What the business’ leadership needs is to have good change agents in place who can manage the process changes very well and with the least resistance.

Black Belts are often the best choice as change agents and have various roles to play to have a smooth handover of the improved processes.

What Makes A Good Change Agent?

To make a good change agent, candidates (mostly Black Belts) should posses the right attitude to approach any project resistance, have the knowledge necessary to bring about change, and the right skills that make it possible for them to bring about the changes without affecting others too much, thus gaining acceptability.

The Right Attitude

Change agents need to have a great amount of patience and persistence. The change process in itself becomes so complex because of the feelings of anger, frustration and emotions that it tends to arouse.

Change agents need to have determination to overcome such situations. They should be committed and have a positive attitude towards completion of the projects. Their knowledge and skills in conjunction with the beliefs and attitudes are necessary to make a good change agent.

They have to tactfully gain the support of senior leadership in bringing about the necessary changes in the system where resistance is severe. Change agents have to deal with everyone, mostly senior staff members, diplomatically - so that any mid-way changes that may be needed or those that may cause the failure of the project are sorted out tactfully.

They should also have political skills so that they understand any ongoing situations in the organization carefully.

Appropriate Knowledge

Change agents need to be very knowledgeable about most aspects of the business. They should not just be aware of their own process area, but they should have cross-functional competencies. Additionally, they need to have management skills along with the expertise to bring respectability and acceptability to their positions.

At the same time, they should be aware of the financial aspects of the business, where the money comes from, where it flows to, and how to ensure minimal wastage. They have to be aware of the customers, internal as well as external, suppliers, products, and even human resource activities.

Change agents should make efforts to build up good relationship with staff members throughout the organization.

Skills Required

Change agents have to be highly skilled in handling pressure situations. They have to be good at managing conflicts, multiple areas of process functionality as well handling pressure of deadlines. They should be able to motivate their teams to handle such situations effectively.

They also need to have good analytical skills, they should be able to deeply study the causes and rationales behind every process that needs to be changed and that is being contested. They should be able to maneuver around roadblocks to reach the goals, yet stay aligned to organizational objectives and goals.

They also need to be able to relate to the resistance of others, study it and make necessary changes if found valid. Communication skills are highly relevant in overcoming resistance.

Leadership has to be careful and look for these qualities when selecting change agents. It can mean the success or the failure of the project.