net work creating and sustaining successful networks

Creating and Sustaining Successful Networks

This is Net Work.

Patti Anklam May 6, 2010

• Themes from Net Work– Attributes of networks– Tools for net work– Networks and leadership– Networks and innovation

• Social media– The changing landscape of connectedness– Innovation engines

Agenda

Patti Anklam May 2010 2

Networks and Net Work

We live in networks all the time


• There is science to support the understanding of network structure

• The structure of a network provides insights into how the network “works”

• Once you understand the structure, you can make decisions about how to manage the network’s context

We live in networks of people

5

Source: MWH Global, Vic Gulas

Our organizations are linked


Source: Laurie Lock Lee, http://www.optimice.com.au

Ideas are networks


The world wide web is vast

Patti Anklam May 2010 8http://www.ics.uci.edu/~wscacchi/Tech-EC/EC-EB/Internet-map.gif

Networks in our bodies are miniscule


http://images.iop.org/objects/phw/world/21/10/31/PWnow1_10-08.jpg

What do we notice about these networks?


• Any set of relationships is a network– Person-person– Group-group– Cross-enterprise– Cross-business– Information artifacts– Web sites– Atoms and molecules

• A network is a collection of entities linked by a type of relationship

• All networks have common properties and can be analyzed

Purpose

Structure

Style

Value

Properties

Networks

Business

LearningIdea

Cause

Purpose

Family & Personal


Your networks


Personal

Business

Cause

Learning

Idea

Learning Networks


• Global Professional Associations

• Face-to-Face Local Groups

• Mailing lists

• Online Communities

• Conferences

Structure

15

Core/Periphery Hub and Spoke

Stovepipes (Silos) Emergent

Patterns of network growth


Source of network maps: Valdis Krebs and June Holley

Emergent Hub-and-Spoke Multi-hub Core Periphery

Time

Where most network-building begins

Self-sustaining network

• Team networks– Closely knit, focused on purpose

• Organizational networks– Balanced cross-boundary

connections– Ensure access to expertise where

it is needed– Strong core

• Innovation networks– Links to external resources– Diversity from the periphery

Structure must support purpose


Patterns for different types of work

18

Functional Need Effective Network Pattern

Complex knowledge transfer (teams)Strong tiesPeople aware of each other’s knowledge

Simple knowledge transferWeak ties are sufficient

Simple coordinationHub and spoke network

Transformation, change managementStrong ties from the hub to central connectors in sub-networks

Complex coordinationDense, de-centralized network

InnovationExtensive weak ties to diverse groups

Public good, field & policy networksStrong and multiple ties to diverse groups

Elements of Style


• Place

• Space

• Pace

• Style of interaction

Value


Understanding value

EveryNetworkProducesValue


©Truman Company

So what is “net work?”


• Ability to create, examine, and shape a network’s properties

• Stewardship of the connections in the network

• Managing the network’s context

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND NETWORKS?


Organizational forms are changing


Dimension “Old” Model “New”

Structure/Control Hierarchical, designed, command & control

Network, emergent, self-managing

Relationships Competitive Cooperative

Roles Formal, fixed Informal, organic

Decision-making Rational Intuitive, synthesizing

Management is Done TO People Done WITH People

Top Management Sets Direction, manages implementation

Creates enabling environment

Metaphor Cathedral Bazaar

Performance at Work


• In corporations:– High performers have better

networks– People with better networks

stay in their jobs longer– Network-savvy managers

are more likely to be promoted

– People with higher social capital coordinate projectsmore effectively

“Teaching Executives to See Social Capital”University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, November 2005

Ron BurtDon Ronchi

Impact on Attendees of Business Leadership Program (BLP) at Raytheon Corporation

Quality of Life

• In life:– People with strong networks have

a better chance of full recovery from heart attacks

– We are defined by the networks we are in• Obesity studies• Smokers

– The greater our sense of community, the healthier we are


Managing Intellectual Assets: Knowledge Management


1st Generation 2st Generation 3rd Generation

Explicit Tacit Emergent

Content Collaboration Connection

Artifacts Individuals The Network

Networks and innovation

• It’s about Capacity:– Existing capacity – where are the

existing pathways?– Potential capacity – does the

environment support the creation of new pathways?

• Work Practices– Idea Generation: leveraging brokers early to help identify

opportunities, frame solutions, and test initial viability.– Idea Implementation: leveraging well-connected network

members to help design the solution (and implementation) and identify and link to key resources

Tools for Net Work

• Design• Transition• Examination

Network Design


• New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI)– Transformation of healthcare– Based on collaboration

among all constituentsto identify and solvespecific systemicproblems

– Healthy interpersonalnetworks was a happyside effect

Network Discovery


Many people think that all post-Katrina recovery efforts are fragmented and failing. Although many of the formal organizations are falling over each other, and over the debris that is still in the streets, community networks are self-organizing and emerging in New Orleans and elsewhere in the devastated region …

http://www.networkweaving.com/blog/2006/09/nola-networks.html

Design Elements


Network Individual

Top-down Emergent

Closed Open

Outcome Discovery

Transaction Knowledge

Tangible Intangible

Change orTransition

Networks Transition


Purpose Design Grow Perform

Completion &

Celebration

What drives transition?– Plans to reassess– Discovery– Internal change– External events

Examination: Organizational Network Analysis


…a targeted approach to improving collaboration and network connectivity where they yield greatest payoff for an organization – Rob Cross & Andrew Parker

… a mathematical and visual analysis of flows / relationships / influence between people, groups, organizations, computers or other information/ knowledge processing entities – Valdis Krebs

Examination: Value Network Analysis


• Value Network Analysis (VNA)– Pioneered by Verna Allee, a rich methodology– View of the web of relationships that generates economic or social value

A senior VP in the professional services arm of a large telecommunications equipment provider said that it was “scary” that the customer feedback from the delivery of services went only to the operational arm of the company and not the organization charged to innovate in service development.

Examination: Complex Sense-making


• Sensemaking framework – “Cynefin”– Developed by Dave Snowden at IBM, now an open source framework

maintained by Cognitive Edge PLC– View of the context of a problem or situation as revealed by anecdotes or

stories

Distinguishing among the nature and context of specific events, problems, or potential courses of actions makes it possible to select the appropriate method for moving forward. Sense

CategoriseRespond

SenseSenseAnalyseAnalyseRespondRespond

ProbeProbeSenseSense

RespondRespond

ActSense

Respond

Simple

ComplicatedComplicatedComplexComplex

Chaotic

• Conversations for Sensemaking– OpenSpace, World Café…– Dialog, AI (Appreciative Inquiry)

• Reformulate the mission/value proposition• Change the patterns of the relationships• Reposition the network, market to new potential members• Make adjustments to place, space, and pace• Empower leadership changes

Tools for Transitions


There are few new tools, but thinking in network terms alters the way we use the tools at hand

Managing in Complexity


• You can’t manage a network, you can only manage its context• Slight alterations in the structure can create significant change

over time• But you must first look

to understand thecontext

• All examinations arealso interventions

Probe

Sense

Respond

Understand the context

Methods are already to hand

Desired Pattern Changes Practices and Approaches

Create more connections Make introductions through meetings and webinars, face-to-face events (like knowledge fairs); implement social software or social network referral software; social network stimulation

Increase the flow of knowledge Establish collaborative workspaces, install instant messaging systems, make existing knowledge bases more accessible and usable

Discover connections Implement expertise location and/or; discovery systems; social software; social networking applications

Decentralize Social software; blogs, wikis; shift knowledge to the edge

Connect disconnected clusters Establish knowledge brokering roles; expand communication channels

Create more trusted relationships Assign people to work on projects together

Alter the behavior of individual nodes

Create awareness of the impact of an individual’s place in a network; educate employees on personal knowledge networking

Increase diversity Add nodes; connect and create networks; encourage people to bring knowledge in from their networks in the world

The Leader’s Net Work


• Weave

• Steward

• Embrace technology

• Create the capacity for net work

Weave


A

C

B

A

C

B

A

C

B

• Close triangles

• Know the net, knit the net

• Make introductions

Steward


• Pay attention to change triggers• Manage the context

• Enhance trust

• Clarify roles and responsibilities

• Manage complexity• Prepare for

emergencehttp ://www.gfs.com/en/about-us/stewardship.page

“One consistently surprising aspect of social software is that it is impossible to predict in advance all of the social dynamics it will create.” – Clay Shirky

Embrace Technology


• Take small steps

• Practice

• Find friends to practice with

Create Capacity


• Reward good network behaviors• Encourage outreach• Bring the outside in• Establish and transmit norms

for networking• Enhance skills in using

collaborative networkingtechnologieshttp://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/images/impact/capacity.jpg

Innovation


• Remove barriers

• Enable the culture

• Change work practices

• Design the network

Barriers


• Fragmentation – Lack of integration along functional lines– “Handoff” of ideas rather than joint development– Process/review inefficiencies

• Domination– Small number of people hold fast to established model– Network overly influenced by a few people

• Insularity– Access to external resources spread across a lot of people (i.e. not just a

few people know the external sources)

Driving results through Social Networks: How Top Organizations Leverage Networks for Performance and Growth, Rob Cross and Robert J. Thomas, Jossey-Bass, 2009

Practices


• Create network-centric ability to sense and respond– Network weaving – awareness of who knows what

• Develop an ability to test and refine an opportunity• Work through people in specific network positions• Leverage energy• Ensure that organizational context supports

collaboration– Budget– Incentives, motivation

Driving results through Social Networks: How Top Organizations Leverage Networks for Performance and Growth, Rob Cross and Robert J. Thomas, Jossey-Bass, 2009

Where Networks Live, Now


Where these networks live, nowPersonal Networks

Play Work

Personal Net Work


• …and what you know about them

• …and what they know about you

• … and what you are learning, together

• … and how you work at that

IT’S WHO KNOWS YOU.

Social Media Practices

• Leverage technology to discover networks• Encourage the use of technology

• “Network productivity trumps personal productivity*”


*Stowe Boyd, “Flow: A New Consciousness For A Web Of Traffic”, http://www.stoweboyd.com/message/files/flow.pdf

Finding and Making Connections



• Enhance trust



emergence

• Research people• Find connections• Make yourself findable• Manage your profile

Keeping Track/Maintaining Connection



• Enhance trust



emergence

• Family, Friends, Colleagues intermixed

• Easy to look up “friends in common”

• Photos and videos engage • Easy to acknowledge

others

Keeping Up


• A network of ideas• Follow who others follow• Show people you are

listening• Be in the flow

Tweetdeck filters and focuses Patti Anklam May 2010 55

Reading Blogs


• Subscribe to news that interests you

• Your “daily paper,” customized

• Organized the way that you want to read

Writing Blogs


• Write about what interests you

• Think out loud• Engage people who may

want to share experiences

Tagging


• Research tool• Find others • Share my learning

Social Learning


Innovation Engines


Integratingsocial media into innovation processes and practices

Innocentive


Spigit

• Idea market• Voting and ranking• Commenting• Conversations


Net Work =

http://quilting.about.com/od/picturesofquilts/ig/Alzheimer-s-Quilts/The-Ties-that-Bind.htm

A new way to see: The network lens

• You can design a network

– Selecting appropriate elements of purpose and style

• You can examine it– Looking at its structure,

value flow, or relationships

• You can create or respond to change

– By understanding the network’s context and its properties



This is Net Work.

• Patti [email protected]://pattianklam.com/

• http://www.twitter.com/panklam • Blog:

http://pattianklam.com/blog

Net Work: A Practical Guide to Creating, Leveraging and Sustaining Networks at Work and In the World

Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann 2007

mailto:[email protected]

http://pattianklam.com/

http://pattianklam.com/

http://www.twitter.com/panklam



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