Managing change through ONA- An Itinerary for successful organizational change
Let’s be honest, there is an explosion of resources related to change management in this time and age. So what’s new in this article?
- A field view (not abstract theorizing) of change management that acknowledges the real-life problems and opportunities encountered while implementing change initiatives.
- A practical method to kick start change initiatives using data-driven network insights.
Essentially, the purpose of this article is to draw attention to the bricolage of successful change management, the bricolage that brings together insights from pre-existing literature, the indispensability of a pragmatic field view, and the hidden potential of social networks in organizations.
In ‘Organizational Change: Sociological Perspective’, David Collins calls popular models like Kotter’s 8-Step Process, and Lewin’s Change Management Model the ‘N-step models’ for change management since they simply give a linear pathway for organizational change consisting of N=2,3,4.. number of steps. These models assume cooperation but are silent on the flipside — conflict of interests among diverse groups and their management, and the problems that might be encountered in the process of change. Moreover, these models take an undersocialized approach since they fail to relegate an active role for people, the social actors in the process, and fail to acknowledge some basic human tendencies etched on us due to our sociality. More often than not, such models do not translate into successful organizational change.
One recent Gartner Group study found that although 90 percent of companies surveyed had undertaken significant organizational change within the previous two years, only 5 percent had avoided substantial disruptions and finished on time. The reason being adopting undersocialized, impersonal approaches by not involving the right people in the communication flow of organization, Steve Denning and Rob Cross write in ‘The Organizational Network Fieldbook’
So what exactly is the right approach to managing change?
A socialized, personalized approach that balances and integrates the organizational need for performance, and people’s psychological and social needs. Adjusting to a change isn’t easy. But the process can be smoothened by leveraging the existing social networks in organizations. The social networks of any organization are hubs of trust and communication flow. People are embedded in these networks, and when they need help or need to get any work done, these informal channels get the work done faster and more efficiently than formal channels.
Research shows that when major changes take place, people are more likely to trust in beliefs flowing in these informal networks, than in the narratives provided by formal leaders.
A field view of change management essentially involves a confrontation with this fact. It involves parsing beyond hierarchical relations and recognizing the opportunities etched in social networks. The field view is a mirror that shows how the emotionality of people is a crucial vantage point for enabling organizational change.
The sociological term that best explains this phenomenon is — social embeddedness, as elaborated by the eminent sociologist, Mark Granovetter. It refers to the extent to which an action oriented towards a calculated/defined economic goal takes place within a web of social attachments like friendships.
Organizational goals can be met efficiently and quickly by leveraging the potential of these social attachments. In this hyper-connected and fast-moving world, the flexibility offered by these informal social networks can be leveraged to drive changes. These informal networks can be mapped through Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) to identify the key change agents.
To elucidate, getting change implemented requires influence and change agents are the people who hold influence in social networks. Influencers are the most trusted and well connected people in the network. They can be the key communicators of the features and purpose of the change initiatives. To drive change, these 3 types of influencers can be identified.
- Central connectors
Central connectors have many ties within the organization. They are the trusted and respected opinion leaders in networks, hence their influence can be leveraged to gain credibility for ideas. They create alignment in their group by naturally convincing others.
Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) can help you identify these informal leaders 50% of whom are generally not on the leader’s radar screen. Moreover, these influencers are overloaded with collaborative work and colleagues’ requests due to their central position in networks. Hence the key to successfully implementing change initiatives is leveraging the first and second-order connectors without overloading them. As an aside, ONA can also be used to identify the possibility of any connector experiencing collaboration overload.
2. Brokers
Brokers are the boundary spanners. They are important not for the number of people they are connected to but for the number of groups they connect. They share relationships that bridge organizational boundaries. They can effectively influence different people and groups around a common idea. Since they exist in the white space of an organization, they are 70% out of the leader’s radar. ONA can help identify these individuals who have access to views of diverse groups. Change initiatives might affect diverse groups and silos differently, hence brokers are crucial to access these concerns and come to a middle ground. They are the most natural channels for efficiently communicating to the rest of the organization and are very often the lead ambassadors of change.
3. Energizers
Energizers enthusiastically adopt and promote new ideas and processes. Their enthusiasm inspires others to participate and contribute to the change efforts. Energizers are the vital influencers who can enable acceptance of change efforts through their contagious enthusiasm.
ONA can reveal both the limited number of energizers in the organization and the de-energizers, their dark counterparts. De-energizers drain energy and need to be engaged early to stop the change process from degenerating. Getting both energizers and de-energizers on board can balance out the resistance offered by demonstrating optimism, i.e., energizers can urge others to appreciate the positive effects of a change.
Engaging these change agents makes the change management process not a matter of compliance, but an exercise in unleashing natural talents and passions. Research by Rob Cross shows that while the normative, top-down, hierarchical approach and engaging formal leaders only reach only 30–35% of people, an influencer program can effectively touch 60–70% of the people. This bottom-up approach provides a clear pathway for undertaking efficient organizational change. It maps the itinerary for successful change management that connects natural passions, psychological and social needs, and organizational goals.
OrgLens can map your informal network and identify the key influencers to drive your change efforts. We have successfully helped many global organizations and consulting firms by revealing the real potential of their networks. Recently, a global management consulting firm approached us to use ONA for a post-integration collaboration assessment of two FinTech entities, you can find the report of our work here. You can also find valuable insights on streamlining M&A integration effectiveness with Organisational Network Analytics on our page on this platform.
If our work interests you, do reach out to us at info@orglens.com or book your free trial here.
