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So You Want to be a Change Agent: A Survival Guide
The document contains advice for change agents based on lessons from the author's experiences. It discusses how advocating for change can cause family conflicts and how ideas may initially be dismissed. It emphasizes that change agents must be comfortable with discomfort and approach change indirectly through related issues of interest to the organization. The author advises gaining and keeping allies, befriending bureaucrats, knowing when to quit, always speaking your truth, and developing emotional intelligence.
So You Want to be a Change Agent: A Survival Guide
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- 2. The Smart Oneis responsible! My father never graduated from high school, he resented my getting a college education. In an already turbulent household, this became another cause for fights. When I was an intern for the State Department, a historian named N. Stephen Kane told me that he had a similar family background—his dad and he would get into fights. Until Stephen realized that if he was the PHD—he was the smart one—then it fell on him to be the adult in the room. If you’re so smart you know how to fix things, then it’s up to you to ensure productive conversations.
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- 4. Theological change is HARD! Inthe mid 1990s the internet emerged and I became persuaded that it would change the way all knowledge organizations did their work. I was surprised that people did not immediately acknowledge my brilliance—my ideas were roundly dismissed. It wasn’t until years later that I realized advocating for open communications platforms was heretical to the CIA, a secret organization. So if you’re a change agent making theological change is really hard. Recognize which of your ideas are truly heretical.
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- 6. Comfortable with being uncomfortable! Soif you’re a change agent, it won’t be easy and you can easily dismiss just how difficult and uncomfortable it can be. You have to learn not only to tolerate that feeling of discomfort but to be comfortable with it.
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- 8. Approach through anAdjacency Often, the best way to approach hard change is through an adjacency. Find an area, if you can, that is important to the organization—that suits their values—that you can use to package your own idea or some portion of them.
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- 10. Gain and KEEPAllies! As a change agent it should never be about your ego. In fact, the first priority of a change agent is to make their idea someone else’s idea. And it’s not just enough to gain allies— you have to keep them as well. Sometimes you will have to modulate your ideas to keep your supporters on the change bus.
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- 12. Befriend Bureaucratic BlackBelts Change agents tend to be dismissive of bureaucrats. This could be a big mistake because bureaucrats often have information that can help their ideas advance. Take a bureaucratic black belt to lunch.
- 13. Know when toQuit Always Speak your Truth Develop your Emotional Intelligence Being a change agent can be very hard and it is easy to underestimate the toll it can take on you. Communicate your ideas freely. You never know who might hear you and be influenced. Entrepreneurs often have keenly developed emotional intelligence. Successful change is not just about the brilliance of your idea—it’s also about the relationships you make.
- 14. The smartest personin the room is responsible for productive conversations Theological change is HARD! Change Agents must enjoy being uncomfortable Work through an Adjacency Make your idea Community Property Befriend Bureaucratic Black Belts Know when to Quit..or retreat…or just rest Always speak your Truth Develop your Emotional Intelligence #survivechange @milouness
- 15. The smartest personin the room is responsible for productive conversations Theological change is HARD! Change Agents must enjoy being uncomfortable Tell Stories, Appeal to Emotions Work through an Adjacency Avoid the Athena Complex Make your idea Community Property Some conflict is good and productive Befriend Bureaucratic Black Belts Spend more energy on practicalities Know when to Quit Don’t forget organizations value smoothness Always Speak your Truth Remember, the Status Quo owns the measuring stick Develop your Emotional Intelligence #survivechange @milouness carmen@REBELSATWORK.COM
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