I was alerted to a recent Fortune Magazine article, The Hidden Workplace, by an attendee of one of my recent workshops. The information is based on a study by Katzenbach Partners, The Informal Organization, which I have just requested. The article includes a great example of creating a network by tapping the “go to” people, the influencers in a large organization and making them the spearhead for change.

They have also devised a short quiz for an “organizational quotient” (OQ) that is actually a very good primer on some of the principles of good net work that I learned from Rob Cross, including working through your network to get work done, mindfully managing your personal network to ensure diversity of ideas and access to people at various levels in the organization, and listening to what is going on in the organization — paying attention to the informal networks.