How do you become a leader of change?

"Everyone wants to change, but no one wants change," it is an often-heard complaint of the change manager. "Sustainable change, therefore, can never be the mission of one person within an organization," stated Daan Sorgeloos, who conducted extensive research on the ideal change agent team and the dimensions of the change agent model.

To put together the ideal change agent team, it is important to define a number of roles first. Are you more people-oriented, that is, convinced that people need to change first so that they will then want to help set up and execute the change process? Or do you lean more toward the process-oriented approach where you set up a roadmap and the change takes place by executing that plan?

The 4 roles of an HR Manager

At the center of these roles is the game-changer: he or she acquires, wields and distributes power.

In addition to a rather people- or process-oriented approach, there is another dimension at play. As a change agent, if you believe that change should grow more emergent, it is more about growing flexibly and spontaneously from the core of the organization. Here, change develops in interaction with members of the organization and transforms itself through the process. Rather, the change agent is a skilled participant who is attentive to feelings, intuition and multiple forms of rationality of both himself and the other participants in the change process.

Do you think that change can only be sustainable and successful if it is driven a priori and controlling from the top and must be brought as a universal claim to the rest of the organization? Here the change agent is rather the expert observer who, from his observations, formulates analyses and/or advice.

The coach, trainer, facilitator and innovator believe more in the flexible approach while the communicator, motivator, organizer and project manager feel more in favor of the controlling approach. It is important that team members sense and indicate which dimension and role they feel most comfortable with.

Once you have constructed the ideal change agent team based on the above roles, taking into account the two dimensions, there are two more important conditions the team must meet.

1. The team must consist of members who can look at the change task from different perspectives. In addition, they should have knowledge and skills associated with one or more roles and learn to handle their complexities in dialogue.
2. The ideal change agent team should be self-directed, with shared leadership driven by a high degree of trust. Everyone is responsible for each part of the whole. When these conditions are ticked off, the change agent team is up & ready to lead the organization successfully and sustainably through the change process and into the future.