Posted on July 14, 2015 by Keren Taylor-Hughes

Successful change leaders need knowledge that covers many areas due to the wide range of changes they lead and the people they support. I have tried to compile a list of skills and knowledge areas a change leader should have, acknowledging not all change leaders can have all them all.

A change leader is inherently:

• A leader/communicator: A people person, who can engage authentically with others, who is respectful and builds coalitions
• A scholar of human behaviour, relationships, situations, evaluation and new ideas
• An agile thinker who is conceptual, yet task oriented; quick thinking, yet a systematic problem solver; resourceful yet organized
• Confident: Someone who embraces ambiguity, can handle resistance, is persistent, open minded and challenges the status quo

A change leader should also have working knowledge in several areas:

Leadership Change Management

Project Management Workflow analysis

Communication Team building

This list is by no way exhaustive, but a good foundation of skills and knowledge to work towards when focusing on leading change. If you do not have these skills there are many resources to gain change management knowledge.

• Study the first significant change model, created by John Kotter of Harvard Business School
• Review the National Change Management Framework
• Attend Change Management Webinars
• Contact Clinical Adoption for information on the National Change Management Framework and questions about change management

Now that we have identified the skills and knowledge a change leader should have, let’s focus on the methodology. Join me next time as I delve into the six core elements of a successful change methodology.