Change agents are the on-the-ground resource that keeps change initiatives running.  Acting alone on smaller projects or in concert with other change agents and change managers in larger projects, they translate the plan into action.  Change agents may be directly engaged by the change management office, may volunteer for service, or may be “voluntold” by their managers as they’re looking to carry out a change themselves and are required to support an organization-wide change.

The defining characteristic of a change agent is that they don’t have much professional experience with change.  They may have been involved in a few prior change initiatives and may have some training.  However, they are not experts on change but instead are competent, if still learning, members of the team.

Change agents are often less intimidating for others to talk to than change managers, success owners, and executive sponsors.  As a result, they can sometimes have more open conversations about the good and the bad of the change initiative, particularly conversations which capture weaknesses that could be remedied.