessment Tool for assessing capability to deliver IT-enabled change

The Capability Assessment Tool (CAT) is a product and service from OGC to support central Government organisations as part of the SPRITE Programme.

The CAT enables an organisation to assess, plan and improve its capability to deliver successful IT-enabled business change programmes and projects. By measuring capability at the organisational level it complements the Gateway process, which considers projects at crucial points in their development.

NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement – Change Readiness Tool

This tool from the NHS Institute directly strengthens PCTs’ potential for improvement, as measured through the assurance process. By using the Change Readiness Tool, PCTs can:

Assess their change readiness
Understand their current position
Develop and implement a plan to improve.

The Innovation Network, East Midlands – change management workbooks

East Midlands SHA has developed two workbooks to assist staff managing change in the NHS. These workbooks can be downloaded in PDF format from the website, and TIN also offers workshops based on the books.

Managers from East Midlands NHS organisations who would like more details of workshops based on these workbooks, or who are looking for further support in these areas should contact TIN directly.

Choose and Book – Guide to transformation

Choose and Book offers online guidance for NHS staff responsible for implementing and delivering the benefits of Choose and Book, in particular project and change managers and their team.

The guide includes:

framework
checklists
detailed guidance.

NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement - Improvement Leaders' Guides

These fifteen short guides from the NHS Institute are for anyone who wants to improve some part of their service in terms of patient safety, experience or outcomes. They are not in-depth textbooks but collections of advice from those experienced in healthcare improvement and the tools and techniques they have found useful.

Available online, the Improvement Leaders' Guides cover:

Improvement Knowledge and Skills
Process Mapping, Analysis and Redesign
Working with Groups
Involving Patients and Carers
Evaluating Improvement
Use of Technology to Improve Services
Sustainability and its Relationship with Spread and Adoption
Measuring for Improvement
Matching Capacity and Demand
Improving Flow
Working in Systems
Managing the Human Dimensions of Change
Redesigning Roles
Building and Nurturing an Improvement Culture
Leading Improvement

NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement – Change philosophy in the NHS

The National Institute has a number of articles that are helpful when thinking about change within the NHS.

More helpful material is under "Delivering Quality and Value".

Lean Healthcare Academy

Lean is the name given to a change philosophy and culture. Lean is a cultural change within an organisation, not just a few spotlight projects or areas of excellence. Lean adds up to so much more than the sum of its parts. It is the relentless drive to improve the organisation, improve service delivery and do the absolute best for the patients, visitors and staff. Lean provides the framework, training and understanding to make this a reality.

Members of the Lean Healthcare Academy include acute and primary care trusts.