The Thirteen Essential Questions to Design a Network

CONNECTIONS

1. What purpose drives our network and what specific value will our network create?

Do not confuse purpose and problem
Listen to what every member brings to the network in terms of history, perspective, organization mission
Focus on creating a clear, specific, and unambiguous statement of the network’s purpose
What will the network create or deliver/What is the network for?
Who will benefit?
Who or what is the network in service of?
Consider both tangible and intangible value (e.g., access to relationships)
How will value be measured?
How does the value flow?
When does the value show up?

2. What determines network participation and defines who should join the network?

Start from pre-existing relationships across a wide spectrum (active and latent connections)
Add one degree of separation
Expand to new kinds of relationships (move your “network horizon”) by considering who else should sit at the table (“The basket with two handles should be carried by two hands”)
Clarify the value proposition that attracts new members to the network
Attract new members via “viral word of mouth”, meetings, seminars, conferences, personal network building
Is the network completely open, by invitation only? Or are there clear criteria that define membership?
Does the network have an expiration date or is expected to last as long as it delivers value?
Connect on your similarity, and profit from your diversity

3. How firm is member commitment to this network?

4. To what extent does the network have continuous outside support or sponsorship?

Who will provide “outside” (i.e., outside of the network) political, civic, or institutional support and sponsorship to make the network sustainable and help it make a difference
At what point, does it make sense to invite outside sponsors to become members of the network (“connect the periphery”)

5. How will we organize, manage, and govern the network?

No one is “in charge”
Not single-authority hierarchies and member rank, but equal partnership and distributed authority, leadership
Do not fall in the old trap: think mission, not organization; think node, not hub, let go of control
Some models include:
- Self-governing general assembly (makes purpose and priorities decisions) with teams (work-groups that take on tasks and activities)
- Lead organization as facilitator
- Network facilitator: holds the collective vision, creates relationships, manages collaborative processes
Network governance is not static but flexible and adaptive and it moves from informal to formalized as the network moves toward its “perform” state
Network governance is the collective obligation of all network members working together around norms about how they will behave toward and with one another in fulfilling a shared purpose

6. How do we determine and organize our action priorities?

Establish clear prioritization criteria: e.g., relative urgency, importance, estimated timeframe needed for resolution, or
Have priorities emerge from member interest with the best possible alignment to network purpose
Priorities may (should) change over time
Action priorities often become focus of sub-networks or work groups who maintain an open line of communication back to the entire network (e.g., Rhode Island Arts Learning Network -- http://www.riartslearning.net/generalinfo/about.php )

7. What methods will we use to establish new relationships?

Use both formal and informal processes to strengthen and deepen trust and confidence
Site visit to member organizations
Establish expectations for standards of conduct
Adopt and use effective meeting methods
Adopt proven decision-making techniques
Adopt proven conflict resolution methods
Share office space among member organizations

8. How will we conduct our work?

Balance emergence with the need to provide direction and coherence
Don’t waste too much time in strategic planning, but work from a strong unifying purpose and a few simple structures:
- Interest groups: subset of members with similar perspectives. Make them open and accessible to all members
- Work groups: a sub-set of network members getting together to complete specific tasks
- Coordinating and administrative oversight groups: governance and infrastructure groups
- Number, frequency, and kind of meetings: the whole network can meet less frequently and smaller work groups meet more often; mix in-person with conference calls

9. What kind of agreement should we make to function as a network?

Be flexible and use a variety of formal and informal agreements depending on the situation, e.g., charters, agreements, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), contracts

10. How do network members hold themselves and one another
accountable?

Networks are voluntary in nature and their members voluntarily enforce network agreements or norms
Norms are different from rules. Rules tell you what you should do and are decided by someone else who enforces them. Norms are created and enforced by the membership collectively.
Norms generally follow from Core Values.
Some core values are implied by the purpose of the network.
General network core values include: openness (see membership), diversity (see resilience), transparence (see communication style)
Network members tend to vote with their feet. When they can’t comply with the norms, they leave the networks. Therefore, high turnover or low rate of participation typically indicate that something is not working in the network

11. How will we resolve conflicts?

Conflict is unavoidable in networks
The capacity of a network to deal with conflict depends upon the level of trust shared among network members
Besides trust building events, other methods to address and resolve conflict include
- Formal negotiation training sessions
- Use of formal agreements when formality of network requires them
- Facilitated consensus-building discussions
- Emergent learning practices

12. What funding and other resources will fuel the network?

Funding through member cash contribution (membership model): members contribute financially beyond commitment to common purpose and regular participation in the network
Total or partial support through member in-kind contribution (e.g.,: staff time and expertise, office space, materials and services)
Grant seeking for general operations
Grant seeking for project activities

13. What other key resources do we need to have in place?

Adapted from: Networks that Work, Paul Vandeventer & Myrna Mandell, Ph.D Hershey|Cause, 2007
http://www.communitypartners.org/networks