Change Agent, a terminology that refers to the individual who is specifically working on the transformational journey of the organization. This transformation may include an employee's personal development, professional development, organizational improvement, and much more. In other words, the change agent is the leader who helps the organization to set up a direction towards change. Several research publications claim that positive change in the employees is directly associated with the growth of the organization, and it is only possible if the organization understands the need of a leader who can design, demonstrate, plan, and execute the tools of change to measure the performance of the employees.
According to the global perspective, leadership trainers, global change agents, and influencers, the personality traits that the change agent may need to adapt are; being autocratic, transactional, or even having participative leadership skills depending upon the need of the situation. However, having some of the following personality traits will also help you to become an effective change agent:
The first and foremost personality trait of a change agent is to be visionary. He needs to be a man who can design a plan of action according to a vision.
Another key characteristic of a change agent is to be persistent with what he wants to achieve. Somehow, executing a plan of change may need some patience as well.
Bosses are often micromanaging their employees, but in case of being a change agent, you may need to adopt a result-oriented approach to allow employees to work in a comfortable environment.
The claim is standstill, that a good reader tends to become a good leader. If a person has a reading habit, he may have the potential to adapt some good personality traits from others.
One of the key characteristics that a change agent must have is good interpersonal skills. Such people often grab attention and become an influencer for others. If you have good communication skills, presentation skills, convincing power, you may become a good change agent.
In the era of transformation, the significance of being a leader or a change agent is evident as a complete online leadership degree is available for the people who want to pursue their careers in leadership or change management. Till now, we have established that a change agent plays the role of a leader for an organization. However, let's discuss, what are the steps you need to follow for being a change agent or a leader:
Resistance has always challenged change. You must know that people are resistant to change. All you need to do is to welcome their opinion, understand their perspective, appreciate their ideas before making any judgment. By doing this, you will be able to identify what are the required steps to transform their thought process. Somehow, people are unaware of their fixed mindset. Your efforts will shift their fixed mindset to the growth mindset. If you get the opportunity to become a change agent for an organization, you may need help from the people who are the key influencers of the organization. These influencers will eventually become your ambassador of change.
Commonly, the ideologies presented under the umbrella of change management claim that strong vision is the driving force for the organization. More often, if the vision is crafted and designed by using the tool of inclusion, people are said to have an emotional connection with it. The idea here is to engage the employees in such a way that they land up to your desired end-result. As an outcome, you will have the ground to introduce the tools and techniques, not only for the change but also for the personal and professional growth of the employee. One important thing is to reduce friction among the departments of the organization to gather them on the same page.
More than 90% of your efforts will go into waste if the employees do not remember what you told them—the same in the case of change. If the fundamentals of change are not on the fingertips, the change will not be a new normal. The notable key point here is that you need to device such tools that the employees follow the new rules and adapt them as a part of their work. Even though it may create a sense of panic, but eventually, it will help you to drive the employees to a new norm that will be taking them closer to the ultimate goal that is growth. As a change agent, it will be your responsibility to monitor change in people. Non-monitored change may lead to a waste of time and effort.
Until now, you must have understood that change is inevitable. It presents the concept that being a change agent that was once hypothetical speculation is now a need of every organization. In the era influenced by technological advancements being a change agent is not just an occupation anymore. It is a complete leadership trait that helps organizations to prepare for going global.
