Investing time and energy to understand networks can help companies measure the effectiveness of major initiatives and make organisational change stick. In many cases, a key to success is focusing on “brokers”, who serve as bridges across a number of subgroups in a network and are easy to overlook because they occupy the “white space” of organisations.
Brokers are often quite influential as they tend to have a high degree of ground-level credibility with people from disparate functions, locations and occupations. If leaders can persuade brokers to be early adopters and proponents of change, it can significantly boost the odds that a big transformational effort will succeed.
Examine the different broker roles in these core-periphery structures (In each case, ‘A’ would like to influence ‘C’, whilst the broker (‘B’) performs an engagement role inside or outside the organisation).
Sources: Cronin, B. (2014) Network Approaches, YouTube - released 1 Sep; Tasselli, S., Kilduff, M., and Menges, J.I (2015) The Microfoundations of Organizational Social Networks- A Review and an Agenda for Future Research, Journal of Management, March 25; de Nooy, W., Mrvar, A., and Batagelj, V (2012) Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek, Cambridge University Press, February.
Action Point
Brokers are fruitful proponents of influence. With regard to current or near term transformation in your organisation, identify potential brokers and consider how would you engage with them.