Change Agents in the Change Management Process

Change Agents in the Change Management Process

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Change Agents in the Change Management Process

In a world where business is influenced by evolving customer demands, globalization and technology, change is inevitable. To promote, champion, enable and support changes, organizations are looking for change agents. A change agent is a person from inside or outside an organization who helps an organization transform itself by focusing on organizational effectiveness, improvement and development (Hartge et al., 2019). Change agents can be managers, employees or external consultants hired to facilitate change management.

A change agent inspires and influences key individuals to make the changes necessary for transformation (Cawsey et al., 2020). This include changes in their desires, attitudes and behaviors. Internal change agents have the advantage of being familiar with an organization’s history, operations and people while external change agents provide a fresh perspective without the influence of an organization’s traditions and culture. The focus is on the people in the organization and their interactions.

Traits and Characteristics of a Change Agent

Change agents often play the role of a researcher, trainer, counselor or teacher. A change agent should have the following traits and characteristics to become an effective change agent: They must have broad range of multidisciplinary knowledge including conceptual knowledge, diagnostic knowledge, evaluative knowledge, and ethical knowledge (Kerse, 2019). Must be able to listen, trust, form relationships, observe, identify and report. A change agent should be flexible to deal with different types of relationships and behaviors. A good change agent must be authentic, in that they lead by example. The change agent must act in accordance to the value you seek to promote in an organization. Enthusiastic and passionate about their work while practicing patience and persistency. They must possess excellent communication and persuasive skills. A change agent must be good at getting ideas over (Hartge et al., 2019).

Roles of Change Agents

A change agent wears many different hats. For an effective change management process, a change agent should demonstrate extraordinary versatility within a broad skill set. A change agent plays various roles in the change management process (Masullo, 2017). These roles include; investigating, advocating, encouraging, facilitating, mediating, advising, and managing.

The investigative role of change agents involves dealing with people and requires that an individual conduct thorough background checks to understand the dynamic of the organization. In doing so, the change agent is able to identify factors that are preventing successful transformation, thus determining steps most likely to remove the obstacles bringing about change. A change agent must be observant and analytical (Kerse, 2019).

Regarding the advocacy role, for organizational change to take place there must be someone who initiates and instigates the change (i.e., speaks of it and keeps people attention on it). Therefore, a change agent should be vocal and persistent. Further, a change agent encourages. Change disrupts the sense of stability which brings about varied emotions (Masullo, 2017). A change agent should be sensitive to these emotions and help people feel better about making the change. This can only be achieved by listening and encouraging people.

Change agent act as a facilitator. One of the key activities of a change agent is finding ways to help people to change (Kerse, 2019). A change agent should be creative in designing systems, tools, forms and processes that enable people to successfully transform. Further, they act as mediators. Individuals and groups in an organization undergoing change usually have opposing views. A Change agent manages conflict by helping the opposing individuals and groups to see the situation from the other point of view and by finding a common ground. This reduces friction between the opposing parties so that they can collaborate to implement change (Jackson, R. A, 2019).

A change agent is also an advisor. They have a broad range of multidisciplinary knowledge. They also rely on their expertise to build their authority in an organization. By sharing knowledge, they show that they can be relied upon to point people in the right direction. Change agents also play the role of a manager. A change agent ensures that there are goals, targets, and due dates for projects. They keep people on track by finding ways to hold people accountable and making sure appropriate rewards or punishments are handed out as necessary (Cawsey et al. 2020).

Influencing the Change Management Process

A change agent can influence generation and directional change by building trust between a change agent and people in the organization. Trust is an essential element in leadership, as gaining trust of employees could help to improve the overall performance and commitment to the set goals (Jackson, 2019). Trust builds a relationship that binds them together improving the overall performance and commitment towards their common goal, which is change. If it happens conversely, the performance and commitment of the employees goes downhill and could cause a high employee turnover rate in the organization.

A change agent can shape a good culture. To shape a positive organizational culture there needs to be trust between the change agent and the employees. A positive organizational culture not only improves performance, but also has a positive influence on the behavior and attitude of people in the organization. It also motivates and gives them a sense of belonging which inspires loyalty and commitment. The sense of belonging motivates people to identify the problems affecting the organization and encourage transformation bringing about successful change. A good organization culture provides a conducive environment to work in. This reduces the conflict among individuals and groups helping them to work together towards implementing the change (Hartge et al. 2019). A good culture also breeds innovation and ground for healthy competition. Failure to establish a good organizational culture leads to failure to initiate change.

A change agent should encourage employees in the organization to learn through rewards or positions (Cawsey et al. 2020). Continuously learning is a key element to improve the overall performance of the organization. Since change agents have multidisciplinary knowledge they are able to transfer knowledge through training, every day meeting and conversations. This helps increase productivity, performance and promotes healthy competition. If a change agent cannot effective pass their knowledge and motivate continuous learning, an organization fails to improve thus they are not able to achieve the desired change.

Kerse (2019) asserts that teamwork and communication are the best mechanisms to inspire innovation. A good change agent should encourage collaboration as this creates a conducive environment to exchange ideas, learn from one another and come up with new ideas. Through this collaboration people are able to establish good communication which enables the change agent to give clear direction for the implementation of change (Hartge et al. 2019). To achieve a successful change management process, the change agent should formulate strategies that help individuals to achieve an organization’s goals. The change agent should also monitor the progress and find a way to hold them accountable. This is only possible if a change agent is able to establish their authority and foster trust among individuals in an organization.

Challenges Change Agents Face

Though a change agent is important in the change management process, there are various challenges a change agent may face in the change process. An external change agent may have problems implementing the change since they are not aware of the company’s history, work processes and personnel. There is always a risk when using an external change agent that the organization’s staff will view the change agent as a threat therefore not cooperate in the change process (Cawsey et al .2020). However, they can resolve this problem by conducting in-depth research on the company and fostering good interpersonal relationship with employees in the company.

Conclusion

In order to adapt and continue with daily operations, organizations are shifting from viewing change management as a specialty to a key leadership quality. Change agents are important in an organization in that they must have broad range of multidisciplinary knowledge, such as conceptual knowledge, diagnostic knowledge, evaluative knowledge, and ethical knowledge. They are good listeners, able to form trust and relationships. Further, they should be flexible to deal with different types of relationships and behaviors.

A change agent plays various roles involving investigating, advocating, encouraging, facilitating, mediating, advising, and managing. Additionally, a change agent can influence generation and directional change by building trust between a change agent and people in the organization and use teamwork and communication to inspire innovation. However, they face challenges, such as resistance from employees.

References

Cawsey, T. F., Deszca, G., & Ingols, C. (2020). Organizational change: An action-oriented toolkit, (4th Ed.). Sage drafting.

Hartge, T., Callahan, T., & King, C. (2019). Leaders’ behaviors during radical change processes: Subordinates’ perceptions of how well leader behaviors communicate change. International Journal of Business Communication, 56(1), 100–121.

Jackson, R. A. (2019). The right path. Internal Auditor, 76(3), 24.

Kerse, G. (2019). Change and change management in organizations. In Handbook of Research on Contemporary Approaches in Management and Organizational Strategy (pp. 383-404). IGI Global.

Masullo, C. P. (2017). Change agents and opinion leaders. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 18(2), 57-71.