On Monday we wrote about the “shadow” organization, which we defined as the unofficial organization that has its own hierarchy, leadership and network. It is also referred to as the informal organization, and in some cases, the underground organization.

The “shadow” organization exists in all companies, and on its own is neither good nor bad. You, as the leader – by your behavior and actions – decide which direction it will take. If unattended to by the management, it tends to run as a negative and competing force in employee attention and even performance.

So the first point we want to make is for you to be aware that a “shadow” organization exists. You cannot wish it away nor ignore it into what you hope would be oblivion. It doesn’t work that way.

While most often referred to in the negative sense because of common dynamics in distractive, resistant and whispering behavior, the “shadow” organization can also be used as a powerful force for positive change in an organization. Here are five actions you can take to insure its engagement and use in a positive fashion:

1)    Identify the informal leaders in the organization. (You know this by who the employees either gravitate to, or steer clear from.)

2)    Find a relevant way to engage with them informally and regularly (management by “walking around” can facilitate this) to better understand the organizational dynamics.

3)    Observe vigilantly and listen actively.

4)    Do not react or over-react to what you believe is bad news or information you do not agree with, as it is at least one person’s perception or interest, and your reaction speaks louder than your words, particularly when being watched for how you will handle the tough stuff.

5)    Take the suggestions you hear and if you can do something about them – do it. If not, explain why so people understand. (We find many times, employees really don’t understand reasons for management decisions and make up their own negative assumptions, starting with you don’t really care about them.)

Some may argue that you are giving up control to this “shadow” organization and it’s leaders. You are not. You are listening to employee concerns and addressing them openly – both what you can do about them and what you can’t. And what you can do is to help the employees better understand the direction of the company. For example, employees may be worried about slow sales and feel you should be considering a different approach. And you actually do have a different approach that’s beginning to show results but you have not yet shared it with your employees.

As a leader you have opportunities every day to listen and act on good information and good advice. And you also have opportunities to quickly correct misperceptions. Use it swiftly and sincerely; it will help build a better organization.

Copyright 2010 Kubica & LaForest

Wouldn’t it be nice if your employees always did what you asked them to do, when you asked them to do it, to have the effect you told them it would have? Well it wouldn’t be nice at all. What’s unfortunate, however, is that there are leaders in organizations who truly believe this is possible – that it is a worthy goal to pursue. It’s not; it’s a fool’s quest. And even if you did get this to happen (to get your employees to be absolutely compliant) you would be very disappointed. Why? Because the worst possible thing your employees can do is to do exactly what you ask them to do.

OK hold on. Before you get caught up in managerial self-righteousness, think about it. You have employees who are customer facing, you have sales people who interact with clients and prospects every day; you have back office people. You have a team of employees whose job it is to make the organization successful. And yet somehow you think you know more than they do. Interesting.

So let’s examine what happens. You walk into a work area, find what you believe is inefficiency, tell the employees to stop wasting their time and then you proceed to tell them exactly what they should be spending their time on – then you leave. Or in an executive team meeting you express dissatisfaction with organizational performance and you proceed to tell each executive what they should be doing to improve their area – adjourn the meeting, and then you leave.

What have you accomplished? Actually the best answer would be nothing, but unfortunately that is not what happened. What you have done is create what is referred to as the “shadow organization”. That is the unofficial organization that has it’s own hierarchy, leadership and network. Its primary form of communication is “whispering”.  And after your pontification, you just activated the network, initiated a new whispering campaign that spreads your outburst throughout the organization and not in a complimentary way – and it works faster than email (employees can text, tweet, instant message, or worst of all, use social media channels).

When we talk with executives about this, a phrase we often hear is: I don’t have time to waste explaining the obvious. Obvious to whom? Certainly not your staff. Change by fiat rarely works and the time you save telling them what to do, you lose in productivity as they complain to one another about you and why it can’t be done. Bright, competent and talented employees do not take well to input based on the absence of facts. Sure it takes time to change, but change that employees understand and can buy into on the front end is meaningful change that makes the organization better. When you spend time on organizational improvement – spend it on the front end.

In this week’s Quick Tips we will provide ideas on how to avoid feeding the “shadow” organization.

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest