Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Business Journal Q2 2014 | Page 43

Business Journal Issue Sponsor:

Capitol Properties

5 Characteristics of a Change Agent
By: George Couros, Orginally published on the Principals of Change
In my work through school and organization visits, I have been
fascinated to see the correlation between the speed of change
and an individual who is “leading” the charge. The schools
that have someone (or a group of people) helping to push the
boundaries of what can be done in schools seem to move a lot
quicker with a larger amount of “buy-in” through the process.
As Malcom Gladwell describes in his book, “The Tipping Point“,
he states: The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily
dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and
rare set of social gifts.
Although Gladwell talks about the “Law of the Few” (connectors,
mavens, salesman), I do not believe change is solely dependent
upon their skills, but also the culture in which they exist. You
cannot be a connector if you are in an environment where people
do not want to come together. So although a change agent can
trigger growth in an organization, the culture in which they exist
or are brought into has a huge bearing on their success. If a
school embodies itself as a true learning organization, change
will happen much quicker.
With that being said, I have noticed that the individuals that are
really successful in helping to be a catalyst for change certainly
embody some similar characteristics. Below is a list of what I
have seen consistently.

1.

Clear Vision – As mentioned above, a “change
agent” does not have to be the person in authority, but they do
however have to have a clear vision and be able to communicate
that clearly with others. Where people can be frustrated is if
they feel that someone is all over the place on what they see as
important and tend to change their vision often. This will scare

away others as they are not sure when they are on a sinking ship and
start to looking for ways out. It is essential to note that a cl