BI-201b · Module 3

Navigating Power Centers

3 min read

Every organization has power centers — clusters of stakeholders whose collective influence disproportionately shapes outcomes. A power center might be the CTO and their three most trusted technical leaders. It might be the executive leadership team that meets informally every Thursday afternoon. It might be a cross-functional group that formed around a previous strategic initiative and still operates as an informal advisory body. Identifying and navigating these power centers is the advanced practice of stakeholder intelligence.

The navigation strategy depends on the power center's composition and disposition. A power center that is aligned with your solution needs reinforcement: give them ammunition to advocate on your behalf internally. A power center that is opposed needs neutralization: address their specific concerns before they become the consensus position. A power center that is unaware of your solution needs activation: find the entry point — the one person in the cluster who is accessible — and work through them to reach the rest.

Do This

  • Identify every power center in the organization — there are usually two to four informal clusters that drive major decisions
  • Find the entry point to each power center — the one member who is most accessible or most inclined to listen
  • Provide power centers with materials designed for internal discussion — they will advocate using your language if you give them the right words

Avoid This

  • Try to bypass a power center that opposes you — they will learn about it and opposition will harden into active resistance
  • Address power center members only individually — the center's power comes from collective discussion; address the concerns that will arise in that discussion
  • Assume formal authority overrides informal power centers — a CEO who overrules a united power center wins the battle but often loses the implementation