Every organization has a group of people that have tremendous influence without titles.  Oftentimes these can be the most influential in changing culture.  These are also the individuals with tremendous potential for future development that has yet to be realized.  A formal training program can be helpful, but generally wasted because since these individuals do not have titles, direct reports, etc. the opportunity to put into practice actions and recommendations from some book or training course are nonexistent.  As informal leaders, they deserve an informal engagement program that will provide opportunities to develop.  I have begun using two methods of engagement.  One is focused time with me and small groups of them during which I share the vision for company growth, vision for the culture we are trying to create and encourage their personal development.  I laid out specific expectations for their personal development, including leadership content intake to build their foundation and leading up.  If they will be great direct reports by leading up, sharing their goals for themselves and expectations of their direct leadership, it will totally change the dynamic of their relationship with their supervisor.  It will also provide real life interaction in a leadership setting even if they happen to be on the other side of the equation at the moment.  The second method of engagement is to place them on cross-functional teams working on the most important projects inside the company.  In some cases they work with leaders that have positions, sometimes they are in groups without established leadership, forcing them to step up.

This is actually a new area of engagement for my team and me.  I was making the mistake of overlooking the intentional development of this group.  Now, I am more excited about engaging this group than any formal program we have going.  This is going to make a huge difference inside our organization.

Remember, riots and revolutions are hardly ever started by people with leadership job descriptions!