Loud Thinking

Identify Your Best Change Agents

When it comes to change management, half the battle is making sure you have the right leaders in place. Assess your leaders’ competencies, behavioral styles, and values with an eye for some key indicators. Effective change agents demonstrate flexibility and resilience; recognize growth opportunities; strive for results; lead courageously; and gain buy-in. If your organization is facing a transition, try evaluating people against this change-agent profile when hiring, assigning, or promoting. During interviews, zero in on these competencies and ask how they’ve demonstrated the related behaviors in their current and previous roles. Further, ask yourself whether they show evidence of being task-oriented and are strongly motivated by achievement and power – the executives who do are the ones best equipped to make change happen.

Adapted by HBR from “What Change Agents Value at Work” by Katherine Graham-Leviss.