The four major roles in any implementation are Champions, Agents, Sponsors and Targets—the CAST of characters that all have a significant part in the implementation process. Given the size and scope of many initiatives, and the corresponding complexity of the organization itself, project teams must develop a strong network of Change Agents to succeed. These individuals should be selected carefully, with attention paid to how the individual matches up to a specific set of skills, personal characteristics, and organizational relationships.
A Common Error
“Who’s available to help with this?” is often the first question, but it’s not the right question. Neither is “Who’s expendable right now?” Instead, project teams should work closely with Sponsors and carefully consider potential Agents based on a specific set of skills and motivational considerations. Sponsors should understand that the quality of the Agents will be a determining factor in implementation success.
In defining quality, trust and credibility are absolute musts. Change Agents need to have trust and credibility with Sponsors, and trust and credibility with Targets. This can’t be taught and it can’t be developed if it’s not already there. If an individual doesn’t already have a successful personal and organizational history, he or she will not have trust and credibility. Without trust, Agents won’t be able to create the teamwork and interdependence among Sponsors, Agents and Targets that implementation success requires.
In addition, Change Agents must have deep knowledge of the organization, including an understanding of the business strategy and awareness of the culture. It’s also helpful to have some “institutional memory”, because the current change takes place in the context of all the past implementations. Previous stalled or failed implementations play a part in the current initiative.
Together, trust, credibility, knowledge, and personal history constitute the foundation for Change Agent success.
Too Few Agents, Too Little Time
Given the reality of scarce resources in many organizations, it’s tempting to layer the Change Agent responsibilities on top of an already full plate of tasks. This is self-defeating, however, because in a major change effort, Agents really need to be available and accessible.
It’s also tempting to move forward with a network of Agents that is too small for the size of the organization. Don’t ignore areas of the organization that are impacted by the change; of course this means that the project team needs to clearly identify all those areas first.
How AIM Supports Change Agent Success
Application of AIM can help your organization apply best practices in identifying and deploying Change Agents by:
- Educating your project team through our Action Learning programs, including the Introduction to AIM and our Project Planning Workshop for intact teams.
- Using the Change Agent Assessment as a selection tool for identifying Agents with the right set of skills, characteristics, and personal relationships
- Completing AIM deliverables such as the Business Case for Action to ensure that that Change Agents deliver a consistent message on the what, why, and consequences of not implementing the change. Develop Key Role Maps to identify all the areas of the organization that are impacted by the change, and where Change Agents will be needed.
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