The digital revolution has resulted in unprecedented levels of change and transformation in business. Organizations must constantly update products, services and production techniques for delivering them to remain competitive in this environment. Responding to external disruption, adopting new digital tools and changing employee requirements are all necessary to meet customer demands. This means that effective change management is a necessary part of any organization to help steer management and employees through the changes necessary to achieve competitive advantage.

Change management is fundamentally about people. To change processes and procedures there must be a corresponding change in the attitudes and skills of the employees that perform them. Change needs to be undertaken in a structured and transparent way so that employees understand what is required and are motivated to transition to new ways of working. An effective change manager must have the requisite technical and interpersonal skills to implement change in a way that employees will accept as they transition to a new way of working. This requires not only extensive preparation but being able to support employees during the shift to a new work paradigm.

Change managers recruitment involves assessing whether candidates have the following skills:

• Change Methodologies – candidates need to have expertise and experience with industry change management principles and the technologies and tools that are used to implement them. They should be able to choose the best change strategy for an organization and use the methodology best suited for applying it.

• Project Management – a change manager is more than a project manager but the implementation of a change management plan always involves a series of projects and a change manager must be aware of project management best practice.

• Industry Expertise – many industries have specific technical skills associated with them and these must be understood to make effective changes in processes. Knowledge of regulatory and compliance requirements is also vital to ensure changes meet industry best practice.

In addition to having professional and technical skills, an effective Change managers recruitment must also have ‘soft skills’ such as being able to listen to stakeholder’s concerns, have a flexible mindset that can accommodate variances in a change process, good problem solving capabilities, resilience, an unwavering customer focus, the ability to communicate effectively, maintain a holistic view of the entire process, maintain an ongoing dialogue through the transition with both management and employees and to be able to engender a sense of trust in those they work with.