What is a change agent or an agent of change?
If I ask you who promotes and enables change in your company
or in your organization, who do you think of?
In general, a change agent is an individual who promotes and supports
a new way of doing something within an organization,
from new structures, to new procedures or digital transformation.
Many times, when people think of change agents,
they tend to think of managers or high ranking executives.
But this is not just limited to them.
Leaders, at any level, should lead the change and make it real.
A change agent must promote the value of the transformation or change.
Also, he or she has to formulate how the transformation will happen.
And finally, he or she will also support and guide the transformation,
ensuring that those new procedures, structures
or whatever we are trying to change, are implemented as expected.
So, first, a leader should be a driver of change.
We can say, that there must be a clear and demonstrable commitment
from the top for any change to be successful.
As we have said many times before, leaders should be role models.
When the leaders are not able to show their commitment,
leadership will fail. And then, the change won't be implemented.
Leadership is about providing a clear vision
and having the ability to take people with them.
Every experience leaders create, communication they deliver,
and action they take, will either support
or undermine the effort of change.
The leadership team must actively manage the process
and make sure that it’s at the top of every manager’s priority list.
Many people will look to their leader to understand
how the leader feels about the change and then, they will follow the lead.
In other words, if you don’t like the change yourself
and seem negative about it, then it is very likely
that the people following you will copy your behavior.
Keeping a positive outlook on the change and demonstrating that
will enhance your chances of leading and surviving.
And then, it will help you to promote that change.
Also, we can say that change agents are people who encourage
and promote change in an organization, as we said before,
by their impact on processes and people.
They may have formal change management roles
or may be part of project teams or the wider workforce.
All this can remind you of the transformational leaders.
Transformational leaders encourage followers to become part
of the overall organizational environment and its culture.
This means that when a leader empowers his or her team
through persuasion and influence, he or she is helping their coworkers
to propose new and controversial ideas without any fear.
But also, they are promoting them to embrace that change,
to make it their own change
and to reduce their resistance to change.
A transformational leader always tend to nurture the idea of receptivity
to organizational change and transformation,
and does not to fear those processes.
Leadership is a social process
where you influence others in order to achieve
the goals of the organization.
So, leaders are the key members of any company or field,
because they are the change agents.
So, how can we achieve a successful change?
Well, we can work on the following.
First, by making sure employees have the tools
to take advantage of the change.
Also, by listening to employees concerns and monitoring progress.
As we said before, rewarding successes, strengthening good practices
of the team members.
And finally, making corrections, using feedbacks
and improving the team performance.
Providing feedback focused on supporting the desired cultural beliefs
and desired outcomes to team members is critical for success.
But it goes both ways.
Senior leaders must ask their reports, or anyone for that matter, the question:
"What feedback do you have for me?".
Leaders must create a culture supportive of managing up and transparency.
We can say that active engagement by leaders encourages
active engagement by employees,
and helps make change a reality.
Now, we know that leaders can lead the change
and that change must be incorporated into the organizational culture,
when speaking, for example, of safety culture
or of any other cultural changes.