strategy+business^ issue^9876
increasingly aware of their impact, and this explicit attention makes their impact
all the more powerful. In the end, the formal leaders are not just participating in
their own leadership experience. They are creating a cultural movement that will
scale through the entire enterprise, allowing them to treat many more employees
as decision makers.The movement: Employee experience
Around the same time that the first new-style leadership meeting of our
example company was held, the CEO and a few top-level collaborators
identified 100 authentic informal leaders (AILs) throughout the enterprise —
about 1 percent of the total workforce, balanced across businesses, functions,
and geographies. AIL is a term defined by Jon Katzenbach, James Thomas,
Gretchen Anderson, and their colleagues at the Katzenbach Center. Their
book, The Critical Few, describes AILs as people who are “already, in their
daily lives and jobs, demonstrating just the kinds of behaviors that you want to
encourage and promote.”
Because previous transformation efforts had not worked out, one of the
prevailing moods at the company was skepticism, including doubts about the
intention and capability of the top formal leaders. So the first order of business
was to gain credibility through results. The AILs were pulled out of their regular
jobs for a three-week intensive training session on customer and employee
experience. It was understood that when they returned to their previous roles,
they would help others develop similar skills and attitudes.
Most project teams soon had a trained AIL in place, plus all the customer
experience data that had been gathered, and data about their own employee
experience. Some were charged with redesigning customer experience; others
with creating innovative approaches to their own everyday work; and still
others with launching new products, services, or methods. They were immersed
in constant learning of digital skills and personal skills (such as managing
complexity, applying mindfulness, and dealing with multiple perspectives),
often through pop-up modules on their smartphones. They also participated in
regular online surveys in which they assessed their own and others’ behavior
changes and provided feedback.fea
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