Networks: What, When and Why?

net·work – noun  “… a group or system of interconnected people or things.”

Networks are foundational to how we connect to our surroundings, each other, and the built environment. Ecological networks depend on the number and types of interactions between different species, food and water sources. Our families are networks of people who are related to one another through biological and social ties. We tap into online networks of computers that connect to one another and exist because of a network of power grids.

In some cases, we can explicitly cultivate networks to a particular end. In our work, we use network approaches to enable a group of organizations to work together to achieve a common purpose. We believe in the power of interorganizational networks to play a critical role in helping spread innovation and adapt to change. Having the capacity to adapt to change includes having the ability to harness knowledge and creativity to fashion unique responses, stimulate organizational learning, and sometimes embrace and successfully achieve transformational change (Sussman, 2004).

“Working with a network mindset means operating with an awareness of the webs of relationships you are embedded in. It also means cultivating these relationships to achieve the impact you care about.” 

– Monitor Institute (2011)

Successful organizational networks are not just connected organizations working together. High-quality networks work together in a particular way to achieve their purpose. Network approaches rely on building high-quality connections among network participants in order to achieve their collective goals (Bowie, 2009).  A network’s goals can vary. They could be designed to improve policy, create innovation, problem solve, share information, create a new intervention, or pool funding (Popp et al., 2014).

The interactions that a high-quality network requires are often different from the thinking habits, belief systems and structures that participants are used to. In fact, conventional ways of working often contribute to the problem that the network is seeking to solve. Networks work when they act as a container for social interactions that support the following mindsets:

When the whole network begins to exhibit these behaviours as the default culture, you have a high-quality network approach.

“Culture is a set of living relationships working toward a shared goal.  It’s not something you are. It’s something you do.”
-The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle

There are many approaches to working towards systems change. A network approach can be particularly resource and time intensive. There are several considerations to determine whether there is strategic value in taking a network approach. A network approach is most appropriate when:[1]

• The problem you are trying to solve is not routine, linear, conventional, predicable or reinforcing the status quo. It is dynamic, emergent, unpredictable and challenges the status quo.
• You can’t solve the problem by yourself.
• The stakeholders have a high tolerance for failure, messiness, adaptation and learning.
• No existing approach has been sufficiently successful.
• There is a capacity and willingness to continuously engage broadly and deeply in the challenge the network is seeking to address.
• There is a tolerance for the time it takes to think through problems and opportunities before jumping to ‘action’ that can be seen by others external to the network.
• There is a willingness to take responsibility for the collective: people are willing to take on more for the benefit of all.
• Despair and complacency are not options

[1] This list is drawn from material created by the Human Venture Institute.