Leading Change: Are you a change agent or an integrator?
We’ve seen many personalities in changing organizations over the years – but the two most prominent are the change agents and the integrators.
They have very different, yet equally important roles, and their relationship is a pretty good indicator of how the change is going to go.
Do any of these personality traits look familiar?
THE CHANGE AGENT:
Usually the new CEO or lead elected official (may also be a Board Member). They are often hired by the board, or elected, with a mandate to instigate change.
Change agents tend to:
- Focus on the big picture and big declarations
- Look for results early and often
- Have a higher appetite for risk
- Have a high public exposure
- Be focused on external audiences / opinions
- Ask the organization to move on multiple fronts
- Be mid-career
- In their careers, move from one change opportunity to another
- See mistakes as a cost of business
Change agents often think: ‘if enough things are moving and a few fail, we’re still good overall.’
In the best cases they are:
- Excellent at building support for a strong, clear, vision
- Motivated by personal integrity, declared principles and beliefs that align with the organization
- Willing to take a ‘tough love’ stand that may not be popular
- Comfortable managing expectations, internally and externally
- Protective of the organization and the people
Sometimes they:
- Get too far ahead of the organization
- Can’t adjust their own expectations
- Overestimate the organization’s capacity for change
- Burn out the people around them
In the worst cases, they can be:
- Unpredictable and erratic
- All about the show
- Bullies behind closed doors
THE INTEGRATOR
A member of the C-suite, sometimes the CEO. They have usually risen up through the organization by building trust as a steady, knowledgeable team player.
Integrators tend to:
- Align with a change agent (it’s important they pick the right one)
- Know the organization inside and out
- Understand how to manage the chaos
- Use the desire for results to gain and align resources
- Build the systems that ensure the changes stick
- Be mid – late career
- Stay with the organization long enough to see the change through
Integrators think: ‘if we resource this properly, get buy-in from key people, and are patient, I believe this organization will get there.’
In the best cases they are:
- Expert and managing expectations vs. capacity and resources
- Motivated by the organization’s purpose
- Understanding of people’s individual motivations
- Surrounded by a leadership team they can rely on
- Welcoming of bad news
- Highly respected by the Board
- Personally removed enough to be objective
- Instinctively knowledgeable communicators
Sometimes they:
- Are asked to advance change they don’t trust or support
- Become burned out by politics and expectations
- Collaborate too much
- Take it all on themselves and work too much
- Expect too much from others
In the worst cases they can be:
- Controlling and micro-managing
- Manipulative and personality-based
- Empire builders
With the often-cited failure rate of organizational change at around 70%, it is critical that change is initiated from the very top with clarity, credibility and accountability – and that communication between the change agent and the integrator is open, respectful and solution-focussed.
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