Professional Competencies for Accompanying Change

In any organization, major change brings stimulating challenges. Changing or updating one’s professional practices takes time, and the people involved need training and guidance to navigate this complex process. Change, even if it is prescribed and guided, can not be imposed. This is why it is necessary to help staff take ownership of the change in order to understand its foundations and advantages.

Using a frame of reference developed in the field of education, this book proposes eight professional competencies required to accompany change. Practiced in context, in interaction with others, and in harmony with the workplace, with its specific culture and ways of doing things, these competencies deal both with the type of accompaniment to use and the professional collaboration that should be developed, as well as the affective aspects of taking action and exercising professional judgment. They emerge in an integrated and complementary way from the reflective practice of the accompaniment providers who help those they accompany to engage in such practice. The eight competencies form a system that influences, directs, guides, and challenges all the decisions, actions, and judgments of those who accompany the change, in such a way as to encourage staff affected by the change to take ownership of it.