1. Beijing
Cambridge
Chicago
Delhi
Dubai
Hong Kong
Johannesburg
London
Los Angeles
Madrid
Social Change with a Network Mindset
Manila
Moscow
Mumbai
Munich
Stanford Nonprofit Management Institute
New York Oct. 7, 2009
Palo Alto
Paris
San Francisco Heather McLeod Grant
São Paulo
heather_grant@monitor.com
Seoul
Shanghai
Singapore
Tokyo
Toronto
Zurich This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
1

2. Who is the Monitor Ins-tute?
We are…
part consulting part incubator of part think tank,
firm, drawing on the new approaches. We analyzing and
talents of our own work with clients and anticipating important
dedicated team and the partners to test and shifts in the rapidly
resources of the global prove new models for changing context that
professional services firm, social impact. leaders must navigate.
Monitor Group.
2

3. How can Networks Accelerate Social Impact?
In partnership with the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Monitor Institute
explored the role of social networks and social media in the non-profit sector
3

4. Theory: Building Our Knowledge (IP)
Scanne
d
Literatu
re
Tools and
Training
4

5. Ac-on: Pilot Projects
Ecosystem-Based Management
Nitrogen
(EBM) Networks
Wiki
Farm Bill Network Mapping Networks
Network Effectiveness (ONE) in Salinas
Mapping Support
5

6. Monitor Ins-tute’s Network Prac-ce
Publications: “Working Wikily 2.0”
Knowledge Blog: workingwikily.net
Building
Membership Organizations Research
Capacity Net Effectiveness Working Sessions
Building
& CoPs Network of Network Funders COP
Integration of Net Effectiveness into TMI toolkit
Client
Service Projects with Monitor Institute clients
6

7. Objec-ves for Today’s Presenta-on
– Share network frameworks and tools that we’ve developed
– Use brief “case studies” to illustrate network approaches
– Help you be more effective in your networks
7

8. What are Networks?
Groups of individuals or organiza1ons
connected through meaningful rela1onships.
8

9. We’re most Interested in Networks With…
• Many participants
• Ability to self-organize
• Fueled by new
technologies
• Collaborative mindset
and behaviors
Source of photo: http://www.midnightpoutine.ca/archives/flashmob1.jpg
9

10. Networks Have Been Around Forever…
10

11. New Technologies for Sharing Content…
…New Online Spaces for Building Rela-onships
11

12. Advances in Our Understanding of Networks…
“If someone tells you
that you can
influence 1,000
people, it changes
your way of seeing
the world.”
– r. James
D
Fowler
12

13. …Combined with Established Group Processes
13

14. “Working Wikily” = With a Network Mindset
“… wikis and other social media tools are
engendering a new, networked mindset—a way
of working wikily—that is characterized by
principles of openness, transparency,
decentralized decision-making, and
distributed action. "
- Working Wikily 2.0
14

15. What Do We Mean by “Working Wikily”?
Established Ways of
Working Wikily
Working
 Centralized  Decentralized
 Firmly controlled  Loosely controlled
 Planned  Emergent
 Proprietary  Open, shared
 Transactional  Relational
 One-way  Two-way
communications conversations
Where are you? The answer will be different for different situations
15

16. Obama Used Networks to Mobilize 13 M Supporters
“One of my fundamental beliefs…is that real change comes from the
bottom up. And there’s no more powerful tool for grass-roots organizing
than the Internet.”
– Barack Obama
16

17. His Administra-on is Experimen-ng with Gov. 2.0
“We live in an age of democratic experimentation — both in our official
institutions and in the many informal ways in which the public is
consulted”
– ames Fishkin, Stanford political scientist
J
Source: Whitehouse.gov; NY Times
17

18. 250K Individuals Coordinated Protests
“Ordinary folks are using the power of the Internet to organize. In the old
days, organizing large groups of people required an organization. Now
people can coordinate themselves.”
– Wall Street Journal, April 15, 2009
18

19. Twi^er “Emboldened” Iranian Elec-on Protesters
“If anyone had questions about the power
of citizen media, those questions were
answered by the Iran protests.”
– amid Tehrani (Iran editor for Global
H
Voices)
Source: ethanzuckerman.com/blog Twitter, youTube Time Magazine
19

20. We’re Witnessing the Death of Old Models…
“While newspaper circulation has long been in decline, the latest
figures show the drop is accelerating…Weekday circulation declined
7.1% for the six months that ended March 31, compared with the
previous year.”
– New York Times, April 27,2009
20

21. …And New Models Are Emerging
21

22. The Way Our Work Gets Done Is Changing
22

23. Nonprofits Need to Find Ways to Work Wikily
Increasing Number of Many Nonprofits Not at More Compe--on for
Nonprofits Scale Resources
82% of Nonprofits
operate on less than
$1M in budget
– Center for Nonprofits ‘07
Networks are one answer for increasing scale, efficiency,
coordination, and impact
Source: “Index of National Fundraising Performance, 2009 First Calendar Quarter Results”, Target Analytics, 2009,
Alliance Trends
23

24. Networks Can Address Diverse Challenges
Problem Working Wikily Poten-al
 Isola1on  Build community
 Unmet needs  Engage people
 Lack of power  Advocate for policy change
 Duplica1on and fragmenta1on of  Coordinate resources and services
effort
 Lack of shared knowledge  Develop and share knowledge
 Untapped talent and wisdom  Innovate
 Subop1mal impact and  Get to scale
challenges with growth
24

25. Build Community
2008:
1980:
162 Countries
205 Members 400,000 Ministers /
Priests
25

26. Engage People
1985:
2008: 400,000
Single-site Volunteers in
Effort in US 104 Countries
26

27. Advocate for Policy Change
1998: Email to 2009: 5+ Million
100 friends
Members
27

28. Coordinate Resources and Services
Total Loans
Total Loans
2006: $1 million 2009: $66 million
28

29. Develop and Share Knowledge
14 Countries
1,300 Trained Volunteers
Interagency Program
Integrated Fire Management
29

30. Innovate
Internal, “Open Sourcing
Proprietary Social
R&D Labs Solutions”
30

31. Get to Scale
‐ EGYPT‐
…transforming
communi-es through
collabora1ons to address root
causes of poverty and
homelessness
Typical HFH country In Egypt, HFH builds 1,000
programs produce 200 houses a year, on
houses each year average
Source: Jane Wei-Skillern and Kerry Herman, “Habitat for Humanity—Egypt,” Harvard Business School Cases, October 3, 2006.
31

32. Quick Conversa-ons Exercise
Turn to your neighbor and share:
– A personal network I’m part of and purpose. . .
– A network I’ve worked with professionally. . .
– My biggest ques1ons are…
Source: June Holley
32

33. Understanding Networks
Source: orgnet
33

34. A Typology of Organizing Structures
Centralized  Nonprofit organizations
(without network structure)
 Membership organizations
 Nonprofits with explicit
network structure
 Coalition / Alliance
 Networks of networks
 Ad hoc networks
Decentralized
Note: These categories often overlap. Most of the examples fit in to multiple categories.
Developed from: Plastrik and Taylor, “Net Gains,” (2006); Patti Anklam, “Net Work,” (2007); Krebs and Holley. “Building Smart Communities,” (2006).
Source: orgnet
34

35. How Do Movements and Campaigns Relate to Networks?
Movement Campaign Network
A large, informal grouping that An organized effort which Groups of individuals or
brings people together around attempts to persuade others to organizations connected
shared values, and provides change certain ideas, attitudes, through meaningful
strategy and structure for practices, or behavior relationships
collective action
Choose Justice:
Pro-Choice Movement
Campaign to Protect Roe
Sources: Movement def’n- Lokman Tsui on Marshall Ganz (www.lokman.org). Campaign def’n- Kotter Philip, Ned Roberto and Nancy Lee. Social Marketing:
Improving the Quality of Life. Movement image - commondreams.org. Network graphics: orgnet.com
35

36. A Few Helpful Defini-ons
Cluster Periphery
Core
Hub
Link Node
Source: Monitor Institute
36

37. Social Network Analysis
Sociograms
 Anthropologists in 30s
 Sociologists & Teachers in
the 50s
Source: June Holley
37

38. Network Mapping can be Low‐Tech…
Source: June Holley
38

39. …Or More High‐Tech
39

40. What’s Possible from Network Analysis?
 Visualize the network: see
connections
 Make visible network resources, flow
 Spark a conversation among
participants
 Diagnose the “health” of a network
 Assess change in network over time
Source: June Holley
40

41. Salinas Network Mapping Pilot
41

42. Maps Were Used to Analyze the Network
A map of the different networks shows fairly loose connections
Network by Organization Type
Government
Foundation
Non-Profit
For-Profit
School
Unknown
Religious
Other
42

43. Barr’s Green and Healthy Building Network: 2005
Source: Barr Foundation “Green and Healthy Building Network Case Study” by Beth Tener, Al Neirenberg, Bruce Hoppe
43

44. The Green and Healthy Building Network: 2007
Source: Barr Foundation “Green and Healthy Building Network Case Study” by Beth Tener, Al Neirenberg, Bruce Hoppe
44

45. Network Diagnosis:
Characteris-cs of Healthy Networks
45

46. Characteris-cs of Healthy Networks: Overview
 Clearly articulated give and get for participants
Value  Delivers value/ outcomes to participants
 Trust
 Diversity
Participation
 High engagement
 Balance of top-down and bottom-up logic
Form
 Space for self-organized action
 Leadership with “network mindset”
Leadership
 Distributed leadership
 Strategic communications
Connection
 Ample shared space: on-line and in-person
 Ability surface & tap network talent
Capacity
 Model for sustainability
Learning &  Learning-capture
Adaptation  Ability to gather and act on feedback
Helpful Sources: M. Kearns and K. Showalter; J. Holley and V. Krebs; P. Plastrik and M. Taylor; J. W. Skillern; C. Shirky
46

47. Leading with a Network Mindset
47

48. How is Network Leadership Different?
 Position, authority  Role, behavior
 Individual  Collective
 Control  Facilitation
 Directive  Emergent
 Transactional  Relational, connected
 Top-down  Bottom-up
 Action-oriented  Process-oriented
What would it take for you to work more wikily?
48

49. Network Leadership Roles
 Establishes value proposition(s)
Organizer  Establishes first links to participants
 Provides initial resources for organizing the network
Funder
 Works to increase connections among participants
Weaver  May focus on growing the network by connecting to new participants
 Can be multiple people with formal and informal roles
Facilitator /  Helpsparticipants to undertake collective action
Coordinator  Ensures flow of information and other resources
Technology  Facilitatesthe network use of online technology to learn, coordinate,
Steward connect or share information together
Sources: Peter Plastrik and Madeleine Taylor, Net Gains (2006); Beth Kanter; Stephanie Lowell , Building the Field of Dreams (2007); White, Wenger, and
Smith, Digital Habitats (2009)
49

50. What is the Work of Network Leadership?
• Convene diverse people and groups
• Engage network participants
• Generate collective action
• Broker connections and bridge difference
• Build social capital – emphasize trust
• Nurture self-organization
• Genuinely participate
• Leverage technology
• Create, and protect network ‘space’
Source: Adapted from Net Work by PaY Anklam (2007) and “Ver1go and the Inten1onal Inhabitant: Leadership in a Connected World” by Bill Traynor (2009)
Source of picture: flickr
50

51. A Few Challenges Faced by Network Leaders
Unlearning past behaviors LeYng go of control Engaging and inspiring
and frameworks network par1cipants
Determining network
boundaries
Dealing with informa1on Making the case;
overload measuring success
Learning and leveraging
new technologies
Source of images: Cut Throat Communications, Blog.com, Rutgers University RU FAIR, Kodaikanal International School, flickr
51

52. Quick Conversa-ons Exercise
Turn to your neighbor and share:
– Would any of these tools be valuable to help you understand
your networks?
– How might you contribute to developing or leading a
network?
– What are the barriers to working more wikily?
52

53. How Can you Begin to Make the Shif?
 Centralized  Decentralized
 Firmly controlled  Loosely controlled
 Planned  Emergent
 Proprietary  Open, shared
 Transactional  Relational
 One-way  Two-way
communications conversations
What would it take for you to work more wikily?
53

54. Eight Lessons We’re Learning
1. Design your experiments around a problem, not the tools
2. Experiment a lot, make only new mistakes
3. Set appropriate expectations for time and effort required
4. Prioritize human elements like trust and fun
5. Understand your position within networks
6. Push power to the edges
7. Balance bottom-up and top-down strategies
8. Be open and transparent
54

55. So, Whether You’re Launching New Networks…
Mom’s rising is new organization designed using network principles:
open, flat, flexible, collaborative, adaptive, fast
55

56. …or Transforming Old Organiza-ons…
AJLI: an older organization using network principles to transform itself
56

57. The Choice is Yours
Board
Execu-ve
Director
VP VP VP
Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager
Manager Manager Manager
MEMBERS
57

58. Thank You!
Addi-onal Resources:
Blog (twitter): Beth’s Blog Networks Resources page on blog
www.workingwikily.net www.beth@typepad.org
Barr Foundation
Stanford Continuing WeAreMedia training
Studies, Winter ’10 IISC - collaboration
N-Ten, TechSoup, Net-Squared
Website: Leadership Learning Community
Case Foundation
www.monitorinstitute.com
Thinkers: Clay Shirky, Marshall
New Organizing Institute Ganz, Peter Plastrik & Madeline
Taylor, Bill Trainer, June Holley,
Personal Democracy Forum Marty Kearns, etc.
58