Is a Change Management Certification Really Worth It?

Let me answer that question immediately, before you read another word: yes. But the more interesting question is not whether certification is worth it, but which certification is worth it for you, right now, at this point in your career. And that depends enormously on who you are and what you are trying to achieve.

Let me share why change management certifications are so valuable first, then I’ll give you the practical guidance to make the right choice.

Why certification matters, and what it’s done for me

I have supported the work of APMG International for over 20 years. First as the CEO of a training and consultancy company, and more recently as the Chief Examiner for the Agile Change and Neuroscience for Change certifications. This long professional relationship is built on my personal experience of what certification actually does for a career.

After graduating, I joined an investment bank with enormous ambition. I had set myself a goal to become an executive by the age of 30. I achieved it at 29 and I can say with confidence that my qualifications made the difference.

In banking, professional qualifications were mandatory, but once I had completed those, I kept going, studying specialist courses in bond trading and settlement systems, digital marketing, project and programme management. Each qualification gave me insights I could not have gained from my colleagues, with new perspectives about my organisation, my industry and broader commercial awareness. Much of this came from listening the stories told by the trainers and hearing the views of others on the courses.

Why are change management certifications worth investing in?

Relevant change management qualifications get you in the room. These days that means they get you through the filters applied by the algorithms controlling who gets through to interview.

• According to a LinkedIn career survey, nearly 1 in 4 professionals with a change management certification got a new job or a promotion as a direct result of their qualification. This is something I have direct experience of, because I receive thank you emails from people who have attended my courses and shone at interview and secured a new role. As one of them recently said “Melanie, you gave me all the answers to the interview questions, I didn’t hesitate with my answers and the interviewer said I glowed with enthusiasm – thank you.”
• A recent survey from the Change Management Institute in conjunction with the global examining body APMG International has found that change management qualifications build your confidence and make you better able to lead change, whatever is scale or type, which makes you a very valuable resource.
• Attending change management courses demonstrates that you invest effort in your own development and that you take your work seriously, qualities that interviewers read as evidence you can be relied upon to put the effort in. This is especially important because change management is a relatively young profession and is constantly evolving, so your learning means you are keeping up and hopefully even ahead of these changes.
• Your learning gives you fresh ideas, new approaches, and something genuinely interesting to talk about which is far more compelling in an interview than a rehearsed answer about your change management experience from five years ago.

Even with a job title of Chief Executive Officer I still take courses regularly courses regularly to stay current and keep learning. The moment you stop is the moment your thinking starts to age.

Deciding which change management certification is worth it for you

Here is where the advice diverges significantly, because the right answer for a line manager leading their team through change looks very different from the right answer for a full-time change professional building a career in the discipline.

Which certification is worth it if… you are a people manager leading change alongside your day job

The most important filter is this: is the certification practical, and is it relevant to making change happen? Does it give you techniques to cope with resistance and change fatigue? Does it have answers for challenge of getting people to work differently whilst you are also trying to run your operation? For example, look at this section on the Agile Change Agent course which explains how the course provides solutions to the most common change management problems.

Look for a people-focused course, rather than a process driven, methodology heavy approach. You do not need to learn lots of theories and models about change, you need ideas for how to persuade, engage, and motivate people through the emotional and practical difficulties of change. Techniques for building empathy. Tools for creating trusted relationships. Approaches to developing the right team culture for making change happen.

Check if you will walk away with solutions to the issues you are facing, that you can apply as soon as you leave the training.

Which certification is worth it if… you are a change management professional

Your criteria for identifying the right course is different to line managers, because this is your profession. Consider what qualifications say about you. For example, the APMG Change Management Practitioner is a base level certification. If you are just starting out, it ensures you know all the core approaches to change. If you are experienced, it demonstrates that your experience and your qualifications are aligned. If you are working in agile, fast moving organisations, match your environment to your qualifications with certification in Agile Change Agent and Agile Change Coach. If you want to brand yourself as forward thinking, make sure you gain the Neuroscience for Change certification.

You should think carefully about the methodology you are being certified in along with the credential it produces. Different certifications are built on different assumptions about how change works. Make sure they are relevant to the environment you actually work in. For example, we have never had to cope with more change, and it is simultaneous, inter-linked and never-ending. Is your course still teaching models that suit a “one change at a time” approach?

Think about how what you are planning to study is a stepping stone to more learning. Ask for next steps, understand how the certification fits into a wider change management development path.

So, are change management certifications actually worth it?

Yes. Gaining change management qualifications matter for your career as a change professional and your career as a leader. For example, one global HR Director has told me that to join their “high potentials” leadership programme, managers must have a change management certification and describe how they manage change at work in their application.

Change management qualifications establish your credibility, your authenticity, and your own motivation. The neuroscience is unambiguous on this: our brains are wired to reward learning. We get a genuine flood of positive chemicals when we acquire new knowledge and capability because for humans, knowing more has meant surviving better.

And don’t wait. I meet so many people kicking themselves that they were always too busy to update their skills, because as soon as they need to find a new role, they’re forced to bunch up a load of training into a few months (which looks like a panicked reaction) and puts them under pressure to study when they are already busy looking for their next opportunity. If you are putting everyone else’s development before your own, consider this your invitation to stop. Invest in yourself, starting today.

Are you looking to become a change manager, or are you simply looking to build up your change skills? We can help. Check out our APMG accredited change management certifications or sign up to ChangeabilityPro, our change management coaching platform, to find out how.