I’m a change agent. I know I’m a change agent. It’s my job to help things move along the change continuum.
But things don’t easily change if I’m the only change agent on the project. The inertia that is resisting change is just too substantial for one person to move. You need help. You need people from the project team to be change agents as well.
I’m going steal a belief from the annals of leadership thinking that tell us that leadership is a behavior not a position. It’s an attitude. So it is with change. Change is about attitude.
And what attitude is that exactly? That attitude is belief. Belief that you have the skills to make change. Belief that you can make a change. Belief that you will be allowed to make change.
Your job as an official change agent is to create that belief in as many team members as possible. Will everybody become a change agent? No, they won’t. Why not? Because being a change agent requires that you be an optimist. And we all know everyone is not an optimist. But some people are. Someone once asked me why I cared so much. I said I couldn’t help it. I said I believed I could make things better.
Our job is to nurture optimism in team members and draw them along with us to the attitude of belief. That we can do it. That it is worth it. So how do we do that?
I like to show by doing. I like to take a small manageable project that will illustrate that you have the skills, that you can execute and that you are allowed.
First step. Take a look at the project and determine what skills will be needed to achieve it. Make sure the team has the skills. Educate and train them on necessary concepts and tools. Perhaps it is data skills, tracking skills, charting skills or so on.
Second Step. Execute. Put the tools in place. Identify the steps. Iterate the process until proficiency is gained, until they can perform without your assistance.
Third step. Project team presents to progress to management. Of course, your job is to make sure management understands the point of the exercise. That management recognizes the effort and applauds it and approves it.
Badda Bing, Badda Boom. You’ve started to create an environment where change agents can emerge and help you. You’ve shown them that they can be the change.
Once More Unto the Change 