Change management certification: an independent guide

In plain terms

"Change management certification" covers several different things, and the differences matter more than the brand names.

• Method certification. A short course that teaches one firm's model and tools, and ends with a certificate in that method.
• Professional credential. A credential from a professional body, usually with experience and training requirements and an exam, and a duty to keep it current.
• Competency accreditation. An assessment of what you have actually done, against a published competency model, often through written evidence and interviews rather than a test.

This guide is independent. It is not written, reviewed or paid for by any of the providers below. Every provider detail comes from the provider's own page, read on the date shown in the sources (ACMP's through an archived copy). Fees and formats change, so check each provider's page before you decide.

The main options

Prosci. Prosci's page describes a 3-day intensive program in which participants apply the ADKAR Model and the Prosci 3-Phase Process to a real change, complete Prosci's PCT Assessment and Risk Assessment for a current project, and earn the title Prosci Certified Change Practitioner with a digital badge. Online versions run 3 to 5 days at about 8 hours a day (Prosci, n.d.-a, n.d.-b). Because the certification teaches Prosci's own method, it is the most specific of the four. See the ADKAR model for what independent research says about ADKAR.

ACMP's CCMP. The Association of Change Management Professionals says the CCMP was developed based on its Standard for Change Management. Its page lists at least 3 years' experience based on hours, at least 21 hours of training specifically in change management, development according to ISO standards, and a requirement for ongoing learning to keep the credential. It describes the exam as delivered under controlled conditions by a third party, and the credential as awarded by an organization unaffiliated with a commercial training provider (ACMP, n.d.).

APMG International. APMG says its Change Management Foundation and Practitioner qualifications were developed in partnership with the Change Management Institute. A typical course is 3 days for Foundation and 2 days for Practitioner, taken through an Accredited Training Organization, or you can self-study by buying the exam. APMG says the qualifications offer a pathway to independent accreditation by the Change Management Institute (APMG International, n.d.).

Change Management Institute. The Change Management Institute says its accreditation is not a test or a course but an independent assessment against its competency model, at three levels. Foundation is a written application and a reference from your line manager. Specialist adds a 2,000-word essay, proof of ongoing development, reference checks and a virtual interview. Master adds a half-day virtual assessment centre. Accreditation is available only to members, and you do not have to take the levels in order (Change Management Institute, n.d.).

How to choose

1. Decide what you need it for. If your organization already uses Prosci's method, its certification teaches the shared vocabulary. If you want a credential that is not built on one firm's own method, compare the CCMP, APMG and Change Management Institute options.
2. Check what is assessed. A course certificate shows you completed training. An exam shows you can answer questions about the material. A competency assessment looks at evidence of what you have done.
3. Check what it costs to keep. Some credentials need ongoing learning or re-registration. Build that into the decision.
4. Ask your target employers. If you are job hunting, look at which credentials the postings you care about actually name.
5. Plan the first live use. Before you start, pick a real change you will apply the material to in the month after.

What the research says

No study here compares certified and uncertified practitioners. The Evidence Library grades syntheses and trials on leading change. It holds no study of whether changes run by certified practitioners, of any of these programs, succeed more often.

Training effects were larger on knowledge than on results. A meta-analysis of 83 studies of managerial leadership development programs from 1982 to 2001 found large effects on knowledge (effect sizes of .96 to 1.37), moderate to large effects on expertise (.35 to 1.01) and a smaller average effect on system outcomes (.39) (Collins & Holton, 2004, rated Medium from its abstract). The studies mixed controlled and uncontrolled designs, and they are about leadership training, not change management credentials, but they are the closest graded evidence on how training carries back to work.

In health care studies, models were often guiding principles. A systematic review of 38 health care studies found Kotter's and Lewin's models the most used, often as guiding principles rather than applied step by step (Harrison et al., 2021, rated Medium from its abstract). Whatever method a credential teaches, you may need to adapt it.

The evidence for the methods themselves varies. See change management models compared for the independent evidence behind ADKAR, Kotter, Lewin and others.

Where the evidence is thin

1. Outcomes. No graded study links any of these credentials to better change outcomes.
2. Comparison. No study here compares the credentials with each other.
3. Self-description. The details above come from each provider's own page. They describe what the provider offers, not how well it works.

How it maps to the Unfrozen Loop

1. Week 0
   Before you start
2. 1
   Surface both ways
3. 2
   Make sense together, top included
4. 3
   Start it close to the work

   A credential is training away from the work. In the one large meta-analysis of leadership development below (abstract read), average effects were large for knowledge and smaller for results at the organization level. Plan how you will use what you learn on a live change.

5. 4
   Review on a rhythm, then hold the pace

   Two of these credentials require ongoing learning or re-registration. A practitioner's own review on a rhythm, of what worked on the last change, keeps the learning going on the change itself.

6. 5
   The middle’s own weather
7. Ring
   Safe to speak, and speaking changes something

Highlighted parts are the ones this idea speaks to. The mapping is my reading, not a tested finding. See the whole Loop and the evidence for each part.

Common misreadings

"Certification means competence." ACMP's own page says it cannot guarantee a certain level of competency (ACMP, n.d.). A credential is evidence of training or assessment, not of results.

"The best-known credential is the best one for me." The four options measure different things. A method certification is the right choice if you need that method; an independent credential or accreditation is the right choice if you need something portable across methods.

"Once certified, you are done." Two of these credentials, ACMP's and APMG's, state ongoing learning or re-registration requirements on the pages read.

Using it well

1. Read the provider's own page. Some of these programs are delivered through other organizations; APMG, for example, works through Accredited Training Organizations. The requirements on the provider's own page are the ones that count.
2. Ask your employer to pay, and to use it. A credential is worth more when you are given a real change to apply it to straight away.
3. Keep a record of what you did. Whether or not you pursue a competency accreditation, a short write-up of each change you work on, what you did and what happened, is evidence no exam can give.