ABSTRACT
Managers need to align in their views of strategic priorities in order for organizations to deploy strategic processes adaptively. Consensus around priorities emerges through informal, as well as formal, communication and leadership channels. However, senior leaders are often unaware of how informal channels shape strategic alignment and performance. This chapter presents a case study which leverages organizational network analysis to uncover the patterns of communication and leadership across groups of managers in an organization responding to the new challenges and business opportunities created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our case reveals how senior leaders gained insight into the functioning of their organization by better understanding the features of their strategic leadership networks. We identified crucial issues including insufficient upward influence, a lack of trust within and across groups, and poor alignment in views of strategic priorities. The organization translated these insights into action by revising its strategic plans and establishing new practices to spur collaboration, alignment, and coordination across group boundaries. Our approach helps companies diagnose network vulnerabilities and take steps to develop and deliver on their organizational missions.
