Members of the sponsorship network include those who have significant formal and informal influence in the organization. As noted in Build the Infrastructure for Change, an important piece of the sponsorship network is the Change Team. This team, typically composed of 5 to 7 people who are devoted to the effort half time or more, is the tactical arm of the Steering Committee. It assists, supports, facilitates, and executes change activities. For example, the Change Team helps with the administration of various early assessments such as readiness, impact, risk, and resistance. It launches chartered temporary teams and may facilitate some of them. It supports local managers and their teams through the Execution and Sustaining phases of the effort.
The Change Team is chartered by the Steering Committee. The charter establishes the scope, expectations, and objectives of their work. Team members receive special preparation in approaches and tools for change management. A major responsibility of the change team is to keep the pulse of the change effort for the Steering Committee. Are people nervous? Confused? Angry? Is there support for the change? Are the pockets of resistance that need to be addressed? Where are the changes beginning to take root? What is the evidence that new methods are being applied? And so on.