Both have advantages
When an organisation embarks on a change journey and they decide to increase the chances of success by investing in change agents, a decision will have to be made to decide on internal verses external change agents. There are both advantages and disadvantages for both types of change agents that should be considered and not one size fits all.
"Change agents with organisation credibility, change management skills and the desire to improve an organisation can greatly enhance change adoption and benefits delivery" ~ Peter F Gallagher
External consultants as change agents are flexible and skilled resources and the organisation can bring them into the business at times of resource demand peaks. External change agents can be released immediately during resource troughs, with no challenge of having to reintegrate them back into the business, compared to using internal agents.
The value of an external change agent with their change management skills, tools and change delivery framework cannot be ignored or discounted in the cost benefit analysis. Further to this, there are other important elements such as organisation credibility and personality characteristics. The most important are usually the ability to communicate with people, personal integrity and business acumen.
Note: This article was posted on Linkedin 14th Oct 2020
Peter F Gallagher is a Change Management Global Thought Leader, Expert, International Speaker, Author and Leadership Alignment Coach.
Ranked #1 Change Management Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Change Management (May 2020) by Thinkers360.
Business Book Ranking: Change Management Pocket Guide - Leadership of Change® Volume 2, ranked within the top 50 Business and Technology Books (Jan 2020) from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders.