1.
A Network Mindset
Practical Approaches to Everyday Networked
and Collaborative Behaviors
Guest lecture at graduate residency
Information and Knowledge Strategy Masters program
Columbia University, April 8-13, 2014
Catherine Shinners

2.
2
Perspective on identity
Activate, expand one’s identity and contribution to the
organizational network
Social collaboration – working out loud
Habitats of collaborative contexts
Shutterstock/Milos Dizajn
A network mindset

3.
People are ‘situated’
Job title
Job duties
Assignments
Reporting structure
3
Job title ‘grade level’ emphasis
Obscured–active role, history, background, range of tacit knowledge, social capital
Corporate Directory
• Jane Doe
• Program Manager
• 3rd level down from VP of
Supply Chain
• Works in Los Angeles
Shutterstock/vajuariel
Emphasis on reporting-based ties
Organizational identity
Ways we are known inside organizations

4.
4
Construct,
groom
identity
Network
connections,
awareness,
growth
Mobilize
network
Cultivate
social,
reputational
capital
• Sequential account of
assigned roles
• Your story about your
roles
• Education
• Licensing
• Samples of your work
• Role-based
recommendations
• Affirmations of your
posted content
• Skills endorsements
• Demonstrate
quality, robustness
of network
Social-sharing
• Comments, likes
• Discussion forums
• Metrics
• Affiliations
• Profile views
• Prompted affirmations
• Assess connection impact
• Aggregated prompts via email
• Search, research
• Direct engagement
• Outreach to network
• Activate with purpose
• Develop new connections
• Re-invigorate
Shutterstock/Milos Dizajn
Professional networked identity

5.
Rich profiles
Assigned role – job position
Photo (important in global companies)
Claimed role - background, credentials
Social role– member of communities, answers questions,
reflects and writes (blog), shares quick insights (microblogs)
expertise based on experience (tags), exposes work products
Activities (posts, comments)
Social feedback (comments, likes)
Personal interests
Links to external assets (LinkedIn profile, Twitter
presence, blogs, websites)
Develop connections to other employees (follow)
5
…and yet
many people
leave their
profile on
‘mute’
New social tools in organizations

6.
6
Director of Corporate Social
Responsibility
Director of Governmental Affairs
Prepares annual public CSR report Preparing vice president to
accompany governor of state on
international trade mission
They both need to know about sustainability, labor and environmental practice in
the company supply chain
Expertise need
Shutterstock:Cheryl Savan Shutterstock:hfng

7.
7
Manages the company’s supply chain sustainability processes
• As she works in a complex, rapidly evolving domain, she updates her
profile quarterly, describing the focus of work
• blogs about key business challenges in supply chain
sustainability, discusses where best practice and policy is headed
with respect to suppliers
• posts information about industry consortiums that she participates
in
• shares video recordings and presentation files from industry
speaking engagements
• tags her content, skills, expertise
• links to her public facing presence – LinkedIn, Twitter
• Her activity stream is rich with commentary and observations about her
many trips to Asia-based suppliers (she’s in LA due to the frequency of
travel to Asia)
• She’s a member of the sustainability and innovation communities of
interest/knowledge networks
Meet Jane Doe
From org chart to network agent
Shutterstock:bikeriderlondo

8.
profile
8
Form fill
exercise
• Connected, dynamic
resource
• Launch point for knowledge
sharing, networking
• Reflects multi-dimensional
facets of roles, projects,
experience
• Talent discovery

9.
9
Transparent
conversational
flow of work
Content
awareness
and
accessibility
Network-
based group
cohesion &
connection
Knowledge
building
• Robust profiles-greater context
• Share updates (microblogs,
comments, social feedback
• Subscribe, contribute to, leverage
discussion forums
• Visibility of work expands
knowledge base, invites diversity
of inputs
• Tacit knowledge more available
as an artifact
• Transparently co-create content
• Social feedback (comments, likes)
• Connect content to work dialogue
tags, streams
• Content change awareness via
streams, alerts, filters, tags
• Collective commentary
*Bryce Williams, 2010
Working Out Loud Dynamics – Catherine Shinners
Merced Group
Social collaboration-dynamics of ‘working-out-loud’

10.
10
Transparent
conversation
al flow of
work
Content
awareness
and
accessibilit
y
Network-
based
Group
cohesion &
connection
Knowledge
building
Project content visible
to stakeholders,
contributors
Project interactions
in persistent
stream
Contributors set
alerts, filters for
project content -
discussion forum
notifications
Team members
with robust, rich
profiles
People
presence-
Project post or
group area
links to profiles
of globally
dispersed
Interactive dynamics
brings opportunity to elicit
more tacit knowledge
contributions
Transparency yields rapid
orientation, onboarding; without
real-time meetings
Project groups can collectively
observe content contribution -
avoids duplication, mis-timing
Awareness of flow via
content change or
comment alerts,
notifications
Group, team
members activate
range of feedback,
expressions, inputs,
keep project
momentum (likes,
Network, social
dimension of knowledge
inputs visible
Conversation, work
stream becomes a
project artifact, i.e.,
problem solving in
context
Project interaction,
problem-solving, new
ideas both collective an
immediate
Expand, integrate
social graph around
project
Content linked with
context
Knowledge base
builds for next
project
Spatial
Temporal
Visual
Relational
Informational
Collaborative WOL practice–focus on projects, complex work processes

11.
11
Transparent
conversation
al flow of
work
Content
awareness
and
accessibilit
y
Network-
based
Group
cohesion &
connection
Knowledge
building
Global business advisory &
deal assessment for large
technical services
organization
Global team
members connect
with one another for
expert information
Contributors set
alerts, filters for
project content -
discussion forum
notifications
Profiles, expertise
detail highlighted
in profiles
Interactive dynamics
brings opportunity to elicit
more tacit knowledge
contributions
Project groups can collectively
observe content contribution -
avoids duplication, mis-timing
Awareness of flow via
content change or
comment alerts,
notifications
Group, team
members activate
range of feedback,
expressions, inputs,
keep project
momentum (likes,
Network, social
dimension of knowledge
inputs visible
Conversation, work
stream becomes a
project artifact, i.e.,
problem solving in
context
Project interaction,
problem-solving, new
ideas both collective an
immediate
Expand, integrate
social graph around
project
Content linked with
context
Knowledge base
builds for next
project
Spatial
Temporal
Visual
Relational
Informational
Rapidly
changing
market
conditions
Collaborative WOL practice–focus on knowledge building

12.
Community of Practice/Knowledge Network
Shared knowledge, best practice, advance domain knowledge
Team Collaboration
Joint project work
Artifact development
Combine expertise, skills
Network Collaboration
Learnings, engagement within ecosystem
Insight and influence
Reporting-basedProjectorInterest-based
role-based
Inside organization
Wider world
Nature of ties
Habitats of collaborative contexts

13.
Palo Alto, CA +1-650-704-3889
catherineshinners@mercedgroup.com
blog: collaboration-incontext.com
www.mercedgroup.com
http://about.me/catherineshinners
www.linkedin.com/catherineshinners
@catshinners
Skype: CatherinePaloAlto
Social Business Strategic Consulting
and Enterprise 2.0 Services