Are you a fence-sitter, a resister, or an endorser?

Changing an organisation is hard… most people find it hard to park their car in a different spot at work, let alone changing the way things work and who has how much power in the company. So, we need all the help we can get!

Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro found three predictors of a change agent’s success in change initiatives. The bottom-line is this: it takes a network to change an organisation.

1. Change agents central to an organisation’s informal network do better (regardless of formal position);
2. Change agents with bridge networks which bridge disconnected people do better at dramatic change – change agents with cohesive networks where everybody is connected to everybody do better at smaller change;
3. Change agents with ties close to sceptics (“fence-sitters”)  do better, but close ties to resisters works only better with smaller changes – it hinders dramatic change.

So, does your network fit with the organisational change you are pursuing and how can influencers affect this?