Talent Tip #15: Leveraging the hidden organization

Brought to you by Raytheon Professional Services
By Bill Russell, Raytheon Professional Services

In our current economic environment, more and more companies have begun to discuss ways to more effectively use one of the most valuable company assets – their people. Some exciting new tools have enabled leading companies to tap into this asset in a new way, and they build on the concept of the social network.

An informal structure exists within all organizations. It falls outside documented organization charts and isn’t defined by traditional reporting relationships. Simply stated, it’s the means by which employees connect with each other and work together to generate value. Research has proven that organizations can leverage these networks to attain ambitious goals more quickly. Indeed, the organizational network may be the most powerful asset an organization possesses. We have found that a six step process called The Catalyst Engagement can be used to quickly reveal an organization’s informal network and tap into it. The steps are:

1. Select a strategic initiative.
2. Identify the network of trusted associates using an on-line survey.
3. Map the network and look for patterns using statistical analysis.
4. Conduct a Catalyst Workshop with the organization and network leaders.
5. Mobilize resources to address target initiatives.
6. Complete the process and follow-up.

The benefits of this approach are these: the process identifies the people within the organization who are the key resources and natural change agents. It then links them to developing and executing initiatives that can have a major impact on the success of an organization, both in the short term and in the long run.

This approach has yielded tremendous dividends. The Raytheon Rocky Mountain Engineering department of the Space Systems in Aurora, Colorado used the technique and to help the group cope with a record work load, while making ground-breaking new innovations that won important new contracts. Concentrating on their key competencies, they learned valuable new information about how their networks influence their ability to get work done. They agreed on a few key initiatives to break down real barriers to communication and helped to establish the kind of collaborative culture that enables the true learning organization.