Digital Dealer - February 2019 - 9

CHANGE AGENTS AREN'T AFRAID OF BREAKING
SOME EGGS IN THE PROCESS, CHALLENGING THE
NORMS, UPSETTING THE APPLE CART IF YOU WILL,
TO RATIONALIZE THE BUSINESS."
controls, and will probably achieve some incremental improvements in
time. The approach can
be considered tactical in
many respects. If complex
processes are encountered,
maybe a little fine-tuning
will help smooth out the
rough edges. Caretakers
are not likely to reinvent the
department or organization,
unlikely to blow-up ineffective processes or policies,
but will likely look for minor
improvements within the
current structure.

MANAGEMENT STYLES
- THE CHANGE AGENT

The change agent, on
the other hand, will usually
take some time to survey
the operation when taking
on a new set of responsibilities. The survey he/she
will employ will probably
include discussions with
team members at all levels,
customer input, management input and will probably
include a healthy dose of
performance metrics to
see what the organization
deems important and how
they are performing. The
change agent will likely
check for alignment of the
organization mission and
various departments, and
ensure they staff appropriately to accomplish the
mission. The change agent
is usually not afraid to
radically change or alter an
organization if the perfor-

mance is poor, alignment
hasn't been created with
other departments, or processes are viewed as too
complex to satisfy the client.

LEADERS SIMPLIFY
THE COMPLEX

Leaders who are change
agents will see complexities, inefficiencies, processes that are out of whack,
poor controls, performance

expense control, opening
new markets, etc. Leaders
who are change agents
will recognize complexity in
their organization and take
radical steps if necessary to
simplify the complex.

COMPLEXITIES IN
YOUR ORGANIZATION

If you happen to be a
change agent, you probably
see countless examples of

CARETAKERS ARE NOT
LIKELY TO REINVENT
THE DEPARTMENT
OR ORGANIZATION,
UNLIKELY TO BLOW-UP
INEFFECTIVE PROCESSES
OR POLICIES..."
measures measuring the
wrong things and take
action to do something
about it. They will blow up
the current process and
reinvent the landscape or
re-imagine the landscape
in a more efficient manner.
Change agents aren't afraid
of breaking some eggs in
the process, challenging
the norms, upsetting the
apple cart if you will, to
rationalize the business.
Change agents will be
both strategic and tactical
as necessary to drive new
levels of performance and
achieve the organizational
objectives, be it customer
satisfaction, profitability,

inefficiencies, poor processes, poor organization
structures and complexities
in the organization that are
costing thousands, maybe
millions of dollars annually in direct and indirect
costs. You probably see the
frustration of staff trying to
execute processes that are
inherently flawed, costly,
and don't yield the desired
results. You probably see
well-intentioned controls
that really don't control
anything, but make people
feel better that they are in
place. As a change agent
you probably see examples
of the following:
 Employees expected
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

to execute the mission
without the right tools and
equipment.
 Employees expected
to make the best decisions
for the organization with
little or no direction or
guidance from the management team.
 Employees playing
roles in the organization without the training,
expertise, and support to
perform effectively.
 The wrong people
in the wrong seats on the
bus.
 Management personnel that are indifferent to
obvious inefficiencies and
complexities that surround
the staff every day.
 Management who see
the problems clearly but
are afraid or unwilling to
challenge the status quo.
 Leaders and managers who are intimidated by
change - who pretend to
know it all and are really
too afraid to make significant changes.
COMPLEXITIES IN
SPEND MANAGEMENT

Since my experience
lies in logistics and spend
management, I see countless examples of complexities and inefficiencies in
organizations every day.
These are opportunities for
change agents to attack.
I have that opportunity
because someone in the

Continued on pg. 10

FEBRUARY 2019

9
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Digital Dealer - February 2019

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