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Editable templates
The Change Toolkit
Fifteen templates for leading a change, as files you can edit: Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Each comes with a worked example and a one-page guide to running it. The web versions on this site stay free. This is the ready-to-use pack.
See the licenses Compare with the free versions
What's inside
Every template comes as three files: the editable template, the same template filled in as a worked example, and a one-page guide to running it. The examples follow one change at one fictional company, so you can see how the templates connect.
| # | Template | File | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Change plan | Word | Why, what, who and how you'll know, on one page |
| 02 | Stakeholder map | Excel | Who the change touches, their influence and their view |
| 03 | Change impact assessment | Excel | What changes for each group, and what else they carry |
| 04 | Communication plan | Excel | Who hears what, from whom, when, and how you hear back |
| 05 | RACI chart | Excel | One owner for each decision and task |
| 06 | Team charter | Word | Purpose, outcomes, roles and how the team decides |
| 07 | Team norms | Word | How the team works together, and how you notice a slip |
| 08 | One-on-one meeting | Word | Their agenda first, then what is in the way |
| 09 | Premortem | PowerPoint | Imagine the project failed, then fix the plan |
| 10 | After action review | PowerPoint | Four questions after the work, ending in owners |
| 11 | Conversation kit: Surface both ways | Word | Get bad news and ideas up the line |
| 12 | Conversation kit: Make sense together | Word | Work out what the change means for your team's work |
| 13 | Conversation kit: Start it close to the work | Word | Let the people doing the work shape how it lands |
| 14 | Conversation kit: Review on a rhythm | Word | Short regular reviews, then a pause so it sets |
| 15 | Conversation kit: The middle's own weather | Word | The load on the managers carrying the change |
| Start Here guide | Which template to use when, by part of the Unfrozen Loop |
Mapped to the Unfrozen Loop
The Start Here guide sorts the templates by the parts of the Unfrozen Loop, so you can start with the part that feels weakest in your change.
| Week 0 | Before you start: Change plan, Stakeholder map, Change impact assessment, Premortem |
| Part 1 | Surface both ways: Stakeholder map, Communication plan, One-on-one meeting, Premortem, Surface both ways kit |
| Part 2 | Make sense together, top included: Stakeholder map, Communication plan, Team charter, Make sense together kit |
| Part 3 | Start it close to the work: Change plan, RACI chart, Start it close to the work kit |
| Part 4 | Review on a rhythm, then hold the pace: Change impact assessment, RACI chart, Team charter, Team norms, After action review, Review on a rhythm kit |
| Part 5 | The middle's own weather: Change impact assessment, One-on-one meeting, The middle's own weather kit |
| The ring | Safe to speak, and speaking changes something: Team norms, One-on-one meeting, Premortem, After action review |
Who it's for
Managers carrying a change
You've been handed a change to land with your team. The templates turn the first weeks into a few conversations and a one-page plan.
HR and OD partners
You support managers through change. Hand them a template with a worked example instead of a blank page, and use the run guides in your sessions.
Change leads
You run the plan across teams. The stakeholder map, impact assessment, communication plan and RACI chart are workbooks that count and flag as you fill them in.
Free or paid
| Free web versions | The Change Toolkit | |
|---|---|---|
| Fill in | In your browser, saved only on your device | Word, Excel and PowerPoint files you can edit, brand and share |
| Worked example | A short example for some fields | Every template filled in, at one fictional company |
| Run guide | Tips on each page | A one-page guide for each template, plus Start Here |
| Checks | Some pages flag gaps as you type | Workbooks with check columns and a summary sheet |
| Research notes | On each page | The same notes in each guide |
The free versions:
- Change plan
- Stakeholder map
- Change impact assessment
- Communication plan
- RACI chart
- Team charter
- Team norms
- One-on-one meeting
- Premortem
- After action review
- Conversation kit: Surface both ways
- Conversation kit: Make sense together
- Conversation kit: Start it close to the work
- Conversation kit: Review on a rhythm
- Conversation kit: The middle's own weather
Licenses
Internal use license
Starter
$39 one time, no expiry
- Use the templates inside your own organization, for as many changes and teams as you like
- Edit them, add your logo and share them with colleagues
- All 15 templates with worked examples and run guides, plus Start Here
Consultant use license
Consultant
$79 12-month license
- Use the templates with your own clients, as often as you like
- Leave filled-in copies with the clients you made them for
- All 15 templates with worked examples and run guides, plus Start Here
Want to learn to run them on a live change of your own? The course Leading Change with Evidence includes the toolkit.
Payment is handled by Stripe. Right after paying you get a download page, and an email with your download link. The download link works for 12 months, separately from your license, so download the files and keep them.
License terms
Internal use license
- Use the templates inside your own organization, for as many changes and teams as you like.
- Edit them, add your logo and share the files with colleagues in your organization.
- Print them and show them in your own meetings and workshops.
- Don't resell, publish or share the files outside your organization.
- The internal license doesn't expire. Keep using the files you downloaded for as long as you like.
Consultant use license
- Use the templates with your own clients and teams, as often as you like.
- Edit them and fill them in with or for a client, and leave the filled-in copies with that client.
- Show and print them in client sessions and workshops.
- Don't resell or publish the blank templates, and don't give clients the blank files, the run guides or the Start Here guide.
- The consultant license runs for 12 months from purchase. Filled-in copies you left with clients stay theirs; using the templates with new clients after that needs a new license.
For both: the toolkit comes from one person's practice and published research. It is not legal, HR or medical advice. The worked examples use a fictional company; any resemblance to a real one is accidental.
Common questions
What is in the Change Toolkit?
Fifteen templates for leading a change: a change plan, stakeholder map, change impact assessment, communication plan, RACI chart, team charter, team norms, one-on-one notes, a premortem, an after action review and five conversation kits. Each comes as an editable file, a filled-in worked example and a one-page guide to running it, plus a Start Here guide that says which template to use when.
What formats are the files?
Word for documents, Excel for the matrices and trackers (stakeholder map, RACI chart, communication plan, change impact assessment) and PowerPoint for the two you run with a group on screen (premortem and after action review). The guides are PDFs. The files also open in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, LibreOffice and Apple's Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
Are the free templates still free?
Yes. Every template in the toolkit has a free web version on this site that you can fill in online, copy or print. The toolkit is the ready-to-use files: editable, formatted, with a worked example and a guide for each.
Which license do I need?
Internal use (Starter) if you will use the templates inside your own organization. Consultant use if you will use them with your own clients. The terms for both are on this page.
What are the worked examples?
Every template is filled in for one change at one fictional mid-size company, so you can see what a good answer looks like and how the templates connect. The company and its people are invented, and the examples quote no statistics.
Is the toolkit backed by research?
Each guide says what the research behind that template does and doesn't show. Several of these are practical tools that no study in the Evidence Library tests, and the guides say so. Others have tested evidence behind them. For example, on after action reviews: A meta-analysis of 46 samples linked debriefs to about 25% better performance on average than comparison groups, with similar average effects in real work settings and in simulations.
How do I get the files after paying?
Payment is handled by Stripe. Right after paying you get a download page, and an email with your download link. The link works for 12 months, separately from your license, so download the files and keep them.
Is this the same as the book's template pack?
No. The 15 templates from the book are a separate, free PDF on the templates page. The toolkit covers the free web templates and conversation kits on this site.
Templates for leading change. The worked examples use a fictional company.