What do networks do? They:
· create new things, knowledge, products, solutions
· learn and disseminate knowledge
· innovate and generate new ideas and solutions
· generate and allocate resources with needs
· advocate and influence public policy
· support and build capacity by connecting individuals to share resources and foster belonging
· solve problems, achieve goals and particularly when they are intentional.
Networks primary aim is around sharing information and dissemination. But they can and do, do so much more! We’re learning that networks can act big without being big, get things done quickly, can involve more people, skills, and intelligence for the common good and produce higher quality outcomes impacts because they allow for connection, coordination, collaboration and competition.
Some basics around network thinking:
Networks are all about relationships or 'social capital'; the ties that bind us together, the glue that holds the community together. Robert Putnam, who coined the term 'social capital', also talks about bonding capital (relationships of trust) and bridging capital (inter-relationships among and between).
When thinking about networks you can think about them in a whole lot of ways, but it can be helpful to create a common language. As we get thinking about networks we can start thinking about the following metrics:
· Awareness – how likely is it that information will spread throughout the network. Influence: who do people look to in the network?
· Connectors: who links people who would not be connected?
· Resilience: how dependent is the network on a few people?
· Integration: what is the overall health of the network?
Network Components:
The network is the structure upon which the community dances and self organizes and there are primary structures and components including:
· the core (the central purpose or project)
· links (connections between individuals)
· clusters (siloed groups)
· nodes (clusters that come together)
· weavers (people who bring others together and close the triangle).
There are 3 basic types of networks:
· Connectivity: for easy flow of access to information.
· Alignment: for a similar purpose and collective values.
· Production: moves beyond shared values and fosters projects and activities by aligned people and organizations.
And there are common characteristics that all networks have including:
· Centrality
· Coherence
· Range
· Content
· Directedness
· Durability
· Intensity
· Frequency
· Rearrange-ability
· Blocking.
It's important to think about how your network is structured, where the links are, where the blocks are so you can think about how to enhance it. Look at it’s resilience, durability, what would strengthen it, what would weaken it. It’s not a healthy thing to have the network based on one’s person’s shoulders. There can also be different types of blockers, not just people. For example, technology can be a blocker or a barrier if there isn’t good connectivity in some communities, capacity level to use online tools etc.
The Importance of Weavers:
Weavers in particular, are the people who intentionally, informally – and often serendipitously – weave new and richer connections between and among people, groups and entities in networks. They also weave new and richer connections between and among networks. Weavers actively make the introductions, they don’t wait or act passively.
The key task of the network builder in a connectivity network is about rapid growth and easy sharing of info. In an alignment network, there’s an adaptive capacity. The weaver’s role is to evolve the shared values. In a production network, the weaver’s role is to assist joint actions for specific outcomes.
Network Wisdom/ Learnings:
There are a number of network paradoxes within networks including chaos and order; learning and teaching; stewardship and agency; individual and organizational, verb and noun (networking – network); formal and informal, homogenous and heterogenous. A healthy network needs to think about how they navigate these tensions.
Smart networks encourage self-organizing across divides, we acknowledge organic growth (that they will go where the energy is), they should allow for new strategies for innovation and collaboration. Also:
· Diversity is important
· Birds of a feather flock together naturally
· Robust networks have diverse paths between nodes
· Some nodes have more prominence than others
· There are a lot of indirect links
· Shorter average path links are better for work flow, info exchange and knowledge sharing
· Information percolates quickly when the nodes are shorter connected
· Strength of weak ties: these are often found between clusters and they have that bridging role. The connections are not as frequent but they may bring several clusters together.
· Mash-ups happen when two disparate / different things come together and then something entirely new emerges.
· Structural holes are when there are no connections between groups: there are huge gaps. There is role/ value in bridging structural holes and an opportunity to broker the flow of information people, projects, organizations, sectors etc.
· The law of preferential attachment occurs in networks: in other words they create more for those who invest more.
Advice for Network Builders:
As your network develops, you need to identify the pockets of interest and energy by creating a ‘proof of concept’. Then you start with a working group, bring them together to guide the evolution of the broader network. Experiential learning, pilots, case studies, examples and provide people with enough information to encourage them to think it’s worthwhile. Also show who else cares about this. You need quick wins or chewable chunks to build trust and value. People need to see some results or progress early on. You need some ‘doing’ pieces as well as the visioning pieces. Look for patterns and where the energy is. There also may be parts of your network that may not be active at certain times.
Network values: some are implicit – but they should also be explicit (stated). How do they make decisions; is there reciprocity (contributing and not just taking); are there sustainable practices? It’s really important to clarify expectations in order to foster commitment.
Sometimes you hit a critical mass and opting out can occur because people feel over-whelmed by the information. You need to always think about the relevance of the content broadcasted.
Any network thinking about innovation needs to pay attention to what’s happening on the periphery. Rather than having the same cast of characters, bring new people in (strange bed fellows or ‘mash-ups’). Often we get too used to our own perception and need that jolt.
Networks aren’t always the answer: they may not provide enough return, coordination costs can be high but are often hidden (people don’t realize how much actually goes into them) etc. But they are effective for building relationships with diverse people, disperse responsibility, can generate new possibilities, they can help hierarchies, they can harness a diverse work force etc.
Getting started:
· Map your network
· Analyze it and look for patterns
· Listen to your network, collect data, stories, analyze shifts, do surveys, focus groups, create feed-back loops etc.
· Learn how to shape and guide it, develop strategies to enhance it
· Be a network weaver and identify, encourage and support other network weavers.
To Think Like a Network you need to:
· Be organic and intentional
· Recognize individual, organizational, cross-sectoral
· Think about the concepts, tools, learnings and promising practices
· Look at the structures, mapping, patterns, weaving, listening and values.
Links:
Ted talks: Seth Godin on the Tribes We Lead.
Barb McMillan's Thinking Like a Network power point presentation and handouts:
