Diana Larsen and Sharon Buckmaster embark on a discussion of defining what it means to be a change agent at different levels of the organization.

How do you define change agent leadership? Is it the same at all levels? If not, what makes it different? Share your comments and questions.

Highlights

00:00:00
Diana speaks about her recent experience at Agile2012 conference in Grapevine, TX
00:00:40
The various kinds of leadership are being conflated.
00:00:50
If everyone is a change agent, how do they get clarity about leadership at different levels
00:01:25
The ACT (Agile Change and Transformation) model presented by Diana, Jim Shore, and Jutta Eckstein at the conference. For more: http://is.gd/ACTmodel
00:01:50
When asked, 80% of attendees considered themselves change agents; but half weren’t doing the kind of change relevant to the presentation.
00:02:25
We were talking about high-level change – at the management level, rather than the team level.
00:03:20
How do you translate leadership at many levels – how do they all fit together?
00:03:40
There is an overarching change strategy; pieces have to be sequenced, roles need to shift.
00:04:05
There is leadership at every level; don’t confuse leadership with “a leader”.
00:04:40
Leadership looks different from industry to industry, whether a man does it vs. a woman.
00:05:00
What did Diana mean when she and her co-presenters asked the attendees how many of them were “change agents”?
00:05:35
They were trying to identify the people who need a theoretical framework for thinking through managing complex change.
00:07:15
An alternative way of posing the question: “Who are the people in your organization who are responsible for guiding the overall change effort towards Agile adoption?”
00:08:15
What is the usefulness of the word “theoretical” when it comes to talking about models?
00:09:30
What’s most difficult about a change is knowing where to start in order to move forward…