“What is a change agent?” It is a person who works with multiple stakeholders that ensures a specific idea, action or goal goes mainstream. Change can be chaotic, turbulent, messy and is not managed but often grappled with. It’s separates the girls from the women, managers from leaders, the strong from the weak.

Personally, I’ve been through countless corporate restructures, mergers, new bosses, new team members, new employees, etc. and it never ceases to amaze me how differently people respond to change. Change management is a basic skill that all people, especially leaders, working in corporate America need to have as a core competency but few do. And just when you think that it is handled well, it is often not. What I’ve done below is give a somewhat educated and yes, Tom, academic look at some of my philosophy behind enabling change from my past experiences as someone who has been affected by change and the effector of change.

When I have had the opportunity to be an agent of change, I’ve always kept in mind several that there are general issues that always need to be well respected:

1. Everyone reacts differently to change. It’s not one-size-fits-all.
   • The opposite of change is stability. Many people like stability.
   • Generally speaking, most people tend to resist change and welcome stability but there are a few fools people out there that dislike stability.
2. Everyone has intrinsic and fundamental needs that have to be met. Don’t undermine people’s needs.
   • [Alert, alert, alert - academic alert!!!] Will Schultz, a well known humanistic psychologist, identified three basic needs that people have when dealing with change:
     1. A need for control
     2. A need to be included
     3. A need for freedom/openness
   • Everyone, to some degree need to feel in control of their destiny, need to be or feel included in the process and need an openness about information about the change.
3. Change = loss of some type – and therefore will encounter a “loss curve.” [Can be applied to all types of change.]
   • There is an initial period where things don’t sink in at first. People will typically be in denial of the change at first.
   • Then they eventually feel the loss and will hit an all-time low. The degree of this low can be fierce if it is unexpected.
   • Finally, there is an adjustment period to the new situation. It is at this stage that usually can take quite a while to reach depending on the resistance to this change.
4. Managing expectations need to be realistic. Don’t be a used car salesman!
   • Anyone who has been involved in sales knows when expectations are not met which creates unhappy customers. The same thing applies here: if expectations are exceeded then you will have a happy customer.
5. Everyone’s fears need to be acknowledged and dealt with. Much bitching will ensue!
   • Here is the point where intelligent, educated, and completely rational become irrational and illogical. I’ve seen it way too many times. These fears need to be addressed realistically and honestly. (e.g. Yes, you are losing your job, but there is a good severance package waiting for you, and good outplacement which will see you through this.)

To that end, it is important that you do the following when you are the agent of change:

• Information, information, information. Give people information. Be honest about the facts and don’t be too optimistic. Don’t lie speculate. And don’t for any reason, manage unreal expectations. Despite what some blood-sucking managers think, information is not power, it’s good for business.
• Develop a communication strategy that guarantees that information is distributed comprehensively and evenly to everyone as to eliminate a rumor-mill grapevine effect.
• Give people choices to make, but also inform them of the consequences of those choices. Empower people whenever and wherever you can.
• Give people time to go through the “loss curve” and help them through it through discussions, coaching/mentoring, and as much support as you can muster. Don’t play psychologist, be a good husband listener.
• Minimize as much fear as possible by identifying what will be replacing the loss. (“You’re job will be taken over by Martians the customer service department.”) This helps the coping mechanism.
• When/where appropriate, give people the opportunity to bitch vent their concerns and provide reassurances when possible.
• Make time for informal discussions and feedback as much as possible as it is easy to avoid these type of bitch-sessions discussions. They are helpful for everyone involved.

Remember that leading change is best when you bring order and calm to what could be a messy situation. Stay organized, disciplined, and ready to bring some compassion and sympathy along the way as well…