Map your change angels

Once you have determined which behaviours you would like to change and understood that informal influencers are the Engine of your company’s copying machine (check this article about how your organization is in fact a big copying machine), then you need to work with them so that they help you duplicate / multiply the right behaviours. But who are those people?

• You could assume that the influencers are the formal leaders / managers. This would be partially true but think again…
• Don’t ask for volunteers assuming that the ones who volunteer have influence, or you could be bitterly disappointed.
• Don’t rely on the people leaders point you to, assuming that they know their teams dynamics. The literature and our experience say they are get only 50% of the names right…

So how can you find those people who inspire and influence the behaviours of your employees?

Organizational Networks Analysis (ONA) is the tool you need. You believe in data. We too. At Humanize, we run Organizational Networks Analysis (ONA) of your organization or partner with the right people to do it for you.

What is Organizational Network Analysis? ONA is a simple tool that can provide an MRI of your organization. It will provide insights into informal networks by identifying for you who the hidden influencers of your organization are. Not only will it tell you who is connected to whom at individual, team and departmental level, it will also tell you why. Because it qualifies and quantifies links between people, ONA can help you visualize gaps in collaboration, spot people at risk of burnout or already disengaged, measure true inclusion, or understand blind spots in terms of formal communication. Those can prove extremely useful in your change programmes, one of which is the mother of all: culture transformation.

Think of ONA when considering reorganizations, office relocation, in the context of mergers & acquisitions, when you want to optimize talent management, work on wellbeing in hybrid work settings, increase collaboration levels, boost innovation etc… You can read more on ONA directly from some of our partners and friends at this link or that link.

Be careful: not all ONA approaches are suitable for all situations: Contact us: we can help you deploy ONA in your organization.