Originally written December 18, 2022—
Change practitioners – whether one person or a team of professionals, arrive on a change management project through different doors. Sometimes the practitioner is an internal resource deployed from a Center of Excellence (COE); other times the practitioner is a 1099 worker; or the resource is deployed from a consulting company of varying size.
By whatever path the practitioner arrives, there is scope of work that needs to be performed. Best attempts are made to establish a statement of work (SOW) that will define the limits and extent of work to be performed. However explicit the guardrails for the work are intended, they will miss a factor that impact the results from either stellar success to an abysmal failure.
A logical question is how could a factor that has such a wide variance in outcomes not be defined or be ill defined, or patchwork defined. The working assumption is that this component is not intentionally neglected, in fact most might say this is always handled as part of the project startup phase. In some cases, the set of responsibilities for a change practitioner are fairly narrow and the role they will play thus clearly defined. In most cases, and especially in change leader roles the various ‘hats” the practitioner wears implicitly increase. Yet the explicitness of when each hat is worn can be unclear. This series offers a framework for how to think about the various roles or “hats “ that a change practitioner will play over the course of a change initiative.
The purpose of this post is to share a framework for consideration about how a change practitioner is often asked to operate on a change project. Understanding the definition of each role can be critical to delivering on two contracts. The first being the legal statement of work agreed to and often the measure of “completeness“ for the work product. The other “contract” is even more important in the day-to-day activities on the project and impacts the level of effectiveness and success of the change practitioner.
Framework for Operating “On the Ground”
One of the first reactions from a practitioner often is “oh no, another framework… I have enough frameworks.” So why even consider adopting a framework to define the roles you will play on a change project.
A very typical response is to ignore this question and instead rely on the outline of work provided by the consulting firm or the leader of the project. Certainly this approach is quick, it’s efficient, it meets the client needs… or does it? I would offer that the discussion about the “work” is about the deliverables. Implied in the work is a set of assumptions about the role(s) required of practitioner to play on a day-to-day basis.
Realization of a Problem
This approach works until it doesn’t. Sometimes the signal is subtle which indicates that the consultant’s approach to the work … is not working. The practitioner isn’t getting the reaction or result desired from the client interactions. Sometimes, it can be more blatant – it can be feedback from the client or it can be feedback from a person who is responsible for the project at the consulting company. The artifacts presented won’t be about the what, the content will be about the “how”. Meaning how the consultant is performing the work.
One Possible Remedy
This is where being a good diagnostician can help. And… one of the many qualities that experienced change practitioners present is about looking at patterns; looking at the facts and being able to form a conclusion or recommendation from the data. When the diagnosis lands on, “there’s something about the way I am operating that is interfering with achieving the outcome…” This is the moment to considering pausing and asking two questions
- What role am I being asked that I play?
- What role am I actually playing?
So what exactly is this “framework”?
4 Roles “On the ground” Change Practitioners Can Play
The framework offered here is a blending of experience from various domains: change management; organizational development; team effectiveness, and executive coaching. Below is a proposed framework for potential change practitioner project “hats”:
| Consultant | Has the expertise to complete the specified set of deliverables outlined for a change project. Level of experience and years of experience may vary from novice through deep subject matter expert. |
| Advisor | Emphasis is on the longer-term of a project or broader view of an organization; can often take a cross-functional or multi-disciplinary approach to the work or in discussions with the client. The practitioner’s prior experience and insight are important components |
| Coach | Asks questions that guide the person to define their own solution. The focus is on asking good questions, being curious and helping the client see connections |
| Pair of Hands | Performs the work required to complete the work. May involve others in completion of the activity or deliverable. Specific skills or technical ability will be drawn upon. |
As you read each definition, you may have found yourself scratching out the label and putting a different word that you have either heard from others or a word that you have been using. The fact that you can identify with the definition is a signal that you already have some type of framework. For this group of readers, think of the post as a “pressure test” by which to test your current working model. You may adopt some parts contained here or none. For others, this content will be a first contact to a set of definitions. In this case, use your experience to identify situations where these definitions apply. Think about situations where you thought you were being the advisor and, upon reflection, realize you were the consultant. The advisor / consultant distinction is one of the trickiest to navigate.
This list is not meant to be exhaustive; rather the list is intended to be a rubric in which to operate. A short-hand of sorts that can provide clarity to the practitioner about how to approach any project situation or client interaction. These roles are not mutually exclusive. In fact, in my experience a practitioner on a project can be asked or in some cases, required, to perform any or all of these roles… often times in the same meeting.
What’s Next?
In the next post, I will discuss the concept the change practitioner contracting for their role and provide a checklist for consideration as establishing yourself in your next project engagement. In a future post often-miscast role of the Consultant versus Coach