Mapping & Leveraging Social Networks

with Karen Stephenson

What you see in an organization — structure and hierarchy — doesn't always explain what you get. A world of connection and communication, an invisible culture, lies just below the surface. The life of this culture travels through networks of trusted relationships, an organization's nervous system. As leaders we ignore these trust-based networks at our peril, for these are pathways of knowledge, communication, and power. Making these networks visible reveals how a system actually functions.

In this module you will hear stories of healthy and dysfunctional networks. You will use tools to map and measure your social networks and identify three important network players: the Hubs, Gatekeepers, and the Pulsetakers. The fate of cultural change rests in the hands of these players, as they are the lynch pins of cultural resistance or change. You will also learn how to leverage your networks to produce a tipping point, and how to use key network nodes to influence change and stimulate innovation.

Karen Stephenson, Ph.D., is a pioneer and leader in the growing field of social networking. Hailed in Business 2.0 as "The Organization Woman," she has been recognized internationally for her work in detecting, diagnosing, and designing human networks to solve a variety of complex problems. She was featured in a 2000 New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell about the social dynamics of office spaces. Her consulting firm, NetForm, was then cited as one of the top 100 innovation companies by CIO magazine in 2001.

In 2006 Dr. Stephenson was awarded the Houghton Hepburn Fellow at Bryn Mawr College for her ground-breaking contributions to civic engagement. In 2007 she was one of only three females distinguished in Random House's short list of 55 "Management Gurus." Dr. Stephenson has been featured in the media and press, most notably The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The New Yorker, The Financial Times, The Guardian, Strategy+Business, CIO, Fast Company and Wired. She has taught at several universities including the MIT's Sloan Management, UCLA School of Management, Imperial College (Univ. of London), Harvard's Graduate School of Design, and most recently at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Harvard University. She is the author of the forthcoming book The Quantum Theory of Trust. See also NetForm and her personal page.

Regional Intensive Ontario Modules

Leading for Profound Innovation & Change with Otto Scharmer & Arawana Hayashi
Getting to Maybe: The Art and Practice of Leading Social Innovation with Brenda Zimmerman
Cultivating Authentic Leadership Presence with Toke Moeller, Barbara Bash & Bob Wing
Mapping & Leveraging Social Networks with Karen Stephenson
The Future of Leadership: Scenario Planning and the Changing Nature of Organizations and Communities with Art Kleiner