We are surrounded by Individuals who shape our perception of the events around us. In marketing parlance, these individuals are called ‘opinion leaders’ – people who use their status and reputation to influence others to perform a desired action. But whether we call them opinion leaders, mentors or confidantes, they are the ones who we look up to when we need inputs, advice or interpretation. Think of the colleague who everyone, even the boss, seeks advice from ….. Or the one who has a reputation for the ‘little guys’ in the team. We admire them because they have qualities we hold in high esteem- courage, talent, a level-headed attitude, intelligence or empathy. These leaders may not necessarily be powerful and exalted authority figures; in fact, they may embody values such as rebellion (against established norms) or intolerance (for what is perceived as unfair).However, they command influence by virtue of these very qualities. Such people are found everywhere, especially organizations that are large in size where communication inequities exist and teams are cloistered in their own corners.

WHY WE LISTEN TO THEM

 As mentioned above, every organization and team has certain ‘opinion leaders’ who hold sway over the thoughts and actions of their colleagues. Experts dub these leaders ‘people’s people’, since they combine a mix of knowledge experience, personal charisma and understanding of human issues.

“These leaders enjoy an ‘emotional endorsement’ from the people of the organization,” says Vikram Shah, President- India Operations, Network Appliance Systems ( India), adding, “They speak for the mass at large because of a better empathetic understanding of the people around, facilitated by that emotional endorsement”

So if an employee has an issue, he would rather go to the person he is comfortable with, i.e. the consensual leader, because he knows that he will not be given a cold shoulder or empty promises. What this also means is that opinion leaders, over time become veritable storehouses of valuable information that can be tapped for the common good.

GOOD, BAD OR EVIL?

Opinion Leaders hold the power to mould perceptions with in a team or indeed, an organization. This power could either benefit or cause detriment to the ‘organizational Cause’. Some managers believe that internal thought leaders help contribute to a balanced flow of communication between different Hierarchies and can take the organization forward by transiting its values down to the very last person. One of these managers is Devashish Ghosh, Executive Vice president, Global Operations, Aptara who says,” Thought leaders at various levels add to intellectual capital of the organization. This is especially helpful when the organization is poised for growth.”

But Binoo Wadhwa, Director—People strategy, Sapient,Demures. She feels that an environment that necessitates internal thought leaders or ‘parallel leaders’ is one that is crying out for better democracy and transparency. Wadwa is more in favor of an environment that build consensus with people and help them align with company decisions and policies, eliminating the need to have specific opinion leaders to change mindsets’.

ENGAGING OPINION LEADERS

 But like it or not, opinion leaders do exists and many feel it is critical to identity them for a number of purposes. Consulting opinion leaders could also be especially important when it comes to policy decisions that affect a large number of people. They could also form your leadership pipeline, since they already enjoy the trust of those around them. Additionally, ignoring opinion leaders or denying them credibility could result in them leave your company – and the damage caused by this wouldn’t be restricted to your getting a bad reputation. You might also lose people who follow their leader on his or her way out.

Therefore, it is important that organizations strive to communicate withy them and ensure that such opinion leaders are ‘positive towards the organization’, as Siva Ramakrishna says. He further adds, “If they are negatively biased, all change management in the organization could get delayed or could fall.” But it’s not about picking out the influential people and getting them on your side. A popular leader who becomes a management stooge is quickly found out and abandoned by his colleagues. And any effort to connive with opinion leaders will similarly end in disaster.” The question of losing credibility comes when there’s an environment of mistrust. Losing credibility comes in when there’s an Attempt to deploy a ‘management’s guy’ rather identifying a ‘people’s leader/thought leader’,” says Shah.

At the same time, neither should one assume that opinion leaders are some sort of lab our union heads, who needs constant appeasement. While approaching opinion heads, one should remember that one is, in effect, speaking to large segment of the employee populace. Therefore, finding out what the leader thinks and acting on the mutually acceptable suggestions that he or she makes could prove to be an enlightening exercise. Further, telling these leaders exactly what the organization expects from them and their colleagues and keeping them in the know about critical issues is beneficial for all concerned.