Change Team Roles
Role 5: solution giver
Brings ideas to the table and suggests specific innovations or adaptations.
the change agent as solution giver
By far the most common form of change agent who we are likely to find in the everyday world of “helping” is the “Solution Giver.”
Most of us at one time or another “just know” we have the best answer to someone else’s problem and a lot of the time we are probably right! We also may often think that we know how to get our client to “buy” that solution, and in this belief, we are almost always wrong.
Clients can be very obstinate, especially when they think someone is trying to “sell” them something, so watch out for this when you start offering solutions!
Being an Effective Solution Giver
Being an effective solution giver involves more than simply having a solution. You have to know how it relates to people's needs and concerns. You also have to be prepared to adapt yourself and your innovation to satisfy those concerns.
Many people who want to bring about change have definite ideas about what the change should be; they have solutions and they would like to have others adopt those solutions. However, there is a problem here: sometimes the change agent’s commitment to a particular solution gets in the way of understanding the real problem or understanding resistance to the solution they are advocating.
Filling the SOLUTION GIVER Role on the Change Team
Here are questions to ask as you consider how to fill the Solution Giver role on the change team:
- Who knows the innovation well? Are they on your team?
- Who can provide some kind of data on success? Such as what to expect in the way of good outcomes?
- Who can provide data on what problems might be encountered in trying to adopt or adapt any particular change concept?
- Who is thinking about or suggesting adaptations or modifications to the innovation?
- What can be done to downsize or upsize the trial innovation to make it work better?
Change Team Roles
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The Change Agent's Guide identifies 7 role types, each loosely associated with a stage in the change cycle.
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