Agents of Change

No pain, no gain.

No guts, no glory.

No risk, no reward.

How many times have we heard these phrases within the last 2 years?

We’re aware change is a process and its something cultivated within us from a young age. One example that comes to mind is the falls that accompany the process of learning to ride a bike, for instance, and then the thrill of getting it right later.

Within finance, the change agent is not only aware of the highs and lows of change, they are vital according to Mckinsey, as they provide both the?technical know-how?and the?social support?necessary to ensure the adoption of new practices.

In my opinion, the role is not simply supportive (caretaker), one has to take a step further to make change happen (rainmaker) because it has to be championed and instruction alone is not always sufficient for success. In my experience, the biggest features of successful change agents are the ability to communicate and perceived proximity.

Change agents can therefore be internal such as managers or employees but can also be external such as consultants. Adapted from the International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, there are 4 different types of change agents.

1. Organization-Development Type – The type of change relates to the development and improvement of the organization. The focus is on the business objectives. Finance professionals usually have to answer the following questions:

Operational improvements — Is there a clear business need to improve system performance?

Digital transformation strategy — What’s required to support long-term plans for achieving and maintaining digital maturity and who are the people we need to hire to make this happen?

Analytics —What can we do to remain forward-looking for the benefit of our organizations?

This type of change is therefore on a broad scale, far-reaching and long-term in nature.

2. Technology-Change-People Type – The focus of activity for this type of change agent is people. The change agent may be concerned with emotional intelligence, training, resistance, employee morale, growth, and motivation as well as the quality of work performed with the advent of new technology. Senior finance professionals may fall under this category as the underlying assumption is that once technology has been introduced, it encourages individuals to change their behavior.

3. Outside Pressure Type: These change agents are external and work to enact or encourage change from outside the organization. They are not members of the company, and they use various pressure tactics such as boycotts or other types of social pressure to accomplish their objectives.

Terms such as “cancel culture” has grown within recent years as it involves withdrawing support for company figures and their companies after company representatives have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.

How this impacts finance professionals are for having increased self-awareness for the general operating environment as it relates to people, ethics, and environmental, social, and corporate (ESG) governance. If in a senior capacity, working with HR/Communications Department is recommended when it comes to people-related decisions such as hiring, retention, and potential dismissal. Know also that your company including finance may be part of crisis mitigation strategy if they ever find themselves at the heart of a "cancel culture" type campaign.?

4. Analysis-for-the-Top Type – Outside the scope of my direct experience but this type of change is usually in the form of third-party consultancy. The focus of this change agent is on changing the organizational structure through restructuring or the due diligence that accompanies it so as to improve cohesion, intergroup relations, output, and efficiency. Professionals such as M&A practitioners may feature here.

Which type of change agent have you experienced within your career?

Want more on change? I’m a part-time freelance writer so you are free to read up more on this in my most recent ebook. Here you can download it.

You can also read the previous article on takeaways necessary to promote a change in mindset in finance in the article below.