Social Network Analysis
How does finding your unusual suspects help you with change communication?
Who on your team is the "go-to" person? That team member who's the acknowledged informal leader. You know who I mean - the one who's expected to have the most information about what is going on. The person the manager relies on as a change agent for new initiatives — they are expected to win the whole team over for a new technology or process due to their credibility and standing. In other words, the usual suspect when you want to tap into the team's consciousness.
We know the stereotypical "go-to" person and who they are. The type of personality of the prototypical "go-to" skews to those of us who are quick to speak up and even quicker to express an opinion. We take up a lot of time and space, so we must be the person the manager and team rely on for spreading news and information - right? Those of a higher position within the team are thought to be the reliable source.
Turns out, this may or may not be accurate. I'm not going to go down the path of the introvert vs. the extrovert (and everyone's new favorite designation; the ambivert) - which has little to do with trust relationships.
Teams evolve their relationships based on many different factors - some are obvious, but others not so easily discernable. So, if it's not always the loudest and most vocal member of the team, who is it?
A way of exposing the relationships within a team and calculating the strength and reliability of those relationships is called social network analysis. Long story short, a set of questions asking each team member to indicate who they rely on for information and what kind of information they seek from these specific team members. We can map and measure this data. It often looks like a giant spider web of nodes (people) and edges (lines drawn connecting them). There are calculations and designations to place values on the edges (how many go in which direction, how many are there to specific people from others), but the quickest thing that SNA reveals is who is at the center of the map.
I have worked with multiple layers of experts with rock-solid knowledge of many of the team's tasks and systems. These experts may or may not be the "go-to" center of their map. They are always surprised to find themselves on the periphery, as even they expect to be everyone's source of truth.
Frequently, however, falling in the center position of the social network analysis map is what I call an "unusual suspect" - a term borrowed from my friend and mentor, Keith McCandless. The unusual suspect describes a person who does not fit a profile of being a powerful or influential member of the team. They may be much lower on the hierarchy of the team than their colleagues. In fact, they may be someone who would be on the very lowest level of an organizational map.
Why would an unusual suspect appear at the center of the social network analysis map in the ultimate "go-to" position for a team? One of the key reasons for this is their proximity to knowledge. They may be in a position near power, due to their role, or they may be entrusted with being a first mover in change initiatives due to their role being central to the overall work and purpose of the team.
An intake coordinator who receives orders and takes in work requests for the team is a prime example. Someone who does the scheduling for the department work activities or the individual team members is another unusual suspect. They are usually in a position of trust and provide a reliable source of accurate and up-to-date information for the whole team.
What does this mean for communication and change, though? Quite simply, it provides another vector for connecting the team to the change information and gathering change resistance issues from them. Ensuring that the unusual suspects are well informed and tapping into their information-gathering abilities can provide insight into the team's commitment level to the change initiatives.
An unusual suspect like this can become a highly effective ally in the change process. These unusual suspects, paired with your evangelists (the change agent/usual suspects), provide you with more layers and precision to your change approach, boosting adoption for new processes and technology.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Although there is great software to support creating a social network map of your team, you can also emulate the value of this process by doing some process mapping and noting the flow of information by hosting conversations with your team.
This is another valuable way to reveal your team's unusual suspects!
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
We've all witnessed massive changes in the workplace over the last year. But did you know that even before 2020 employee satisfaction was lagging? This is due to many factors, including lack of appreciation and freedom while working.
This Fast Company article offers a great perspective on how to shift methods and boost employee satisfaction by embracing methods often used in Change Management! Read more here.
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