Change advocate
| Change advocate |
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| See also |
Change advocate is a person in an organisation who promotes change, supports it and puts effort into its implementation. A change advocate may appear at each level of the organisation.
For example, a change advocate may seems to be a leader or a manager who tries to convince employees in his team to the concept of change. However, the change advocate does not have to be a manager at all, it can also be a member of the team or an external consultant. Its role is probably one of the most important in bringing about change Advocat change can be understood as a link between an organisation that wants to make a change and the people he can influence (team members, colleagues or stakeholders). The role of the advocate of change is also to work hard to ensure that change is introduced and to provide any additional explanations and answers to questions. In the case of organisational changes, change advocat can serve as a link between the management and employees, creates an opportunity for open communication, allows to express the concerns of both parties and contributes to a successful solution[1]. Although change advocate supports the introduction of changes and tries to support them, it often does not have the power to introduce a specific change by himself. What he does is to talk about change publicly and recommend it to others[2].
Change advocate needs to be an extrovert with interpersonal skills as well as open-minded, risk-taking and managing people. In addition, it must have several essential characteristics[3]:
- Empathy- change advocate must be able to understand the feelings, emotions and thoughts of employees. In addition, its intentions must be sincere. As a result, communication between managers and employees will be improved and change will be easier to implement.
- Openness- that means being reasonably transparent.
- Reward- employees will expect some kind of benefits, so it is important for the change advocate to plan it. It should also clearly show the benefits, both short and long term.
- Proximity- means to have easy access to both sides.
- Structure and organization- change advocate must be able to effectively plan all activities related to the implementation of change and choose a strategy well.
Footnotes
- ↑ Holbeche L. (2010)., HR Leadership,Routledge, Oxford
- ↑ Mullen C. A., Lick D. W. (1999),. New Directions in Mentoring: Creating a Culture of Synergy, Psychology Press, London
- ↑ Salman Y. A. (2009)., The Dynamics of Human Resources: A Journey Into the Noble Practice of Managing Human Capital, iUniverse, New York
References
- Barbera, K. M. (2014), The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Climate and Culture. Oxford University Press, 7(4), 271
- Hillman, O. (2011), Engaging Your Passion to Be the One Who Makes a Difference. Charisma Media, Florida
- Mook, L., Whitman, J., Quarter, J., Armstrong, A. (2015), Understanding the Social Economy of the United States. University of Toronto Press, 5(2), 416-418
- Nickles, L. (2010), The Change Agents: Decoding the New Work Force and Workplace. St. Martin's Press, New York
Author: Weronika Kmiecik
