Building a Change Agent Network: A Strategic Approach

Today we present a concise guide on creating a change agent network that can effectively drive organisational change. This follows on from yesterday's article, which examined a similar concept in Kotter's volunteer army (see War Stories with Kotter, Part 2: Enlist a Volunteer Army for more).

For organisations and change managers working towards large-scale changes, a change agent network can be a great tool.

Understanding the Need for Change Agents

Why build a change agent network in the first place? Despite the change team's best efforts, change initiatives often face communication gaps and resistance.

Communication gaps are a fact of life in any formal communications roll-out. Consider the complexity in disseminating communications: a message needs to be crafted, agreed upon, formalised, and assigned to the correct channel. Following that, the audience member must engage with the channel, recognise the message is for them, process the information (read, watch, listen etc.), interpret the content, and determine how to act as a result.

There are simply times when an important message fails to pass through one or more of these steps required to hit its mark.

Adding an informal channel

A strategic approach to building a change agent network bridges communication gaps. Change agents act as translators between project teams and the broader organisation. Informal channels are powerful because many people naturally prefer to seek information this way, and having agents strategically placed amplifies the messaging presented through formal communication channels.

This strategic approach lowers resistance to messaging because change agents represent established, trusted connections for people in their network. They demonstrate the calls to action through their willingness to support the change and lead by example, ensuring clear communication and alignment.

Identifying Change Agents

Because change agents form a network for the transition of important change messaging, there will be some key characteristics to look out for when identifying who they should be.

The change program needs to be able to rely on what change agents do with the messaging they receive; in other words, predictability should be near the top of your identification list. Let's have a look at other characteristics to consider:

• Desire to help: Change agents should genuinely want to assist others.

• Capacity or available time: They must have the time to contribute, and the support of their team or leader to spend that time supporting the change.

• Respected by Peers: Their influence matters.

• Expertise: Subject matter knowledge or functional expertise.

• Desirable traits:

  • Positive Attitude: Optimism helps during challenging times.

  • Adaptability: Change agents need to navigate uncertainty.

  • Communication Skills: Ability to convey complex ideas clearly.

A change agent who is proactive in generating excitement for the change in their network is worth their weight in gold. You may also observe individuals who naturally align. These may be people who have quiet conversations with others encouraging them to see the big picture and to align with the team approach.

Great change agents will circle back regularly with updates and anecdotes. You can use these updates to create success stories and further fuel excitement within the network.

Training and developing the network

Once you've identified suitable candidates, be sure to support them with clear information about how they can contribute, their expected sphere of influence, and the messaging to be disseminated.

There's no substitute for quality training. Wherever possible, invest in change agent training. This includes:

• equipping agents with knowledge about the specific changes and giving them access to the solutions (such as new processes and systems);

• providing them with tools and techniques to help reach their network; and

• training them in the change management principles they're there to support.

Building confidence

It's essential that change agents believe in the outcomes the change is driving for. Provide regular updates to build their confidence in the project’s progress and ultimate success.

Some organisations align rewards with the change agent network. If this is available to you, take time to evaluate the proposed rewards and ensure incentives align with change goals.

Trojan Horses

You can bolster support for the change agents in your network through a strategy of business insertion. This involves actively recruiting to fill project and change roles from the business area receiving the change. Where possible, bring in experts, analysts, and managers into comparable roles on the project team. This provides deeper business insight and rapid access to expertise for the project team, while also establishing another informal channel for information dissemination.

Designing and coordinating the network

In a previous role, one of my Senior Change Managers expressed reluctance at getting a change agent network established early in the program. I understood why. A change agent network - as with any organised group of people - can take a large amount of effort to design, establish and coordinate.

Start by considering some of the usual the responsibilities of change agents in the network:

• Spokespeople: Communicate the change message.

• Feedback Loop: Relay employee concerns and questions.

• Champions: Encourage adoption and address resistance.

• Regular Meetings: Facilitate knowledge sharing and updates.

• Succession Planning: Prepare for agent turnover.

Sustaining the Network

For many change agents, this may be their first time encountering organised attempts at managing change. Since much of the more formal side of change management may be unfamiliar, nurturing the right culture within the network is important. By fostering a supportive environment, you allow freer information exchange and more honest assessments of resistance and adoption.

Put a plan in place to handle transitions within the network itself. Some networks foresee change agent 'burnout' and combat this in advance by taking more than one volunteer or change agent from each key area. However you choose to handle changes to the people participating in the network, or their level of engagement, ensure you have a mechanism in place to coordinate with the key decision makers to manage these transitions.

Closure

There will come a time to decide when to disband the network. It may have done its job, it may have only been put in place for a specific time or a specific initiative, or it may no longer be returning sufficient benefit to warrant your management and coordination efforts. When closing the network, ensure this is done in a spirit of achievement and celebration, and leave the door open for standing up a future change agent network.

Building a Change Agent Network: A Strategic Approach

Creating a change agent network is like planting seeds throughout the organisation. These agents create awareness, support, cultivate understanding, encourage adoption, and pave the way for successful change. By taking a strategic approach to building and nurturing this network, organisations can overcome some of the challenges in complex transformations by providing clarity and confidence through informal yet trusted networks.

For help managing change in your job or your organisation, we've got you covered. Book in a free information session to find out more.

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