Why Your Learning Program Needs Company Influencers and How to Identify Them

Rolling out an employee development program for your organization is a big initiative, and requires the support of your company influencers to be successful. These influencers are the top 3-5% of your organization who, despite being a small group, influence close to 40% of the morale and engagement of your total organization.

As digital learning and development professionals, it’s critical to understand why your learning program needs company influencers, how to identify and engage them, and how to measure success. We’ll explore all of these topics in our three-part series in partnership with Performica.

Understanding the Role of Company Influencers in Learning Programs

Company influencers are individuals who are well-respected, admired, and have a significant influence on their peers. By enlisting these influencers as allies, you can increase the reach and impact of your learning and development (L&D) programs, making them more effective in achieving your organization’s goals.

Boosting Employee Learning and Engagement With Help From Company Influencers

When it comes to rolling out a new learning initiative in your organization it’s important to remember that it’s not just about the initiative itself–it’s also about how you get your employees engaged and invested in the program. One key factor in that equation is your company influencers.

 The reason these influencers are so important to your learning program is that they can create momentum and excitement around the program, which is critical to its success. When these influencers are excited about the learning program, actively participating, and encouraging others to participate, it creates a “ripple effect” that leads to broader engagement across the organization.

Research shows that employees who feel their managers are supportive of their learning and development are more engaged and motivated at work. In fact, a survey by LinkedIn Learning found that 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.

 When your company influencers are on board with your learning initiative, it sends a clear message to the rest of the organization that this is an important priority for the company as a whole. This is especially true when many of those influencers are in leadership–and they often are. The support of company influencers can help to create a culture of learning within the organization, where continuous development is valued and encouraged. By enlisting these influential colleagues as advocates for your learning program, you also create a more motivated, engaged, and invested workforce–and that’s a win for everyone involved.

 So, how can you get your company influencers on board with your learning program? We’ll dive into that in Part 2 of this series, but one key takeaway here is that it’s important to identify these influencers early on in the planning process, and to engage with them directly and strategically as you roll out the program.

Identifying the Top 3-5% of Company Influencers

The most critical step in leveraging company influencers for your learning initiative (or anything else) is identifying them either manually or using technology like Performica. You’ll want to ensure you identify both the influencers who are good at self-promotion and those who are stealth influencers. Stealth influencers are those employees whose colleagues come to them for information because they are known for being great employees. Leadership often may be unaware these individuals are influencers because they are quieter, less obvious choices for leaders, and may be from diverse backgrounds or areas of the company.

 These influencers are the employees who have the power to influence the decisions and actions of others within the company, as their morale and engagement correlates with about half of the organization’s network. These influencers may be executives, managers, high-performing employees, or even new hires who have already made an impact.

 Manually identifying influencers can be a tedious process, but it allows you to understand their impact on the company culture, work ethics, and overall performance. Talk to employees and colleagues to get insights into who has the most influence and who inspires others to do better. Assess their behaviors, attitudes, and work ethics to find out what makes them stand out.

 Technology-based influencer identification tools like Performica use data analytics to assess communication and collaboration tools to identify 100% of your influencers with minimal effort, combining passive digital trace data with survey data to truly understand working relationships.

 Identifying company influencers is a crucial first step in gaining their support for your learning initiative, whether you find these individuals manually or using technology. By getting your company’s influencers on board with your new learning program, the odds of program success go way up, and the new program is received much more positively by your community. We’ll explore strategies for gaining the support of company influencers in Part 2 of this series.