Net Work: The new leadership challenge

1. Net Work: The new leadership challenge Patti Anklam Hutchinson Associates June 14, 2006

2. Outline • Why networks matter • Ways to look at networks • The leader’s Net Work • Organizational network analysis (ONA) • Creating networked organizations • Personal network management • Building network-able staff • The opportunity for information professionals

3. Networks Matter • The complexity of work in today’s world is such that no one can understand – let alone complete – atask alone • Individual-individual • Team-team • Company-company • Strong networks are correlated with health: • People with stronger personal networks are healthier, happier, and better performers • Companies who know how to manage alliances are more flexible, adaptive and resilient

4. Human Structural Social Capital Customer Social capital is the medium of exchange in creating wealth and knowledge • “Social capital consists of • the stock of active connections among people; • the trust, mutual understanding, and • shared values and behaviors • that bind the members of human networks and communities and make cooperative action possible.” Intellectual capital Larry Prusak & Don CohenIn Good Company Financial

5. Connections … among people Map: MWH Global, Vic Gulas

6. …among groups Source: Verna Allee

7. … across industries Source: Laurie Lock Lee

8. … and that ain’t all…

9. What do we notice about these maps? • Any set of relationships is a network • Person-person • Group-group • Cross-enterprise • Cross-business • Information artifacts • A network is a collection of nodes linked by a type of relationship

10. There are repetitive patterns that are common to many types of network • Silos (stovepipes) • Isolated clusters • Highly central people or functions • Marginalized voices • External connectivity • Distinct roles and influence

11. And we can relate the formal to the informal networks The Hidden Power of Social Networks,Rob Cross and Andrew Parker

12. What do we not see in the maps? • Insights into the core properties of networks by multi-disciplinary reach across social & managerial sciences, computers, and mathematics

13. What is the Net Work for Leaders? • Attending to networks inside the organization • Networking the organization with other organizations • Managing your personal network • Develop staff to be network-abled

14. ONA: A management tool for attending to organizational networks • A high-level map of the communication and power structure in an organization • A way to present this view the organization as a sense-making intervention • Insights into key individuals in an organization – regardless of their formal position • A tool that aids in identifying targeted organizational change interventions

15. Organizational networks and knowledge transfer • Work (knowledge, decisions, problem-solving, meaning) flows along existing pathways in organizations. • To understand the flow, find out what patterns exist. • Create interventions to create, reinforce, or change the patterns to guide change toward a desired outcome. I frequently or very frequently receive information from this person that I need to do my job.

16. (1) Start with a business objective • Baseline for collaboration improvements • Organizational sense-making • Adjunct diagnostic for other KM or organizational change programs Business Week, February 27, 2006

17. (2) Design the project • What are the boundaries of the network? • What do you want to know about this network: • Collaborative capacity? • Ease of knowledge flow? • Decision-making paths? • Potential for innovation? • Who are the stakeholders? Qui bono?

18. (2) Relationships revealing collaborative capacity (From Hidden Power of Social Networks by Cross and Parker)

19. (2) Relationships revealing network potential

20. (2) Relationships revealing network rigidity

21. (2) Relationships revealing organizational dynamics

22. (3) Ready the organization • Assess organizational readiness • Do the culture and leadership support transparency? • Is the organization too fearful to respond honestly? • Craft messages • Commit to improve working environment so that everyone can work more effectively • Be sensitive to how the data will be handled and used • Find champions • Build buzz

23. (4) Survey the organization

24. (5) Review the results I frequently or very frequently receive information from this person that I need to do my job. Responses of “frequently” or “very frequently”

25. (6) Explore metrics that provide deeper insights based on the structure • Structural • Density (cohesion) • Distance (degrees of separation) • Ratio of connections between internal (to group) and external (to other groups) • Centrality – Identifying Key People • Brokers (people who move information around the organization) • Potential bottlenecks • Under-appreciated connectors

26. (6) Some metrics reveal the structure of the whole and the cross-boundary reach Density. Data provides the percentage of information-getting relationships that exist out of the possible number that could exist. It is not a goal to have 100%, but to target the junctures where improved collaboration could have a business benefit.

27. (6) Metrics can also pinpoint leadership roles • Degree • most likely to influence and be influenced directly • Closeness • most likely to find out first • Betweenness • most likely to broker and synthesize diverse info • Eigenvector • most likely to influence and be in the know

28. (6) Patterns of individual roles

29. = Product Line A = Operations = Small Accounts = Product Line B = Product Line C = Large Accounts (7) Validate the results • Does what you see reflect your intuition? • Can you explain the surprises?

30. = Product Line A = Operations = Small Accounts = Product Line B = Product Line C = Large Accounts Removing key people (8) Play “What if” Network Measures Density = 15% Distance = 2.6 Centrality = 6 I frequently or very frequently receive information from this person that I need to do my job.

31. (9) Create a dialogue to generate ideas for action • Organizational • Leadership work • Restructuring and process redesign • Staffing and role development • Developing Networks • Tools and technologies (expertise locators, discussion forums, and so on) • Collaborative knowledge exchange and getting acquainted sessions • Individual action • Personal and public • Personal and private

32. (9) Draw on knowledge networking practices from the KM repertoire

33. (10) Follow up • Communicate actions • Survey again after a period of time

34. Network Analysis Challenges • Ethical considerations of use • There is no “good number” • Getting as full a sample as possible. • Bounding the network • Connections outside the organization • Remembering that this is only a snapshot in time and that its purpose is to ask good questions, not to provide answers • Managing it as an intervention

35. How are companies using ONA? • Organizational change • Identifying key influencers for strategic change or restructuring • Monitor integration of staff following mergers and acquisitions • Communities of Practice • Detecting and bridging gaps • Measuring return on investment • Improving Collaboration • Identify weaknesses • Team building • Bridging Relationships • Mergers and acquisitions • Partner strategy • Leadership development • Talent management • Succession planning • Innovation • Connecting people and ideas • Identifying key energy sources in an organization • Knowledge management • Identifying expertise • Assessing connectivity and access of existing knowledge assets • The lost knowledge problem

36. COP Health Check • What is impact of geographical distribution? • How connected are people within each country? • Are the people in the middle connectors or bottlenecks? Source: http://www.robcross.org/sna10.htm

37. The “Lost Knowledge Problem” Red = retire in 2 years or less Yellow = 3 to 4 years Green = 5 years or later. Source: Valdis Krebs

38. Post-Merger Integration

39. What we learned from working with ONA • Understanding the internal organization dynamics begs the question about how we relate outside • Many organizations have been dealing with the problems of relationship management for a very long time • Partnerships and alliances • R&D networks • Collaboration across the value chain • But the topic of networked organizations is reaching top of mind • And focus on the structure of networks and the tools for analysis brings more power to the task

40. The task: Changing to networked organization models

41. Who’s doing it? Government agencies • As governments rely less on public employees and more on a web of partnerships and contracts to do the government’s work, how well an agency manages networks contributes as much to its successes and failures as how well it manages its own public employees. Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector, Stephen Goldsmith and William D. Eggers

42. Who’s doing it? New England Health Care Institute (NEHI) Academic Health Centers Pharmaceutical Companies Professional Services Firms Medical Schools Medical Device Companies NEHI Employers Research Organizations Payers Biotechnology Companies

43. Communications & Information Technology Companies

44. Who’s doing it? • Petroleum & heavy industry partners • Communications and information technologies • Pharmaceuticals • Consumer goods • Financial services • Government agencies • Military • NGOs and nonprofits • …

45. No, it’s not all new! • Professional associations have been managing networks for years • Regional chapter structure • Overlayed with affinity groups • Directed by a board • Providing opportunities for individual learning and achievement • Events, publications, local meetings strengthen • The network overall • Attendees’ personal networks

46. Key principles for building networks • Articulate a purpose • Personal growth • Community a practice • Business development • Social or economic transformation • Explore ideas • Design for emergence • Set key parameters for membership • Facilitate conversations that matter • Keep the boundaries permeable • Leadership: • “the leader who leads best is the one who leads least” • Light or no governance

47. The growth pattern of networks Scattered Clusters Core/Periphery Multi-hub Small World Source: Valdis Krebs

48. Managing networks as complex systems • You can’t manage a complex system, but you can manage many aspects of its environment • Probe, sense, respond • You can’t control organizational networks, but you can: • Create connections • Reinforce good connections • Disrupt connections • Stimulate the network

49. Complexity heuristic • Probe • Health checks (surveys, sense-making, listening) • Create a disruption or intervention • Sense • See what happens – to the structure, to the quality of relationships and interactions • Respond • Reflect and design the next probe

50. The Net Work of interventions • Create conversations • Open Space, Future Search, World Café, many other structured facilitation events • Add diversity • Bring in more outside ideas • Move people around • Change the meeting location or venue • Change the structure or governance model • Focus purpose • Create environment for collaborative work