Tapping into the Agility of Knowledge Networks and Communities

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Beyond “Partnerships”:

Tapping into the Agility of Knowledge Networks and Communities

Kate Pugh

November 30, 2011


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Advising nonprofits in:

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Today’s Speaker

Kate Pugh President, Faculty

AlignConsulting, Columbia University

Hosting:

Sam Frank, Synthesis PartnershipAssisting with chat questions:

April Hunt, Nonprofit Webinars

Beyond Partnerships: Tapping into the Agility of Knowledge Networks and CommunitiesNonprofit WebinarNovember 30, 2011

Kate Pugh AlignConsultingAuthor of Sharing Hidden [email protected]: @katrinapugh

5© AlignConsulting www.alignconsultinginc.com

http://www.amazon.com/Sharing-Hidden-Know-How-non-Franchise-Leadership/dp/0470876816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295578223&sr=1-1



http://www.alignconsultinginc.com/

mailto:[email protected]

Contents• How are networks different from market-based partnerships,

hierarchies, and think-tanks?

• What are knowledge networks? (also called “Communities

of Practice”)

• What are examples of knowledge networks?

• What mechanisms make knowledge networks succeed?

• Where should you start to launch (or enhance) your

knowledge network?


What’s different about a network?

7

What is it

Strengths

Weak-

nesses

Hierarchy

Top-down decision-

making and

coordinated actions,

vertical knowledge-flow

Clarity and consistency

of purpose, easy to

measure

clarity

One-way flows of

knowledge (Blindspots)

Perverse resource

usage incentives

(Selfish behaviors)

Sluggish to

change

Think Tank

Knowledge “factory,”

grants underwriting

collaborative

research

Intellectual freedom,

clout

purity

Narrowly defined

view of “knowledge”

and poor translation;

Granting

organizations may

protect, or have

separate agenda

Unidirectional

Networks

Democratic, diverse

group; leveraging

social relationships

and supporting multi-

directional K flows

Loose ties help

reach; diversity, and

flexibility inform rapid

adaptation

agility & reach

Coordination can be

difficult, requires

investment in quality

of rapport, quality of

knowledge-products,

difficult to measure

Requires Subtle,

skillful leadership

Market/Partnership

“Invisible hand”

driven by market-

clearing price and

trusted rules of

engagement

Market-clearing use

of resources, easy

to measure

efficiency

Externalities

Asymmetries

(Dominance by

resource-rich)

Myopic and

Tragedy of the

commons

Undervalues

commonly-held

resources

© AlignConsulting www.alignconsultinginc.com

How does a network behave?

• De-centralizes power

• Uses extensive ties of

its members

• Learns from its own

activities

• Leverages cognitive

diversity

8

• Coordination

• Translation

• Adaptation

BenefitsNetwork activities


What’s a knowledge network?

9

A Knowledge Network

(also called a “Community of Practice”)

is a gathering of individuals motivated

by the desire to cross organizational

boundaries, to relate to one another,

and to build a body of actionable

knowledge through coordination

and collaboration.


How do knowledge network members

behave?

Commonly agreed

goals and objectives

Collaboration (“self-

sacrifice”)

Trust

Cohesiveness

Connectivity

(“networked” beyond)

Using a working

platform


Knowledge networks scale-up

knowledge effectively

11

Yamey, Gavin (Evidence to Policy, Global Health Group), “Scaling Up Global Health Interventions: A Proposed Framework for Success,” PLoS

Medicine June 2011, Volume 8, Issue 6. E1001049.

Scaling up Global Health Interventions Framework:

“Choose a simple intervention widely agreed to be

valuable, have strong leadership and governance,

have active engagement of a range of

implementers and of the target community,

tailor the scale-up approach to the local

situation, and incorporate research into

implementation.”


4 types of Knowledge Networks

Practitioner Support

Translation, local

adaptation

Coordination

Learning / Innovation

© AlignConsulting www.alignconsultinginc.com 12

Gates Foundation research nonprofit

case studies

1. Strive (Coordination)

2. Harvard Project Zero

Learning Innovations Lab

(Learning / Innovation)

3. IHI Perinatal IMPACT

Community (Translation/

adaptation)

4. KM4Dev (Practitioner

Support)


Columbia University research for-profit

examples1. Fluor Corporation

(Engineering Services)

(Coordination)

2. Pfizer Inc. (Pharma)

(Learning & Innovation)

3. ConocoPhillips (Energy)

(Translation)

4. McKinsey & Company

(Management Consulting)

(Practitioner support)


Drivers of knowledge networks’

effectiveness

15

.

Leadership and

Facilitation

Clear objectives, governance and operating model

Convening

Power

Appropriate

Technology

Feedback

mechanisms


Threats to knowledge networks’

effectiveness


Diffusion of

purpose

Misaligned

technology

Compromised

safety

Lack of

conversation

Compromised

absorptive

capacity

8 Design DimensionsStrategic 1. Leaders’ theory of change

2. Objectives/Outcomes/Purpose

3. Role of “expertise” and experimental learning

4. Operating model

Structural 5. Inclusion/Participation

6. Convening structures and infrastructures

7. Facilitation and social norm development

Tactical 8. Measurement, feedback and incentives

Designing knowledge networks for

Success

.


Knowledge Network truths to live by• For the leader/core team

– Can’t be it all, can’t do it all

– Take a stand on expert-learner duality

– Proximity can trump values

– Know the 90-9-1 rule online

– Communicate to recruit, promote, celebrate

– Establish and continuously renew trust

• For the member

– Give without expecting to get

– Be multi-lingual

– Make it a “small world” (make connections intentionally)

– Bad reputation travels faster than good

– Establish and continuously renew trust


Destination

Knowledge Networks are where necessity, creativity and

belonging come together.


Some Reading• The Hidden Power of Social Networks:

Understanding How Work Really Gets

Done in Organizations, by Rob Cross

and Andrew Parker, Harvard Business

School Press, 2004

• Sharing Hidden Know-How by Katrina

Pugh, Jossey-Bass, April 2011

• Sustainable Communities: Top 10

CSFs for Keeping the Faith, by Katrina

Pugh IBM Synch.rono.us Blog, July 19,

2010

• Jamming with the Institute for

Healthcare Improvement “ by Katrina

Pugh and Jo Ann Endo, NASA Ask

Magazine, Winter, 2011)

20

NASA Ask Magazine


NASA Ask Magazine

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Power-Social-Networks-Understanding/dp/1591392705






http://synch.rono.us/social/blog.nsf/dx/07192010091946AMSLIHMX.htm

http://synch.rono.us/social/blog.nsf/dx/07192010091946AMSLIHMX.htm

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/appel/ask/issues/41/41i_jamming.html

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/appel/ask/issues/41/41i_jamming.html

Kate Pugh, AlignConsulting and

Columbia University• Kate has 17 years of consulting and seven years of industry experience.

She held leadership positions with Intel Corporation, JPMorgan, and

Fidelity. She is on the faculty of Columbia University’s Information and

Knowledge Strategy Masters program, and is author of Sharing Hidden

Know-How (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2011).

• Kate helped run Intel Solution Services’ Knowledge and Process Mgt

Group, led Fidelity Personal & Workplace Investments KM, and initiated

and ran the JPMorganChase’s Finance Portal Program.

• Kate has helped launch and/or run over 20 communities of practice,

including Intel’s award-winning Enterprise Architects’ community.

Sample clients include Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Fidelity Investments,

The Gates Foundation, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Medtronic,

Mitokine Bioscience, Project Management Institute, and The World

Bank. Kate is on the Board of Knowledge Mgt. Institute Canada.

• Kate has an MS/MBA from MIT Sloan, a BA in Economics from Williams

College, and certificates in Dialogue, Facilitation, Mediation, Project

Mgt., and LEAN Six Sigma.

• Kate has articles in Harvard Business Review, NASA Ask Magazine,

Dashboard Insight, Reuters Great Debate and Ivey Business Journal.

21

www.alignconsultinginc.com

[email protected]

Twitter: @katrinapugh






http://www.alignconsultinginc.com/

mailto:[email protected]


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