CHANGE AGENT
WEEK # 12
Dr. Tazeem Ali Shah
Change Agent
• A change agent is a person from inside or outside the organization who helps an
organization transform itself by focusing on such matters as organizational
effectiveness, improvement, and development.
• A change agent is an individual or group, who carry out the task of initiating and
managing change in the organization.
• In business, a change agent is an individual who promotes and supports a new way
of doing something within the company, whether it's the use of a new process, the
adoption of a new management structure or the transformation of an old business
model to a new one.
• A change agent is sometimes also called an agent of change or change
advocate. Champion and change agent are sometimes used interchangeably.
Conti….
• He/She is someone, who directly or indirectly influences change, i.e. the change
agents are appointed by the organizations to transform the ways, the
organization is managed, or the business is conducted.
• A change agent, or agent of change, is someone who promotes and enables
change to happen within any group or organization.
• A change agent usually focuses his efforts on the effect of changing technologies,
structures, and tasks on interpersonal and group relationships in the organization.
• Overall, a change agent serves as a liaison between the organization's leadership
that sponsors a change initiative and the people impacted by the change.
• He or she helps articulate reasons for the change, answers questions and
convinces others on the necessity of the initiative, while also bringing concerns
voiced by the organization to the attention of leadership.
What Change Agents Do
• Regardless of the actual position or job title a change agent holds, an individual
who takes on the task of being an agent of change assumes responsibility for:
• Promoting the value of the transformation that is being undertaken by
the organization;
• Formulating how the transformation will happen;
• Guiding and supporting others through the transformation; and
• Ensuring that the new processes, procedures, structures, etc., are
implemented in ways that deliver the expected value that the
organizational change was to produce.
Change Agent Characteristics
• To help ensure success, organizational leaders should choose a change agent
based on a variety of characteristics that are commonly identified as the most
effective for the position. Those characteristics include:
• Diversified knowledge;
• Experience in the business discipline impacted by the change effort;
• A willingness to ask tough questions;
• Flexibility, creativity and an openness to new ideas;
• A strong network;
• Trustworthiness and credibility;
• An understanding of the business culture;
• Courage;
• Excitement for new opportunities and potential; and
• Comfort working through uncertainty.
Roles & Competencies
• A change agent is basically a consultant, either from within the organization or
brought in as an outsider. They often play the role of a researcher, trainer, counselor,
or teacher. Sometimes they will even serve as a line manager.
• While some change agents specialize in one role, most will shift their roles depending
upon the needs of the organization.
• You must have four competencies to become an effective change agent:
• Broad knowledge: You must not only have broad industry knowledge but a broad range of
multidisciplinary knowledge, including conceptual knowledge, diagnostic knowledge,
evaluative knowledge, an understanding of methodology for change, and ethical
knowledge.
• Operational and relational knowledge: You must be able to listen, trust, form relationships,
observe, identify, and report. You must be flexible to deal with different types of
relationships and behaviors.
Conti…
• Sensitivity and maturity: You must not only be able to demonstrate sensitivity to
others, but you must also be sensitive and mature enough to be aware of your
own motivations.
• Authenticity: You must be authentic. You must act in accordance with the values
you seek to promote in the organization.
• For example, if you recommend a form of management that permits subordinate
participation, you should not attempt to impose these changes without the
participation of the organizational members. In other words, you should practice
what you speak.
Conti….
• The specific tasks that can fall to an agent of change include:
• Explaining why change is taking place and who will be affected;
• Advocating for the change initiative;
• Disseminating information;
• Highlighting potential benefits and drawbacks of proposed initiatives;
• Anticipating and evaluating areas of potential dispute or disruption;
• Developing strategies to counteract those potential areas of dispute or
disruption;
Conti….
• Obtaining feedback to share with leadership and conveying responses back;
• Serving as a point person who is available to hear others' concerns, ideas and
questions;
• Advising stakeholders, as well as the impacted individuals;
• Mediating points of contention; and
• Tracking and managing objectives of the project established for the change agent.
Skills of a Change Agent
Conti….
• Cognitive Skills: The skills which require some level of pro-action from the side of the
change agent for the purpose of self-understanding, conceptualization, and
evaluation.
• Action Skills: Change Agent works as a consultant, researcher, trainer, counsellor, etc.
in an organization, so, he/she should possess the required skills and competencies.
• Communication Skills: He/She is responsible for spreading change information, and
making the organization realize the need for change, for which he/she must possess
excellentcommunication and pervasive skills.
• Many multinational corporations have their own in-house change specialist, who
works with the management team of the organization to recognize the need for
change and facilitate change efforts.
Change Agent Qualities
• Flexibility:
• Being open to change requires an entrepreneurial attitude. Change Agent have to tap
into creative instincts to find non-traditional ways for a business to grow and exploit
opportunities.
• This includes connecting with people of different generations and backgrounds to gain a
deeper understanding of perspectives, experiences, and personalities.
• Diversified Knowledge:
• Successful Change Agent avoid getting stuck in the limits of their industry.
• By looking at what is going on in other sectors, and seeing what is working and
applicable to their own industries, leaders can gain valuable insights and spot new
opportunities for growth.
Conti…
• Priority and Results Focus
• In creating change, it’s often helpful to tie specific priorities to the overall business goals.
• These are must-win battles that determine success or failure and are focused on improving the
company’s performance in the marketplace.
• Doing this will streamline decision making and create a clear picture of how the company is
measuring up to expectations.
• Ownership and Responsibility:
• People respect courage and accountability. In order to lead effectively, executives and
managers need to ultimately hold themselves responsible for their team’s performance.
• They may have to make decisions that go against dissenting opinions and can cause conflicts,
but doing so with conviction and ready to handle the consequences will ultimately
demonstrate that their intentions are motivated by the best interests of the company, thus
gaining the trust of their people.
Conti…
• Effective Listening Skills.
• Effective change agents are able to explore perspectives and take them
into account when looking for solutions.
• This will help in getting buy-in to a change; people want to feel that
others are listening to their ideas.
• Those who do will develop stronger relationships with their people by
gaining trust.
Types of Change Agents
• Egoistical Altruist
• Original Imitator
• Visionary Opportunistic
• change enabler Change preventer
• top-down Bottom-up
• Radical Negotiator
• Simple Complex
• Persistent Impatient
• Diverse Focused
• Newcomer Experienced
• Collaborative Solo
Every change agent is unique
• You can't imitate a change agent (and shouldn't try)
• Every context / situation is different
• Innovation happens in the synchronicity between individual traits, social climate
and the idea ecosystem
Conti…..
• Egoistical:
• Initiates change for own benefit, even in detriment of others
• Altruist:
• Initiates change to help others, even in own detriment
Conti…..
Imitator
Original
• Concerned with original initiatives • Concerned with improving others'
ideas
Conti…
Visionary Opportunistic
• Dreams with long term ideal change • Satisfied with short term realistic
goals
Conti….
Change enabler Change preventer
• Leads proposals to trigger changes to • Leads initiatives to anticipate,
the status quo prevent and control change
Conti…
Top-down Bottom-up
• Promotes hierarchical changes using • Enables distributed initiatives causing
power positions leaders to respond
Conti….
Radical
Negotiator
• Strong beliefs, unwilling to settle for • Flexible means to achieve goals,
less disposed to negotiate
Conti….
Simple Complex
• Hands-on and straightforward • Strategic and able to accommodate
change agency multiple stakeholders
Conti….
Impatient
Persistent
• Expects continuous trials and • Wants quick success and visible
learning outcomes
Conti…
Diverse Focused
• Draws from different sources and • Specialist and expert in one discipline
experiences or field
Conti….
Newcomer Experienced
• Recent member of the field • Recognized authority in the field
Conti….
Collaborative Solo
• Team player and democratic • Solitary and authoritarian
Types of Change Agent
• There are a number of different types of change agents. Depending on the details
of your higher purpose, you may be called to work with individuals, groups, or
organizations. You may deliver services, influence policy, or use a leadership
platform to effect change.
• The following list describes the different categories of change agents and how
each creates transformation.
• Note that most change agents act as more than one of these, but usually have one
or two that are primary:
• Practitioner :
• Practitioners deliver services to individuals, creating change in one person at a time.
They may have job titles like therapist, coach or counselor.
• They typically employ processes that require weeks or months to create deep
transformation in an individual.
Conti….
• Consultant –
• A Consultant works with teams or entire organizations, affecting both the collective and
the individuals in it.
• A team or organization that has been transformed by a skilled Consultant will continue
to create change in its members and others it touches, even when he or she has moved
on.
• Teacher/Trainer –
• Teachers and Trainers design and lead programs for groups.
• The programs they deliver transform the individuals who attend.
• The programs can be workshops, trainings, or teleseminars; they may last hours, days,
weeks or even years.
Conti….
• Activist –
• Activists gathering support and employ influence to change policy and shift
public perception.
• They may operate visibly or behind the scenes.
• Skilled Activists bring people and organizations on all sides of an issue
together to create and implement powerful, win-win solutions that last.
• Leader –
• By virtue of their position in an organization, association or industry,
Leaders have the platform and power they need to create change.
• Usually, they first transform themselves, next, their organization, and then
use the organization as an instrument to create change on a broader scale.
• Large and powerful organizations can be challenging to transform, and they
create highly potent platforms for global transformation when they do.
Conti….
• Messenger –
• Through books, media, public speaking, seminars and blogging, Messengers
deliver a transformational message to those who are meant to receive it.
• Their impact is usually very broad and temporary, challenging beliefs and
behaviors and calling many people to change.
• Lasting impact occurs for those individuals who take the next step and engage in
longer term processes, such as coaching or workshops.
• These deeper processes may be delivered either by the Messenger or some
other change agent.
Conti….
• Social Entrepreneur –
• Social Entrepreneurs cérate businesses and organizations that change the
world.
• Rather than seeking to transform existing organizations, they set out to create
new ones that promote the change they are trying to create.
• The organization may model a new way of doing business, it may create change
through its activities, or it may donate time and money towards the creating of a
new world.
• Terms and concepts like corporate social responsibility, is expressions of this
movement.
• Using their organizations as both models of and platforms for change, social
entrepreneurs are able to influence many facets of life and society.
Conti….
• Innovator –
• Innovators create new products, services and processes that alter the way
people live, work and communicate.
• Both tangible technological innovations (e.g. the plane, the telephone and fire)
and intangible process innovations (e.g. voting, meditation and the scientific
method) can have a profound and lasting effect on how we live and see the
world.
• Innovators create these new, sometimes disruptive technologies and processes.
• They often need the help of other change agents in order to cause their
innovations to be adopted on a wide scale.
Conti….
• Philanthropist –
• Philanthropists use wealth to support the activities of other change agents.
• By channeling funds to efforts that need them, Philanthropists are able to
accelerate greatly the pace of change.
• Their resources often give them influence over the strategies that other change
agents and organizations employ.
• Because many Philanthropists earned their wealth through success in business,
their guidance about strategy can be extremely valuable.
