When Identifying Leaders, Don’t Just Look to the Top

There are many people with influence in an organization, and they don’t all have the title of CEO, or even manager.

As more employers face disruptive change and look to make overhauls to their own processes, structure, or culture, they must consider several factors on the path to success. 

At 18 Coffees, we talk about change as a lifecycle—something that takes constant practice. We believe there are six major areas of consideration: identifying your leaders, mapping your power structure, finding your “Cookie Monster” moment, determining which behavior changes need to happen, being honest about your capacity for disruption, and identifying your risk areas. We will tackle all of these issues in a series of posts. To kick things off, we’ll first focus on identifying leaders as the beginning of any successful change initiative. And that task is not as easy as it may seem. Impactful voices are not just found at the top of the org chart — effective leaders reside at all levels of the organization.

According to Vanessa Boris of Harvard Business Publishing:

While senior executives set the organizational tone, those in middle management, leaders on the frontlines, and team leaders also play critical roles. With their proximity to markets, customers, and partners, frontline leaders and their teams are often the first to identify emerging opportunities and threats and are well positioned to make changes to better serve the market’s needs.

It’s important to acknowledge that it isn’t just those who manage people who can serve as leaders. When determining who has influence in an organization, ask yourself: who is capable of mobilizing others? Who has ties to multiple groups and has the ear of other people who matter? Those are the very employees who can be invaluable in ensuring changes are successful and sustainable. 

Certainly, traditional leaders also play a crucial role in organizations. Their influence is impactful, and their actions during times of change are crucial. 

In a Forbes article titled, “The Critical Role of Leadership Development During Organizational Change” Brent Gleeson listed various leadership challenges during times of change, which included, “clearly articulating the changes needed across the organization,” “maintaining trust and accountability,” and “handling all aspects related to maintaining (or improving) culture during the transformation.” In times of organizational change, employees are going to look to their leaders for clarity, guidance, and support. It is up to those leaders to, frankly, lead in those situations and make sure everyone feels informed, included, and valued. 

As we acknowledge the more commonly-used examples of leaders, such as CEOs, vice presidents, and directors, we also need to recognize that the power dynamics that exist because of their titles can often impede productive creative thinking about new ways of working. When execs present ideas, they may unintentionally be preventing constructive conversations about those ideas from happening because people are afraid to share input due to potential consequences shaped by those power dynamics. 

Leaders are found at every level of an organization, and at times of great change, all these leaders are needed. They should be people who have good ideas and strong ties with others in the company, and they should also be people who will be largely affected by the changes that are unfolding. These individuals have perspectives that matter and voices that need to be respected and heard.