by Derek Irvine
Recognise This! — The most powerful agents for change in your organisation are your hidden influencers.
How do you drive change most effectively through an organisation? It’s not with top-down mandates. Far greater change success is achieved by turning the key influencers in your organisation into your change agents. Every company has these internal influencer networks, but few use them to fullest advantage.
In positive initiatives like social recognition, these internal networks are critical to rapid programme adoption and achievement of culture change goals.
Click over to my post on Compensation Cafe to read more about these powerful networks, including how to find them, prepare them, and use them to best advantage to achieve the change you need. For example:
- Identify – Who are your influencers? It may seem daunting to identify them, but many can be discovered just by keeping your eyes open. Who’s the “Office Mom?” In the cafeteria or breakroom, who always seems to be centre of the lunch crowd? Who’s the person with a reputation for spreading gossip far and wide?
- Involve – If you want your influencers to proudly carry the message you want, you must give them ownership over that message. That means involving them in the decision-making around the messages to communicate, including when and how.
- Unleash – When it’s time to introduce change, turn your influencers lose. Let them carry much of the message for you. Trust them with the change.
Who are the influencers in your organisation? How are they used today?
