Who this is for: Change leads and initiative owners planning how to support people through a change
Change activities are the communications, engagement and enablement you deliver to build awareness, readiness and capability in the people affected by a change. This article explains how to build a good activity plan. For the click-by-click steps, see Plan activities and view the timeline.
Activity types
Type | Examples |
Communications | Newsletters, announcements, briefings |
Engagement | Roadshows, Q&A forums, leader sessions |
Enablement | Training, coaching, system walkthroughs |
Plan your activities
- Open the initiative and choose Activities.
- Click + Add activity and fill in the title, description, type, audience, start and end dates, and the owner who will deliver it.
- Link the activity to the impacts and risks it addresses (for example, a communication plan to reduce stakeholder resistance), and to milestones or other change elements.
- To run the same activity for similar audiences or regions, copy it instead of starting again.
To check how people are responding, add a pulse check with + Pulse check. See Send pulse checks and track adoption.
Track your activities
- Use Filter to narrow the list by group, owner, type or status, and Show completed to include activities that are finished.
- Use the timeline to see how activities are sequenced.
- Use the Change Phase view (Kanban-style) to follow activities through the stages of your change framework.
- Review coverage regularly to find audiences that are not yet supported.
Balance the activity burden
People often underestimate how much time change takes away from normal work. The time per person you enter on each activity adds up in the Activity Burden Heatmap, so you can:
- see the total time spent on training, meetings and communications
- spot teams or individuals who are overloaded
- move or reduce activities to avoid burnout and protect productivity.
Plan activities with realistic timeframes to keep disruption to normal work low. See Generate the Activity Burden Heatmap.
Who can create and edit activities
Your role controls what you can do. Change leads and initiative owners can create and edit activities. Other team members may have view-only or restricted edit access.
Example
To support an HR policy change, the team plans:
- email updates and a leadership briefing (communications)
- interactive huddles led by managers (engagement)
- e-learning in the learning system, with job aids (enablement).
Good practice
- Cover every impacted group: make sure all the main groups affected have at least one activity.
- Balance the cadence: keep momentum without over-communicating.
- Review weekly: use the activity list in team check-ins.
- Match the load to the change: check that activity effort lines up with the impact and change effort scores.
- Reuse what works: build activity sets for recurring project types and keep them in your template library.
- Track effectiveness, not just delivery: record notes, survey results or attendance in the activity after it runs.
FAQs
Who manages activity planning?
Usually the change lead, but team members can own individual activities.
Can I group activities by type or audience?
Yes. Use Filter to view activities by type, audience, owner or status.
How detailed should activities be?
As detailed as you need for the activity to be clear and effective.
Can I edit or copy existing activities?
Yes. Open the activity to edit it, or copy it to reuse it.
How do I know if we're doing enough?
Compare your activities with the impact assessment and use filters to find groups with little or no support.
How do I measure effectiveness?
Use pulse checks, feedback forms, surveys or anecdotal input, and note the outcome in the activity.
Related articles
Still stuck?
Email support@changeplan.co with a screenshot of what you see, and we'll help.
Last updated: 20 October 2026