April 15, 2008
Change agent: a real challenge
By either design or temperament, it is possible to find oneself acting as a change agent or contrarian in a job. More often than not, rather than seasoned and well respected employees, new employees are in these change agent situations. That was common in the US Forest Service of the late 70’s and 80’s. Many minorities and women entered employment with the agency as professionals that were outside the main mission of the outfit i.e., employees concerned about protection of wildlife and soil, rather than just timber volume. I was part of that wave of hiring. Some organizations hire people with disabilities in the same way.
This tendency to bring in new people and expect them to foster change goes against the best management advice. Double Dubs, the anonymous author of the blog, Systematic HR states, "For change to really work, your core team must be filled with influential employees that others will naturally follow. This is harder than it sounds – rather than selecting people in leadership positions, your change team should be made up of people who are leaders."
Surviving and thriving, as a change agent with inadequate support, is an uphill battle. The point here is that often, very often, we find ourselves in a position where the deck seems to be stacked against us. We thought we were hired to do a job that involves change or questioning the status quo, yet there is no support for the change at the level of our job. We are rolling the proverbial boulder up the hill.
I have been in these situations several times in my career. In two of those situations, I gradually built solid programs that were respected by my peers, if not by management. In my most recent position I found a way to use my greatest talent – finding and digesting information, to make myself useful to those interested in listening – my fellow change agents in offices around the state. On the other hand, these positions involved a great deal of emotional stress and frustration.
How did you both foster change and build a constructive work history?
Posted by FST at 05:43 PM | Comments (9)