9-Feb,+Group+A,+11am+PST+Case+Meeting

=Feb 9 Webinar: Integrating Network Weaving into Your Daily Work, conversation with Beth Kanter=


 * Overview**: A brainstorm with Beth Kanter about strategies for integrating network weaving into your everyday work, why its hard, and ways to overcome these challenges.


 * Pre-Work:** Do an analysis of your own social network in advance using a fun new tool from LinkedIn: [|InMaps]. //Click here// for more info.

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 * Presentation Material:**
 * Conversation Highlights:**

//Here are some of the activities that foundation staffs regularly do and that may be helpful to think about when exploring how to integrate network weaving//
 * Additions / clarifications to slide #4 in presentation :
 * “Staying informed in the field” refers to the field of investment as well as the field of philanthropy itself
 * Managing field relationships and relationships with potential and current donors and others who might co-invest (in addition to managing grantee relationships)
 * Managing staff within the foundation
 * Should grantmakers take on an active network weaving role, or should they focus on creating the “right” conditions for people to connect? //What if the foundation gives grantees resources to connect, e.g., hire a network weaver? Should the foundation step into this role?//

//How are you and how might you integrate network weaving into your daily work (slide #8)//
 * **Closing triangles**—introducing people who ought to know each other. This puts people in direct contact rather than relying on the funder to broker
 * Looking for opportunities to **bridge networks** – particularly across geographies and within the fields – through referrals, email introductions, etc.
 * Supporting weavers directly
 * **Expanding the periphery** by interacting with and learning from people in adjacent fields
 * **Modeling** “network-centric” behavior can have an impact internally
 * Encourage broad **sharing & transparency**
 * **Broadcast Weaving** by sharing resources and highlighting others’ work in public (blogs, Twitter). Broadcast weaving allows people to make connections on their own, and may lead to unexpected connections
 * **Catalyzing** network conversations can be as simple as posing a question
 * Choose a network strategy to experiment with. Post it somewhere as an ongoing reminder, and try to experiment with it every day.
 * Host **“two-stage” meetings** – the first half of the meeting is agenda-drive and the second half is social. For a more informal environment move the second half to a coffee shop and invite in people you’d like to connect with network participants. Facilitate rather than orchestrate introductions

//Why is it hard to integrate network weaving into daily work? (slide #9)//
 * Knowing when the network is big enough.
 * You need a large enough “crowd” (e.g. Twitter following) in order to get full benefit. Folks with more established followings can give visibility to those who are trying to get their message out
 * Try out [|Tweetsheep], an application that allows users to see a tag cloud from the bios of their twitter flock.
 * What **carrots or sticks**to use to ascertain that weaving activities actually increase the value/ efficiency of the network?
 * How to incentivize folks who are passive / otherwise reluctant to engage in the network??
 * Set realistic expectations for online participation. About 10-15% are typically active
 * Identify the influencers in the group and have them model network weaving
 * Establish easily tracked **performance indicators** for network weaving, e.g. number of activities that are co-sponsored by network members.
 * Some internal processes, like internal communications systems, require following protocol that get in the way of network weaving. Open sharing requires a parallel structure, creating more work doing “double duty” to share that information internally and with the broader community.
 * //How could information be disseminated internally as well as to the broader community? How to deal with confidentiality concerns?//

//[|Linked-In In-Maps] discussion: What did you learn?//
 * The maps helped surface opportunities to make connections and connect clusters of relationships.
 * Experiment with categorizing people in your network. Beth uses “CAM, PAN, FAN”:
 * CAM: Strategic connection to make
 * PAN: Past active net
 * FAN: Future active net