How to Prepare Changemakers for Continued Change

Even though change is inevitable, it still manages to surprise people. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, business leaders were forced to quickly react to the various ways that the crisis disrupted the ways we work and live. With nearly two years of experience living through a pandemic, these leaders can now reflect on lessons learned to prepare for the next COVID-type disruption – whenever or whatever that may be.

It’s not enough to embrace that change is coming. Organizations must take a proactive approach by empowering their employees – regardless of their role – to become changemakers and turn ideas into reality. These hyper-agile organizations can successfully pivot and thrive in the face of disruption because of a company ethos that focuses on outcomes rather than process.

It doesn’t hurt that changemakers get results. According to a recent report from Project Management Institute (PMI) – Pulse of the Profession ® 2021– organizations that empower changemakers were more likely to successfully endure widespread business changes during the pandemic, such as undergoing a digital transformation and fostering an innovative mindset. In turn, these business changes helped achieve progress; 71 percent of hyper-agile organizations increased productivity, compared with just 53 percent of traditional organizations.

The organizations that were in the best position to respond quickly to the shock of the pandemic had been building “a resiliency muscle” over the past five years, says Michael DePrisco, Chief Operating Officer at PMI.

Resilient organizations recognize that, in order to meet the disruption of an uncertainty that exists in the world today, they must always be transforming.

Changemakers don’t just magically appear, however. Organizations must encourage employees – regardless of their age, experience, or role – to become changemakers by fostering this mindset within the organization and providing the necessary tools and resources for people to feel empowered to make highly impactful changes, both big and small.

What makes for an effective changemaker? These individuals are both versatile and disciplined, attributes they’ve honed through both hands-on experience and innate characteristics. Changemakers use power skills, such as communication, collaborative leadership, an innovative mindset, and empathy, when interacting with colleagues and customers. To drive changes, changemakers also need good business acumen so they can tap into a deep understanding of the organization and its competitive landscape, as well as think like an entrepreneur. Finally, changemakers – like their organizations – must be hyper-agile and able to accommodate flexible ways of working to get the job done.

Employees should be mindful of the need to continuously learn and improve, DePrisco says. “Many individuals are acting with a high degree of resiliency during this difficult time,” he adds. “They’re being very creative and innovative, and they’re finding ways to optimize in this new environment.”

While fostering a culture that encourages individuals to become changemakers is crucial, so too is actively investing in the resources that will help organizations quickly transform when the next COVID-type disruption arrives. In fact, organizations successful in large-scale transformation efforts are almost twice as likely to focus on developing internal talent, according to Brightline’s Strategic Transformation research.

To help changemakers flourish, organizations should offer upskilling education opportunities. For instance, PMI offers online courses and certifications targeted at changemakers, including the Project Management Professional (PMP)®, the world's leading project management certification that proves project leadership experience and expertise. And, due to increased demand for project managers and their ability to navigate change, the PMP® provides individuals – and the organizations employing them – with a competitive advantage. PMI also offers online courses and certification opportunities surrounding the Disciplined Agile (DA)™ Tool Kit, a comprehensive guidebook of agile frameworks that helps individuals, teams, and organizations find the most efficient team structure and style for the project at hand, allowing them to work smarter. These resources, along with PMI’s other offerings, make an organization’s workforce more effective by supercharging the skills of their employees.

While an organization’s ways of working are key elements to prepare for workplace disruptions, people are involved at every level. Changemakers are indispensable; they’re the best resources for making change happen, be it a big societal impact or a small, company-specific procedural switch.

From climate change to geopolitical issues, big challenges are likely to cause future disruptions that will land at the feet of many organizations to solve, DePrisco says.

For organizations and their employees, resiliency is going to be a key aspect of – and differentiator between – organizations that do well and thrive, and organizations that will plateau. And one of the ways that you build resiliency is through having a mindset of perpetual transformation.

Change is inevitable, but those organizations that proactively encourage a changemaker mindset and equip employees with the skills they need to succeed will be best situated for when the next big disruption arrives.