Free online course · General

What Is Change Management, and Why Does It Matter?

Every QI project changes how someone works. Learn what change management is, why your QI work needs it, where the people side fits in each phase of DMAIC and PDSA, and three first steps for your own project. Then make a one-page people-side starter.

• Free
• About 27 minutes
• Self-paced, online
• No sign-in
• 6-question knowledge check

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Nothing you do in this course is recorded. From AdoptionLab.AI. Updated October 9, 2026.

What you will be able to do

• Explain what change management adds to a QI project.
• Sort the parts of a QI project into the technical side and the people side.
• Name who a change affects and what each group may lose.
• Choose the people-side work that fits each DMAIC phase and PDSA step.
• Plan one small test with the people who do the work, including how you will check how it went.
• Draft a one-page people-side starter for your own project.

Inside the course

1. Start here
   1. Good fixes that quietly fade
   2. What you will be able to do
2. What it is and why it matters
   1. What change management is
   2. Technical side or people side?
   3. Case study: a health center protects staff time
   4. Why the people side matters
   5. What a public mental health provider built over 15 years
   6. Practice: the checklist nobody uses
3. The people side of your project
   1. Who is affected and what they lose
   2. Practice: what is the pushback protecting?
   3. The people side in DMAIC and PDSA
   4. Practice: what fits this phase?
4. How to start
   1. How to start: three first steps
   2. Start small, with the people who do the work
   3. Practice: plan the first test
   4. What happened in 26 community clinics
   5. How AdoptionLab.AI can help
5. Check and apply
   1. Check yourself
   2. Your work task: a one-page people-side starter
   3. What to take with you
   4. Sources

About this course

A free course from AdoptionLab.AI. Free, self-paced online courses from AdoptionLab.AI on the people side of quality improvement: change management for health care and human service teams.

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How to cite

AdoptionLab.AI. (2026). What Is Change Management, and Why Does It Matter? [Free online course]. AdoptionLab Campus. https://campus.adoptionlab.ai/free/what-is-change-management-and-why-does-it-matter