In the stereotypical “communication cascade”, the role of leaders and line managers is clear. But influencers can strike much deeper.
Who are influencers in an organisation?
While internal influencers are likely to be mid-management or in supervisory positions, they can be found and exist at all levels of a business. However, internal influencers are rarely senior management.
Another thing to remember is that management rarely knows who their influencers are without actually asking employees the right questions and looking at the right things.
But internal influencers are easy to find. Who's participating the most in team meetings? Who's organising team outings? Who are people turning to for insights or advice?
Your influencers are more likely to be able to see beyond specific tasks or roles and can see the bigger picture. They tend to have strong social skills and a wide internal network that crosses departments and divisions, and they can engender trust.
Involving influencers means identifying who they are and inviting them to participate in the process to find out what it takes to get people on board with a specific direction. At the very least it can give you a valuable pulse check on the mood within a company.
Getting the most out of your influencers
Once you have identified who your influencers are, you can begin to incorporate them into your internal communications strategy.
If located in the mid-management sphere, these influencers can be crucial in maintaining a sense of purpose in your organisation.
How can performance and goal setting be better reflective of the impact people are having, as opposed to the tasks that they're doing?
The performance cycle is one of the critical forms of communication between organisation and employee, and it's important that you're sharing feedback like "Your work really helped to make accounts receivable more effective", as opposed to "You did a good job updating that spreadsheet." It's a nuance but this can help us head towards a purpose-driven organisation.
It's vital to make meaningful investments in the right tools to connect people.
Used effectively, your social collaboration tools are the best bet to encourage less formal and more organic and authentic conversations between your employees, especially as digital is replacing the water cooler.
No matter what communication role you think line managers and other influencers should play, they are still an engagement vehicle — and should be treated as such.
The fact that you're not expecting them to communicate any specific messages on your behalf doesn't mean that you shouldn't treat them as a distinct audience and make them feel like they're key to your company.
The daily interactions they have with their teams is a big part of your employee experience, and this should align to the experience you're trying to create through communication.
We're now beyond an expectation of working hard and even working smart to now working with clarity and fully understanding why you do what you do — in short, working with purpose.
Unlock your influencers
Finding that key messaging is not effectively making it to all parts of your organisation? An internal communications audit will help you unclog these blockages and might also play a role in uncovering the hidden influencers within your teams.
This is a process we know all about and you can check our track record by browsing some of our recent projects.
Want to start a conversation about discovering and exploiting the internal influencers in your organisation? Contact us today. We'd love to delve into your story and find out how we can help.