Influencing people's behavior, especially in group settings such as workplaces, presents a number of challenges. Poorly managed change is not only costly in terms of economic or social consequences; it can also have very real personal consequences. However, there is an underused effective strategy that will help you to make organizational changes that stick. So what is this method Opinion Leaders (OL).
Opinion Leaders are individuals within the organization that are perceived to be credible, influential and trustworthy, and have a range of social networks. OL's social networks are formed largely on the basis of interpersonal relationships developed through daily interactions. They are often early adopters of new thinking and behavior and are able to informally influence their colleagues in the desired way. They influence behavior change by creating awareness, persuading others, modeling the new behavior and providing encouragement and support for those contemplating change.
Research has identified that only a relatively small percentage of OL's need to be trained to achieve a critical mass threshold to ensure that change occurs. This means that OL programs are also less costly than traditional all-staff training programs and employees trained as OL's can continue to influence their colleagues long after a specific program has finished.
While there are a number of ways that OLs can be identified and recruited, the crucial element to successful OL Programs is the training. The key appears to be the 'informality' of the approach to be used by OLs. Research has demonstrated that the communication of conversational messages rather than formalized peer education or outreach worker models is more effective in enhancing change processes.
In fact, interventions which ask OLs to formalize their role or communicate or act in ways that are unfamiliar to them, may result in them losing respect among their colleagues and being seen as instruments of management. In addition, OLs who become strong advocates and try to move others too quickly may run the risk of alienating co-workers.
In the workplace setting, OL programs have been used to successfully support a range of organizational changes; for example the dissemination of new guidelines, policies and practices; introduction of new technology and procedures; improvement of training effectiveness and improvement in performance outcomes.
So, if you would like to increase your chance of developing successful organizational change programs, consider the use of Opinion Leaders in your next program.
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