What is the Change Management Maturity Model?
The Prosci Change Management Maturity Model describes five levels of organizational maturity in managing the people side of change. It also introduces five Capability Areas — demonstrated behaviors that characterize an organization's maturity at each level. As organizations experience more and more change, the ability to effectively manage the people side of that change to deliver results and outcomes becomes increasingly critical.
The Change Management Maturity Model Audit (CMMMA) is an assessment tool that helps organizations evaluate how mature their change management capabilities are. Based on the Prosci Methodology and best practices research, it provides a structured framework for measuring, benchmarking, and improving an organization's ability to manage the people side of change.
Key Insight: Organizations that build enterprise change management capability—embedding change management into how the organization operates—achieve significantly better project outcomes than those applying change management only on isolated projects. This audit helps you understand where your organization stands on that journey and what to do next.
The Five Capability Areas of Organizational Maturity
The Change Management Maturity Model Audit evaluates maturity across five capability areas, each containing a set of factors (50 factors total):
Capability Area | What It Measures |
Leadership (8) | Leadership commitment, activities, and messaging around the importance and value of change management and the effort to build organizational capabilities and competencies |
Application (8) | Use of change management processes and tools on projects—percentage of projects applying change management, breadth of application, and resource availability (people and funding) |
Competencies (12) | Training, development, and demonstrated competencies in leading change by employees, supervisors, managers, leaders, project teams, and practitioners |
Standardization (12) | Mechanisms and systems used to institutionalize change management—common approaches, integration with project management, triggers, and inclusion in improvement approaches |
Socialization (10) | Building commitment and buy-in for change management throughout the organization—awareness, shared language, and organizational support |
Assessment Approach
The CMMMA uses a single, comprehensive assessment format:
50 factors across the five Capability Areas
1–5 maturity scale — each factor is rated from Level 1 (Absent or Ad Hoc) through Level 5 (Organizational Competency)
Each level includes a specific, descriptive statement to guide your selection
20–30 minutes to complete
Best for: Baseline measurement, maturity benchmarking, capability gap analysis, and tracking progress over time
Who Is This For?
Facilitators
Change practitioners applying and scaling change management across the organization
Enterprise Change Management (ECM) leads responsible for building organizational capability
Organizational leaders sponsoring change management as a core competency
Participants
Change leaders (primary sponsor, sponsor coalition members, people managers)
Project managers
Other key business leaders
When to Use It
Scenario | How It Helps |
Measuring current maturity | Establish a clear baseline of where your organization stands across all five capability areas |
Aligning stakeholders | Create a shared understanding of change management maturity and where to focus investment |
Guiding actions | Identify specific low-maturity factors to target for improvement |
Clarifying approach | Understand the gap between current state and desired state to build a realistic roadmap |
Tracking progress over time | Re-assess periodically to measure the impact of capability-building initiatives |
Comparing across the organization | Run assessments for different departments, regions, or business units and compare results |
Setting Up Your First Audit
Step 1: Access the Dashboard
Log in to the application. You’ll land on the Dashboard, which shows all audits by Organization/Group.
Step 2: Create a Group
Click [Create New Group] to set up a new container for your audits. Groups represent the organizational unit you’re evaluating—this could be:
An entire organization
A specific department or business unit
A regional office or location
Enter Group Name — Give it a descriptive name (e.g., “Acme Corp - North America” or “IT Department”)
Step 3: Create an Audit
Within your Group, click [Add Audit] to start a new audit.
Assessment Name — A descriptive name (e.g., “Q1 2025 Baseline Assessment” or “Annual Maturity Review”)
Description — Add context about the assessment’s purpose or scope
Step 4: Start the Assessment
After creating the audit, click on the Name, then click [Start Assessment]
The audit/assessment is organized by the five Capability Areas:
Leadership (8 factors)
Application (8 factors)
Competencies (12 factors)
Standardization (12 factors)
Socialization (10 factors)
Use the tab navigation at the top to move between the five Capability Areas. Each tab shows your progress:
Green checkmark — Section complete (all factors answered)
Yellow indicator — Section in progress (some factors answered)
Gray circle — Section not started
Answering Factors
Each factor appears as an expandable card. Click to expand and see the factor question, five maturity level options with specific descriptive statements, and select the level that best describes your organization’s current state.
Rating | What it Means |
Level 1 | The statement describing the lowest maturity (ad hoc, absent, or reactive) |
Level 2 | The statement describing emerging or isolated efforts |
Level 3 | The statement describing broader, more consistent application |
Level 4 | The statement describing organizational integration and standards |
Level 5 | The statement describing full institutional embedding |
Each factor’s level descriptions are specific to that factor—read them carefully to find the best match for your organization.
Your responses save automatically as you select each level. A confirmation message appears briefly after each save. You can:
Navigate between steps freely without losing progress
Close the browser and return later—your progress is preserved
Complete the assessment across multiple sessions
Completing the Assessment
After answering all 50 factors across the five steps, click Complete Assessment to finalize your results. If any sections are incomplete, you’ll see a checklist showing which areas still need responses.
Understanding Your Results
Report Sections
Overall Results
Your results page opens with an overall maturity score on a 1–5 scale, along with your maturity level:
Score Range | Level Name | What It Means |
1.0 – 1.99 | Level 1: Absent or Ad Hoc | Change management is reactive and applied only as a last resort when resistance threatens project success. No formal processes or integration with project management. |
2.0 – 2.99 | Level 2: Isolated Projects | Elements of change management begin to emerge in isolated parts of the organization. Efforts are infrequent and not centralized. |
3.0 – 3.99 | Level 3: Multiple Projects | Change management is applied across multiple projects with increasing consistency. Groups begin using structured processes. |
4.0 – 4.79 | Level 4: Organizational Standards | Change management is integrated into organizational processes with standards and a common approach applied across projects. |
4.8 – 5.0 | Level 5: Organizational Competency | Change management is fully embedded in the organization’s culture and operations as a core organizational competency. |
Results by Capability Area
A bar chart compares your scores across all five Capability Areas, making it easy to see which areas are strongest and which need the most attention. Each area shows its individual score and maturity level.
Low Maturity Factors
Factors scoring at Level 1 or Level 2 are flagged as low maturity items. These are organized by Capability Area in a table showing the factor number, question text, and score (color-coded red for Level 1, orange for Level 2). This section helps you quickly identify your highest-priority improvement areas.
Your Insights and Comments
Document your observations, key takeaways, and planned next steps directly in the results page using the Insights and Comments section. Click Save Insights and Comments to preserve your notes—these become part of your assessment record and appear in generated reports.
See Progress Overtime
The Progress Over Time table shows all completed assessments within your Group, with scores for each Capability Area side by side. Use this to:
Track maturity improvements after capability-building initiatives
Compare results across assessment periods
Demonstrate ROI of change management investments
Full Maturity Model Audit
A complete, question-by-question breakdown of your results organized by Capability Area. For each factor, you can see the exact statement you selected and the corresponding score.
Generating PDF Reports
Two report types are available:
Full Report
Complete assessment results including all sections
Overall score and maturity level
Capability area breakdown
Full factor-by-factor audit detail
Your insights and comments
Low Score Report
Focused summary of areas needing improvement
Overall results context
Only low maturity factors (Level 1 and Level 2)
Ideal for sharing with stakeholders to build a case for targeted investment
Taking Action on Results
Debriefing Results
Use the What–So What–Now What framework to debrief the audit results:
What: What are the overall results?
So What: What do the results by capability area mean for our organization?
Now What: What actions can we begin to take to increase our change management maturity?
Debrief Facilitation Tips:
Focus on learning and improvement, not assigning blame.
Balance discussion between strengths and challenges.
Acknowledge the value of different perspectives and use them to spark insight and promote understanding.
Use open-ended questions (“What stands out to you?” “What’s driving this result?” “What would make the biggest difference here?”).
Focus on establishing your baseline to create a better, more complete and quantified understanding of the state of change management in your organization. The five Capability Areas - Leadership, Application, Competencies, Standardization and Socialization - give you the dimensions not only for evaluating how you are performing today, but also the dimensions you can use in defining what level of maturity your organization will work toward, and in evaluating the gaps.
Planning Next Steps
Based on your results, consider:
Address low maturity factors first — Focus on factors scoring at Level 1 or Level 2, as these represent the most significant gaps
Leverage capability area strengths — Build on areas already performing well; these can serve as models for less mature areas
Align leadership — Share results with sponsors and leaders to build commitment for capability-building efforts
Create a roadmap — Use the gap between current and target maturity levels to build a phased improvement plan
Re-assess periodically — Run the audit again after implementing changes to measure progress and maintain momentum
Quick Reference
Audit Checklist
☐ Create a Group for the organization or unit being assessed
☐ Create an audit within the Group
☐ Complete all 50 factors across the five Capability Areas
☐ Review overall results and maturity level
☐ Examine results by Capability Area
☐ Identify low maturity factors (Level 1–2)
☐ Add insights and comments
☐ Generate PDF reports (Full Report and/or Low Score Report)
☐ Share results with stakeholders
☐ Plan improvement actions based on findings
☐ Schedule follow-up assessment to track progress