In my own story of organizational change as well as the stories of others, being a change agent started out as a part-time thing. Sometimes you realize that in order to effectively perform your day job, organizational changes need to happen so you take them on. Sometimes the opportunities you see are outside the scope of your job, so you try to get involved. Either way, you can’t just give up your “day job” to start working full time as a change agent.
I’ve recently talked to a salesperson and an IT system administrator who both see opportunities and have hopes of implementing organizational change within their companies, but at the moment, it’s not in their job description.
What are they doing to get started as a change agent?
The salesperson has contacted the corporate Organization Development function to let them know she is interested in that type of work, so when something needs to be done in her division, they might be able to involve her. She has identified that silos exist in her division, and she’s dedicated to figuring out how to influence improvements within the scope of her own job.
The IT system administrator would like to develop a centralized system that would change the way the company uses information. The project is out of the scope of his current job. He wrote up a proposal for the system that has been passed around at higher levels, and he made a presentation at a company conference. Now he’s starting to set up meetings with influential leaders in the company to try to build buy-in for his idea.
How did you get started as a change agent (or what are you doing to start)? I would love to hear your stories.