Hack:
Silo-Busting with Formal Networks

1. Clear, shared objectives and value proposition
2. Dedicated roles, including empowered network “owners”  and network coordinators
3. Flexible membership and disciplined protocols
4. Real resources and connection to the organization’s core management processes

We’ll illustrate each component taking a hypothetical case study--say a formal network focused on “market research” at ACME Corp, a global company organized around geographic lines (see illustration below). In a later section, we suggest baby steps to launch each critical component.

1. Clear and shared objectives
For a formal network to work effectively, its scope needs to be explicitly defined, as informal networks can make overlapping claims on the same activities. These will often take the form of key economic goals and the knowledge needed to accomplish them.  Setting a concrete and compelling objective is also critical since it becomes a driver for participation and continued engagement.  Given the voluntary nature of much of the work they carry out, formal networks rely on mutual self-interest of their members--put simply, if networks don’t add value to their members, they will wither.

ACME example: The goal of ACME’s market research formal network is twofold: (a) develop core market research capabilities across various geographic markets and (b) aggregate customer insights and distill key findings for internal customers within ACME (e.g., marketing department, product management, customer service).  The specific benefits for members are: (a) professional development for marketing professionals interested in a market research track and (b) greater effectiveness on the part of ACME employees that are responsible for generating and leveraging market research data (e.g., to design better products, or more effective customer service).

2. Dedicated roles
To properly function, networks need to have dedicated roles.  Two are particularly pivotal: network owners and network facilitators.

• Network owners: Network owners facilitate interactions between members, stimulate the creation of new insights, maintain the network’s collective knowledge, and help members do their jobs more effectively and efficiently.  The network owner isn’t a boss but rather a “natural leader.”  The owner of a network doesn’t oversee its work or personally manage or evaluate the performance of individual members but may provide input into the evaluation process. The responsibilities of the network owner are primarily limited to its activities, such as organizing the infrastructure supporting it, developing an agenda for maintaining its knowledge domain, build a training program, holding conferences, and qualifying members as professionally competent.  Despite this limited hierarchical authority, a network owner should be held accountable for the network’s performance (e.g., the quality of the market research ACME produces, based on the feedback from those who use market research).  The network owner is most likely appointed by hierarchical leadership, but he or she needs to have significant credibility with fellow network members to be effective.

• Network facilitators.  Formal networks require one or more facilitators to organize meetings and calls, manage best practices, act as liaison to other communities and senior management, and connect members to each other.   The facilitator role varies depending on the objectives of the network.  Network facilitators would be elected by the members of the network.

ACME example:

• Network owner:  The head of ACME’s Market Research Center of Excellence (CoE) at the corporate level leads the network.  The center of excellence has a handful of experts working at headquarters, but no reporting relationships to marketing or other resources with each geography.  (Note: the network owner needs to be viewed as a legitimate "natural" leader by the members of the network--he or she need not to be a hierarchical leader.  See "First Steps" section of this hack for a description of how natural leaders could be identified). 
• Network coordinator: The network coordination role (e.g., scheduling meetings, ensuring progress against shared objectives) is taken by a member of the Market Research CoE center for 50% of her time.  The role rotates to another member of the network every other year.

3. Flexible membership and disciplined protocols
In addition to finding and defining the roles of network leader and coordinator, most formal networks need to connect to two kinds of populations to succeed: core members of a network, whose formal roles make membership a “must have,” and extended members, whose membership is discretionary (based on their professional interest and in the network’s activities.

ACME example: the Market Research Formal Network has a core group of marketing professionals that report to specific geographic units within the “product” organization.  In addition to the core marketing group, the network also includes interested participants from other functions (e.g., product development, sales, IT) who have an interest or specific expertise in market research activities.  The network owner can’t give members orders, but can encourage them to work for the network’s benefit (e.g., by asking them to develop new market research techniques or to aggregate findings across geographies).  

Formal networks should also have explicit guidance on time commitment and rules of engagement, which help guide how the rest of the organization interacts with members of the network, as well as how members interact from each other.  

ACME example: All members of the market research formal network are be expected to participate in the annual conference (1 day/year), as well as to devote 1 hour a week to network-building activities (e.g., pushing a specific knowledge initiative, fielding calls from colleagues seeking market research advice).  Rules of engagement for those seeking market research advice from network members could include norms such as: read documents authored by an expert before calling him/her (don’t use expert time to understand basics); consult with the network coordinator to find the most appropriate expert for specific questions.

4. Real resources and connection to the organization’s core management processes.

Each network should have a discrete budget to finance investments, which enable it to offer members added value.  These investments might include infrastructure--both human and technological--to support network interactions; codified knowledge in forms such as documents, internal blogs, and “networkpedias;” training for members; and activities such as conferences to build a social community.  

Budgets are funded based on the ability of each network to demonstrate value to its members and the organization more broadly.  Some performance measures can be quantitative, such as the level of member participation in network events/conferences, knowledge documents produced, the effectiveness of responses to inquiries, and the ability to find appropriate partners for dialogue quickly.  However, the real measure of the network’s success would be qualitative assessments, made primarily by members (with input from company leaders), of its effectiveness in realizing its mission.  These assessments might come in the form of stories or case studies illustrating improvements in personal productivity.  

Beyond being integrated into budgeting/funding processes, networks will require other connections to an organization’s core management processes in order to thrive.  

ACME example: The Market Research formal network is supported by talent review and development processes:

• Individual performance reviews explicitly recognize an individual’s contribution to the formal network (e.g., boosting the reputations of people who contribute distinctive knowledge to network members)
• Members of the network have exclusive access to additional professional development opportunities for members (e.g., the ability to attend external conference/training programs in the knowledge domain of the network)