The Change Management profession is constantly changing, and the recruitment industry is striving to keep up with what organisations are looking for. Change Management has to keep up to speed with New Ways of Working and to do that the whole community has no choice but to look at our discipline moving through the Digital Age and what lies beyond.
When recruiters and hiring managers are searching for Change Practitioners, they initially look for evidence of required technical skills, such as, the ability to produce Change Impact Assessments or develop a Stakeholder Engagement Plan. These essential skills can be taught, developed and refined through experience implementing different change programs.
It is relatively easy for recruiters and hiring managers to determine whether a change practitioner has the required technical skill set to perform in their role. However, many recruiters and hiring managers do not necessarily have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of what it takes for a change program to be successfully implemented. They often miss identifying those vital personal attributes and capabilities needed in change professionals to effectively lead people and organisations through change. Hiring a change practitioner with fine-tuned and well-developed technical skills is crucial but what we are seeing now is that practitioners also need particular personal attribute and capabilities.
The question is should we be focusing more time on assessing the personal attributes and capabilities that enable Change Professionals to work successfully in “agile” environments and contribute to building effective agile teams. To do that we need to focus on attracting individuals who are flexible, adaptable and truly have a “growth mindset”. The future is constant rapid change and as a profession we need to be ahead of the game when identifying emerging capabilities and evolution of the discipline.
What do I look for when I am recruiting Change Practitioners?
Well the key for me is passion and a real commitment and ability to truly influence behavioural change and that is not easy. People are not vanilla, and we are individuals for a very good reason.
I look for Change Practitioners who have structure and can apply governance but also have flexibility on how they deliver their change program and change activities.
For me, a strong Change Practitioner is happy to roll their sleeves up and not just do the sexy stuff.
Empathy and understanding are also non-negotiables and if you don’t have this how can you know what receivers of any work related change are truly feeling.
As previously mentioned, the world is turning more quickly than ever before and if we stand still, we get left behind so how do we, the change community ensure we are flexible and adaptable, and we can work in an agile way?
What do you think are the intrinsic characteristics that articulate an Agile Change Practitioner who is truly adaptive and dynamic? These are our thoughts on the attributes we suggest are key.
About the authors
Allegra Consulting
Our team is comprised of experts from many areas within the broader change and transformation spaces who love sharing their knowledge.
