“What makes a network alive is that there is collective learning happening. That’s the glue and the relationships are in support of that. If our goal is to collectively learn something, those are the networks or the communities that keep on going.” – Ria Baeck, on the Living Love Podcast What allows groups to co-create and… Read more
Category: Networks
Social Networks and Racial Equity
Connecting people who don’t usually talk is an overlooked way of creating change. Donella Meadows, who was a wise teacher of how to change systems, wrote: “Missing information flows is one of the most common causes of system malfunction. Adding or restoring information can be a powerful intervention, usually much easier and cheaper than rebuilding physical… Read more
From rugged individualism to self-organized connected communities
In American culture, we tend to prize individual leadership, as illustrated by these examples: the self-made man, the hopes we put in one candidate to solve our problems, the entrepreneur with a new technology or solution, and the non-profit that comes into a community with an innovative project. In reality, any person who comes up with… Read more
Wearing Two Hats
One of the challenges to collaborative cross-sector work is that people show up to it oriented to advancing their organizational agenda and aren’t used to focusing on the broader community or systemic agenda. Particularly in the early stages of developing a collaborative initiative, we find it helpful to point out the need to focus on… Read more
How to Boost Connections at a Conference
Here’s an experiment to try – ask someone how they got their job, found a new area of interest, or decided to live where they do. Often the answer will involve a friend or colleague connecting them to the opportunity. Information, resources, opportunities, and new learning can flow easily and quickly when our networks of… Read more
Working as an Ecosystem
While much of the focus at the national level in the U.S. is on hyper-partisanship and polarization, a less heralded story is the growing rise of collaborative networks that allow many people and organizations to work effectively on common goals. As Tom Atlee summarized here, these networks include multiple sectors (public, private, and civil society)… Read more
Conditions to Catalyze a Network
My obsession of late is foraging wild mushrooms…something about the weather conditions in late summer have made this a spectacular year for mushrooms here in southern New Hampshire. The woods are full of mushrooms of all shapes and sizes. I only know one edible species – black trumpets. Every time I go for a walk… Read more
Strengthening Community Ties and Recognizing the Benefits
In a conversation with a potential new client, I heard common concerns about their community. People working on the same issues were not talking to each other, and there was duplication of work and a sense of community fragmented. People were working hard but not having the impact they wanted. A core way to overcome… Read more
Strengthening Community Connections in Meeting Design
“The essential challenge is to transform the isolation and self-interest within our communities into connectedness and caring for the whole.” – Peter Block One promising area for reconnecting people in communities is the Farm to School movement. Communities across the country are implementing initiatives to increase the amount of local food served in school cafeterias,… Read more
Collaborative Learning and Generous Exchange: The Heart of Networked Work
A need to network and better connect work is arising in many contexts, as people see silos that don’t connect. People whose interests and goals are similar or complementary, who could be learning together and exchanging information and resources, do not know each other or lack incentives to collaborate. In this fascinating book, The New Science of… Read more