4 Key Attributes of a Successful Change Manager 

A successful Change Manager requires a set of skills and traits unique from their Incident and Problem Manager peers.  If you are looking to hire a Change Manager, here are four attributes a candidate should demonstrate: 

Dedication 

The purpose of the Change Enablement Practice is “to maximize the number of successful service and product changes by ensuring that risks have been properly assessed…”  A successful Change Manager must maintain dedication to this purpose when balancing the desire to quickly implement service and product changes against the need to properly and sufficiently assess the risks of implementing said changes.  A Change Manager’s focus should be on how to best identify risky changes, the degree of risk of those changes and if sufficient mitigation plans exist while facilitating the efficient implementation of changes with minimal risk (especially those that have are routine and have a history of successful implementations with no negative impact). 

Persuasion 

A Change Manager needs to persuade those in IT of the purpose and benefits of following the process.  Organizations often look to implement Change Enablement after recognizing that the impacts of changes are the highest cause of incidents and customer impact.  Convincing those who previously implemented changes by their own rules to now follow a defined set of rules and procedures is one of the most challenging aspects of introducing Change Enablement and a continual activity of a Change Manager.  The ability to recognize the impact of implementing this Practice and coaching on the understanding of its benefits and purpose is a necessary trait.  

Communication 

An unexpected change is a failed change.  No matter how beneficial implementing a certain change may be, if it’s not properly communicated, you’re not likely to receive customer appreciation for the effort.  A Change Manager needs to ensure changes are communicated to customers in proportion to their impact on them. A Change Manager also needs to ensure internal communication is suitable for successful coordination within IT and other groups (e.g., Finance or HR) as needed to prevent the introduction of risk when implementing of changes.  Communication doesn’t stop when a change is implemented.  It’s also key for the Change Manager to communicate successes and lessons learned as a result from implementation. 

Connectedness 

Successful Change Managers need to communicate with all groups (IT and partners) to ensure awareness of upcoming activities including Projects which may result in and/or impact changes.  Being connected and embedded, a Change Manager also has more opportunities to share successes, lessons learned, benefits and improvements of the Change Enablement practice.  A connected Change Manager is a champion for ITSM in general making connectedness a key attribute for a successful Change Manger and Change Enablement program. 

Do you have the right culture for a successful Change Enablement practice?  Check out “Safety Culture – Critical to IT Success.” 

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