Book Review for Strategic

Networking Class

Sarang BhutadaMBA Batch of

2010

Author Profiles

21 years in UBSExpert in change management

Currently Partner at New Vine Media, LLC., Founding Partner of The Networlding Partner Alliance

17 years of experience in social media and social networking strategy consulting with firms such as Motorola, KPMG, Amex, UBS, Disney, SPSS

Expert in Social Media Strategy and Executive Coaching

Steve BentonExecutive Director of IT, UBS

Melissa GiovagnoliCEO, Networlding

• Observations of communities in a workplace

• Exploring nexus between these communities and KM

• Experiences of the authors• Focal Point

Premise of the book

data

info

ideas

knowledge

wisdom

The Continuum of Knowledge

informal interactions

community of interest

knowledge cent

er

community of practice

goal focused grou

p

Creating strong wisdom networks

1. Create an environment conducive to wisdom sharing2. Use magnet topics to attract the experts3. Support ad-hoc groups, teams and communities that emerge around

magnet topics4. Encourage boundary crossing and role breaking in pursuit of topics of

interest5. Identify the experts who share their expertise consistently and

effectively6. Let it be known that people who shine in groups achieve organizational

stardom7. Provide a variety of implementation options to attract the best and

brightest experts8. Create unconventional measures to evaluate and reward performance

and track network’s impact

What to Tap

• It’s all about tacit knowledge• Flow of knowledge depends on people, not

technology• Wisdom network should not be a formal,

structured process• Wisdom is typically organic in nature• Authors provide a questionnaire to test

obstacles in KM process in the company

Policies and attitude that will not help

Culture

Knowledge hoarding

Culture of exclusion

The right attitude checklist

Judge ideas on merit, not on place of origin Accept reasonable failure Foster a participatory climate Establish a mentoring culture Embrace Alliance mentality towards external groups Recognize that knowledge generates superior RoI

Make knowledge sharing a competency Filter peer review into performance review Test-market a network Be open to the unexpected expert Use grapevine for more than gossip Recruit people who know how to share

STEP 1: Establish a network-friendly

environment

• Sustainability in this approach• It must be leader-driven• Add knowledge-sharing competency to

evaluation• Little changes in the environment that will go

a long way Small supportive gestures, ensure they’re not intrusive though Create hunger for knowledge – provocative articles, univ courses, etc. Give time and space for ‘interest areas’ Hire people with inherent networking skills Provide physical and virtual meeting places Do not treat forums as separate from ‘real’ business Have a guide for starters

STEP 2: Magnets – Create topics that attract

• Reluctance to contribution disappears when a topic of personal interest comes up

• There must be a link to business goal• How to unearth compelling topics?

Allow the community to grow organically Keep hands off, but ears on the community Sift through ideas Identify the experts

Get the buzz Monitor the chatter in cyberspace Talk directly to members of communities Trace back the source of big ideas

STEP 3: Support systems around magnets

Support

Levels of Support: Who gets what?

Common Obstacles & Solutions

Community resistance to support

Point out the value maximization proposition

Political agendas Champions should flag such occurrences

Overly narrow support Never skip the evaluation step

STEP 4: Boundary Crossing

Lines that must be crossed Functional Hierarchical External Diversity-related

This requires courage. Build that by Validating networks as ‘alternative’ corporate universe, where ordinary rules do not apply, thus non-threatening. Endorse Pioneering Accept boundary crossing in the shadows

There could be philosophical opposition to boundary crossing. Business benefit would be ‘breakthrough solutions’

STEP 5: Identify the experts

• Find who has subject matter expertise• Determine which experts are good

communicators and teachers• Which of these are active participants in

communities• Identify experts who are also leaders

Advantages Synergistic exchanges across functions that produce wisdom Ferreting out future leaders Retaining top people

STEP 6: Create Stars

• Create transcendental stars• Focus on magnet topics, to increase

relevanceAdvantages Facilitates execution and innovation Improves recruitment and retention Builds the reservoir of organizational wisdom

On network stars:

Spread the word on

participation

Give star treatment

Encourage Interaction

Monitor Topics

Track and support

STEP 7: Implementation

Network should be able to Create a new project team Latch on to an existing project Launch a short-lived task force Take idea back to where it came from

External Options Natural Options

Internal Road Shows Wisdom networks have great connections

Learning curve factor Wisdom networks are resilient

Selectivity in ideas They know how to get around red-tape

Members to directly participate

STEP 8: Performance Evaluation

Value of network comes from Providing leadership with fresh perspectives Producing new methods and approaches within

functions Acting as change catalysts Offering additional resources Solving problems while everyone else is stuck

• Adopt flexible measures in performance evaluation• Self-measurement• Strike ratio for ideas

Growing Pains

For Wisdom Network to thrive, companies must

Make sure mgmt. team is viewed as leaders for knowledge sharing

Create an ongoing corporate discussion about ideas, knowledge and wisdom

Let sharing evolve naturally

Resist the urge to control wisdom or turn networks into project teams

Top Fears Redress Mechanism

People are neglecting their day jobs Make extremely clear that day jobs are ‘top priority’

The hierarchical structure will be weakened or destroyed

Share success stories of other companies and position networks as tools to help everyone

Networks will create ‘lunatic fringe’ ideas

Invite skeptics to network meetings. Use magnets effectively

Networks will be forums for mundane conversation and gossip

Wisdom networks would be self-regulating

Critique

The step-by-step approach could work well for beginners, but this book is intended for senior management, who would invariably have an idea on the subject. The book would have been path-breaking 10 years ago, but looks overtly simplistic for current times.

Thank You