Leveraging social networks for strategic success

Abstract

Increasingly unpredictable and competitive organizational environments have put pressure on leaders across all industries to better manage change. Key to successful change management is the ability to both: (1) communicate the desired change in ways that create line of sight; and (2) develop regular sources of feedback that measure the extent to which the change has diffused throughout the organization. Social Network Analysis provides this type of useful feedback. By allowing leaders to visualize the informal communication networks in their organizations, social network analysis can help organizations continuously assess and evaluate the effectiveness of their change strategies. Social Network Analysis is gaining in popularity today due to the convergence of interest in performance dashboards and in social media. Organizations investing in social network analysis are doing so now because it helps them to identify individuals who are critical to the organization’s communication flow as well as opportunities for strategic communication aimed at tuning the network to better promote organizational effectiveness.