The Underappreciated Value of Informal Leaders in Organizational Change Initiatives By: Dr. Art Johnson In today s competitive business environment, change is critical to an organization's survival and competitiveness (Kotter, 2000). One of the tests of leadership is being able
To lead a needed change effort to fruition and the responsibility for leading this needed organizational change is squarely on the shoulders of the organization's leaders (Northouse, 2010). While everyone agrees that leadership is critical in an organizational change effort, the unfortunate truth is that most leaders have had little or no training in how to lead such an effort. This lack of knowledge about how to lead a change effort is why most organizational change efforts fail. Most leaders learn what they know about leading organizational change efforts through "trial and error," and that is expensive for everything and everyone involved, as the learning curve for understanding organizational change is steep and the impact of failed change attempts hurts the organization and the employees, wastes resources, and impairs the leader s ability to lead needed change efforts in the future (Self, 2007). If you ask leaders to review either failed change efforts they have attempted or successful change efforts they have completed with 20/20 hindsight their comments always include sentiments or laments like: I wish I knew then what I know now. If I had It was very difficult and I could have made it easier by I could have avoided many of the problems we encountered if I would have We have heard similar reflections from leaders many times before, as their stories are told we can hear in their voices the deep desire to lead the change effort effectively coupled with the pain of what occurred. While the reasons for this knowledge gap between best practices and well-intended actions taken by inexperienced change leaders has multiple root causes, there are typical problems that emerge in organizational change efforts where the use of informal leaders has proven to be beneficial in addressing the underlying problems before they emerge. Let s look at who informal leaders are from a profile and characteristics perspective and then look at the benefits they provide in addressing those underlying problems that often emerge in organizational change efforts. So who are informal leaders? Informal leaders can be anyone in your organization and at any level in your organization. Their power and strength are not from a position of authority, but from earned respect and trust over time (Carter, 2001). This makes these individuals extremely influential in their organizational subunit. They are often the go to people when the supervisor is not around or when the issue is problematic for an employee to share with a supervisor. The informal leader is a confidant for advice and strategic direction for employees in their subunit. The informal leader is deeply knowledgeable of processes, bottlenecks, problems, and issues affecting their respective area (Smart, 2005). This makes them very valuable for quickly identifying potential problems in organizational change efforts that affect processes and work flow. They help define the culture within their organizational subunit and often set the standard for performance. They have strong relationships with people in the organization. Often they are well linked in terms of the informal network within the organization. They know the people that are also either informal leaders in other areas or other go to people in other areas that can address problems quickly and effectively.
They know where to get accurate information quickly in their subunit and in most other operational areas that link with their organizational subunit. They embody character and leadership without authority. This is empowering because it is based upon earned trust and this earned trust helps them align efforts toward organizational goals within their organizational subunit. They care deeply about the organization and want to make things work better (Carter, 2001). So with all of these positive characteristics of informal leaders, are there any downsides to partnering with them? Beware that even though informal leaders bring many benefits to a change effort, they are not without some issues that leaders need to carefully consider. First, they tend to have a low garbage threshold. In spite of being good communicators, they don t like to put up with garbage from people that are uninformed and they hold leaders and managers that are uniformed in contempt for making decisions that show they are uniformed. They will not deliver their full effort or may even work against a leader or a direction of the proposed change that they consider problematic. Second, they walk the talk in their work and to earn their respect, they will expect the same from leaders and managers that work with them. Third, they will take the initiative and be advocates for critical issues, so some unresolved ongoing problems will be presented to formal leaders with the expectation of action being taken to address those issues (Carter, 2001). If leaders choose to engage informal leaders in the change effort, it would behoove the leaders to be prepared for these issues. So how do informal leaders help prevent some of the typical problems seen in organizational change efforts? Below are some typical problems facing leaders in change efforts and how informal leaders can help. Stuck in their perspective: Leaders typically have a system-based perspective that is broad and encompassing some knowledge of organizational silo areas. However, most leaders really see the organization from a macro perspective. Unfortunately, this perspective is incomplete in planning change as leaders are often unaware of the most current knowledge of work processes, work flow issues, and other constraints embedded in the silo areas of the organizational system. This incomplete perspective creates blindspots for the leader, so when a significant change is attempted, it usually makes unanticipated ripple effects occur that threaten the very success of the change effort. To further complicate this issue, the leader s perspective is almost always systems-based, but the concerns of both managers and employees in a change effort are silo-based, and typically there is no formal method for engaging in dialogue to minimize this perspective gap. Informal leaders can help with this issue by identifying how the proposed change effort will impact their respective area, recommend how to address these issues effectively, or at a minimum identify critical issues that need to be considered due to the effects of the proposed change effort (Dicke, 2004). This anticipation of potential problems coupled with knowledge of how to best address those problems within their subunit and how to effectively work with other subunits, provides great value in planning an organizational change effort.
Blindspot problems in the change effort: As previously stated, blindspot problems are typical problems facing organizational leaders and many leaders are not even aware of this as a problem. This is often seen when leaders face performance problems. They usually have a strong belief that they know what the performance problems are and how to address those problems. Unfortunately, while they typically have some knowledge of the performance problem, they are often unclear about the root causes of those problems; hence it is easy for the direction and focus of the change effort to get off target early in a change initiative. A typical problem seen is leaders lacking the knowledge of potential obstacles impeding the change process at lower levels within the organization. Involving informal leaders in the early stages of planning in a change effort is very beneficial (Kazemek and Charney, 1991). Early involvement of informal leaders can minimize or eliminate most of the blindspot problems facing leaders, as the informal leaders have the knowledge of potential obstacles impeding the change process at their level in the organization and can keep the leader s general direction for the change from being derailed by some of these blindspot realities. Using informal leaders to cover blindspots for leaders in change efforts helps avoid potential problems and threats to the change effort, and it helps anticipate where problems will occur. This is very useful information for any leader in a change effort. Lack of readiness for the change and winning the hearts and minds of employees: There is often a lack of readiness for the change at the various levels in the organization (Self, 2007). This includes a lack of understanding of the need for change, little or no sense of urgency to make the change occur, and a lack of awareness of external and internal forces driving the need for change. While leaders can state the current problem and deliver a vision with rationale for where the organization needs to go, the task of driving the change at the organizational subunit level usually falls on the supervisor. In most change efforts this has produced mixed results, with some supervisors driving the change effectively and others not delivering on this responsibility effectively due to many reasons. Informal leaders that are involved in the change process will drive the readiness for change within the organizational subunit among their coworkers and win the hearts and minds of employees to sustain the change effort. In fact, there is probably no better group within the organization to help win the hearts and minds of employees than informal leaders. Informal leaders have strong connections with others (detoni, 2010), hence they can powerfully influence others in a change effort. If they believe in the change, they will argue for the change and why it is needed. They will inform their coworkers of the forces requiring the change to occur. By their engagement of coworkers in dialogue, their actions, and behaviors, their coworkers will be able to see their readiness for the change and this helps others in their respective subunits commit to the change. Effectiveness of communication and feedback loops: Most leaders believe that they communicate effectively in a change effort, but most do not. The unfortunate truth is that most leaders do attempt to communicate at some level, but tend to take communication for granted because they believe it is taken care of, someone else is responsible for it, or they believe that is it is being done within the organization, when in fact there is
usually not enough communication for employees. When employees experience a lack of accurate information from leaders and managers in a change effort, they will "fill in the blanks" with what they believe. While this may sound like an employee perception issue to many leaders, the solution begins in the mindset leaders have about the importance of communication in an organizational change effort. For most leaders, this mindset must change for improved success in leading organizational change efforts. While it is almost impossible to over communicate, it is very easy to under communicate in a change effort (Kotter, 2000). Informal leaders that are involved in the change process will provide this needed communication about the change effort to employees by answering employee questions directly, getting accurate answers for employees when needed, providing a feedback loop to leaders about employee concerns in the change effort so that leaders and managers can make needed corrections or provide support at critical points during the change effort, and provide the ongoing communication needed in a change effort to insure that the change effort stays on track (detoni, 2010). Collectively these actions from informal leaders keep the change on track, keep the leaders informed, and minimize resistance toward the change effort. Alignment and sustainability:in most organizational change efforts there are difficulties encountered in aligning and maintaining alignment of organizational energies, resources, and values toward the change effort (Branson, 2008; St Onge, 1995). Too often, the will and commitment to the change effort ebbs as the reality of the change effort unfolds. This is particularly true in the critical early and mid-stages of the change effort, and the last thing needed in a difficult change effort is for employees to lose their will and commitment to the change. By acting as a communication feedback loop within their respective subunits, informal leaders can help keep members of their subunit focused on the organizational change, keep employees informed of milestones reached in the change effort, identify where corrections are needed and support is needed in the change effort, and help sustain the change effort through difficult transition points. Informal leaders also can help embed the change in the culture of the organizational subunit, hence helping the change to be sustainable over time (Branson, 2008). Help to get through difficult times: Every significant change effort has a difficult phase when the old ways are dying hard, resistance is evident, the will and commitment to the change are waning, and the new ways have not yet been fully embraced (Bridges, 2009; Kazemek and Charney, 1991). As intensity in a change effort increases, informal leaders provide value by supporting the change in their respective subunit, providing quick and accurate feedback about the difficulties encountered and recommending solutions to those problems for leaders, and by delivering their full performance capacity within their subunit to minimize the sometimes overwhelming effects of performance delivery of outputs required from the subunit while at the same time needing to engage in a change effort that requires transitioning from old processes to new processes within the subunit. Structure and role definition support: In many change efforts, the required change in processes or delivery of new products and services, dictates the need for need for new structures within the organization and within the organizational subunits, and definition of new roles for employees (Carter, 2001). Informal leaders provide value in this area by
being subject matter experts (SME s) in the current structure and processes, and provide valuable knowledge about how to transition to the proposed processes and new roles within their respective subunit with minimal problems. Measurement and Return on Investment (ROI): Successful change efforts measure results (Boudreau, 2006). Sometimes these measurements are milestone completion via timelines, metrics to show the ROI of the change, or outcome measure completion. Informal leaders provide value in this area by having the knowledge in their respective area to accurately identify indices which should be measured to show the impact of the change effort. Clearly organizational change is very complex and while there is no magic bullet that will insure a successful organizational change outcome, there are great benefits seen by involving the under-utilized resource of informal leaders. The bottom-line is that leaders can greatly improve the success rate of change efforts by partnering with informal leaders. Some actions that help do this are to identify informal leaders in their organization, get the informal leaders involved early in the organizational change effort, keep them involved particularly in the areas of feedback and planning, listen to their legitimate concerns, earn their trust, have clear expectations for their role in the change effort, and engage them in the change effort so they have a strong sense of belief in the change effort and ownership over the success of the change effort. If a leader is successful in doing this, the informal leaders will drive the change effort within their organizational subunit and minimize many problems that typically derail organizational change efforts for leaders. References Boudreau, J. W. (2006). Talentship and HR measurement and analysis: From ROI to strategic organizational change. People and Strategy, 29, 1, 25 33. Branson, C. M. (2008). Achieving organizational change through values alignment. Journal of Educational Administration, 46, 3, 376 395. Bridges, W. (2009). Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change. 3 rd Ed. Da Capo Lifelong Books. Carter, M. J. (2001). Relational leadership: The role of informal leader in the context of turbulent change (Doctoral dissertation: Benedictine University, 2001). Dissertation Abstracts International. (UMI No. 3012619) de Toni, A. F. (2010). The key roles in the informal organization: A network analysis perspective. The Learning Organization, 17, 1, 86 103.
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