Institute seeks inclusion of change management in education curriculum

The Federal Government has been told to rejig the nation’s education curriculum to include the teaching of change management from basic to tertiary levels.

Mr. Joseph Anetor, registrar of the Institute of Change Management (ICM), made the call on the sidelines of the induction of new members into the institute in Lagos.

He said mere ability to read and write has become grossly insufficient to navigate the present age of information technology and artificial intelligence. Therefore, it is important that students hone their skills to become change agents from the earliest stage of their education.

According to him, change is needed by everyone in order to adapt to the challenges of an ever-changing and complex society.

He said the institute’s mission is to build skilled and competent change management specialists, organisations and institutions.

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“It is also to create value and make a difference across all sectors of the economy, provide the needed support to individuals and corporate organisations. As the saying goes, the only permanent thing in life is change. The world would never stop evolving and changing.

“Therefore, the institute will continue the search for the best ways to prepare human and institutional capacities to enable us to take advantage of the benefits of the emerging changes to avoid any attendant risk that may accompany them,” he said.

A total of 15 people were inducted into the various cadres of membership of the institute.

Earlier in his keynote lecture titled ‘Leading in a VUCA World: The Change Management Imperatives’, Mr. Tayo Ayoola, a management consultant, said the society today is characterised by its volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA).

Ayoola said contemporary society is moving at nearly the speed of lightning which requires today’s professionals to keep a step ahead of the unexpected and react in a timely manner; stay on course despite constant surprises and lack of predictability; steer their operations through complexity, chaos and confusion and be able to take decisive actions.

The consultant urged professionals to think global but act locally.