The Change Agent

A Change Agent is an executive that "makes things happen".

The Change Agent is the single most important role affecting the success or failure of any systems improvement project.

In fact, it is not an overstatement to say this:
If any major change initiative is not actively sponsored by an effective change agent, the probability of success for that project is somewhere very close to zero.

Ideal profile of a Change Agent

Any high-level executive with vision and drive can be a Change Agent.

The Change Agent should ideally have executive-level control over most of the activities within the processes being changed.

Although it is rare to find two Change Agents within a single company, it is possible - and every Executive should be encouraged to develop their "Change Agent skills".

Unfortunately, it is more common to find executive teams that have no Change Agent. It is then the responsibility of the President/CEO to either:

  1. accept that no significant improvement activities are likely to happen - or...
  2. encourage and motivate at least one executive to exhibit Change Agent behavior - or...
  3. make personnel changes to add a Change Agent to the executive team

The most important thing to look for in a Change Agent is initiative.
Ironically, in the early phases, the Change Agent needs to be a "benevolent tyrant" pushing through many "top-down" initiatives in order to overcome stuck-in-the-mud inertia to institute sustainable systems for continuous improvement. After about 5 years, however, the continuous improvement systems become very much a part of the company culture, and changes will then "bubble up" from the line & staff workers themselves.

What a Change Agent needs to succeed

  1. A President/CEO that maintains a steady hand at the rudder when the crew wants to turn back to familiar shores.
  2. Leverage. People need to understand your existing or impending crisis before they will rally support for potentially painful change.
  3. Knowledge. The Change Agent isn't expected to know everything, but does need to identify what knowledge is needed, and then ensure that it is provided (via consultants, training, books, tools, etc.)
  4. Front-line (not side-line) involvement. Willingness to be taught and to brainstorm alongside "subordinates", and to (literally) get your hands dirty when machines & desks need to be moved.
  5. Understanding that there will almost certainly be "one step back for every two steps forward", and that "nothing is ever perfect", but not to allow those slogans to justify standing still.
  6. Strong conviction that things could be better, and unstoppable energy to make it so.
  7. Ability to be understood by stakeholders as promoting ideas with enormous potential for benefiting everyone.

How Change Agents fail

  1. On the one extreme - by being a self-promoter seeking personal aggrandizement more than the common good, or a heartless technocrat with no apparent concern for the very real human issues affected by proposed changes.
  2. On the other extreme - by failing to understand your role as a blocker for the Project Manager carrying the ball.

How to know if you have what it takes to be a Change Agent

Here's one acid test.. If you don't have the political power to persuade your company to provide your project team with the inexpensive tools that they need for continuous improvement, then your are decidedly NOT a Change Agent.

Now that's okay, because you might still make a terrific Project Manager or Project Leader (whose roles are clearly defined within Systems2win templates for Team Organization), but it is absolutely essential for an effective Project Manager to to recognize that his or her power is drawn from (and directly correlated to) the power of the Change Agent.

How to know if you have what it takes to be a Project Manager

Here's an acid test for a Project Manager... If you are unable to use your personal persuasive skills to convince a high level executive or manager within your company to fulfill the role of the Change Agent, then you need to face the reality that you have zero chance of success as a Project Manager... at least within your current company or division. You might be a terrific Project Manager in a company or division that has a strong Change Agent to support you.

Have you ever seen the movie Men of Honor? Where the first Black Navy diver in history  takes 16 hours in freezing water to complete his final assembly test - because they cut his tool bag and strewed his tools all over the ocean floor?

If you have the drive and initiative to be a Project Leader, but find yourself in a company or division that won't even provide you with the tools you need to succeed, then maybe it might be time to do your career (and your family and your mental and physical health) a huge favor, and strap on the courage to face the truth that you have found yourself in the wrong career. It might be time to start your search for some eagles you can fly with, instead of wallowing with turkeys that cut your bag and strew your tools all over the ocean floor, and then hold you accountable for your poor performance.

Summary

For any project that will involve significant changes - you need a Change Agent.

Don't start a major change project without one.