What makes a competent change manager? The importance of developing the “right” attitudes

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of developing the “right” attitudes toward change.

The viewpoint is based on more than 20 years of experience gained and insights developed through consulting projects and training conducted for numerous multinational companies and public sector organizations across Asia. An overview of international and national competency frameworks that include change management from Australia, United Kingdom, and Singapore is also presented.

A competent change manager requires a combination of knowledge, skills, and attitude to effect change. While knowledge and skills have traditionally been emphasized, there is a need to develop the “right” attitude as well.

This article is based on the author's personal viewpoint which may be subjective.

The paper provides researchers with an insight on the importance of attitudes as a key contributing factor to change management competency. For the practitioners, it provides another perspective for designing more effective education programs to train change managers with an emphasis on attitudes.

This paper contributes to the existing change management literature by providing insights on the importance of competency, in particular, the “right” attitude required of a change manager.