Leveraging Networks in Leadership Development

Leveraging Networks in
Leadership Development:
Proven and Cutting-Edge Approaches
Kristin L. Cullen, PhD
Center for Creative Leadership

Agenda
 Define leadership
 Identify the connection between networks
and leadership
 Discuss the utilization of networks in
leadership development

©2013 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved.

Your image of leadership

Maxwell, C. I., & Greenalgh, A. N. (2011). Images of leadership: A new exercise to teach leadership from a social constructionist perspective.
Organization Management Journal, 8, 106-110. ©2013 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved.

Defining Leadership
The qualities and actions of an individual
(leader) who influences others (followers)
to engage in goal-directed efforts


We live in a VUCA World:
Volatile
Uncertain

Complex
Ambiguous


Defining Leadership

A single individual cannot perform all the
necessary leadership functions for a collective.

Redefining Leadership

Current challenges require leadership
that is distributed, fluid, and
constructed in interaction.
Denis, J. L., Langley, A., & Sergi, V. (2012). Leadership in the Plural. The Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), 211–283.

If leadership is a social process,
what does it create?


Leader(ship) Development

Leader Development Leadership Development
Expansion of a person’s
capacity to be effective in
leadership roles and
processes

CCL Handbook of Leadership Development

Expanding the collective
capacity of organizational
members to engage
effectively in leadership roles
and processes


Leveraging Networks in
Leader and Leadership Development


Leadership & Networks
Leader

Leadership
IN
OF

AS

Networks

D
E
V
E
L
O
P
M
E
N
T
Leadership

Carter, D., DeChurch, L., Contractor, N., & Carson, J. (2013). A framework for Understanding Collective Leadership Through Network
Analysis. Houston, TX.

Leadership IN Networks
Personal development
through improving an
individual’s understanding of
his/her position in
organizational networks and
the implications of that
position (i.e., opportunities
and constraints) for individual
and organizational wellbeing
and effectiveness.


Leading in a Matrix
Advantages
• Flexible
• Responsive
• Adaptive

Challenges
• Overlapping responsibilities
• Competing commitments
• Loss of accountability
• Unclear direction
• Turf battles

Bartlett, C., & Ghoshal , S. (1990). Matrix Management: Not a Structure, a Frame of Mind, Harvard Business Review

Influence Connections

Connecting
– human capital,
– social capital, and
– context

in leader development

In-class Diagnostic


In-class Diagnostic
Help leaders develop
open, diverse, and deep networks.


Three Network Types
and Benefits
Operational
• Coordination
• Cooperation
• Getting work done
• Maintaining
capacity

Personal
• Mentoring
• Coaching
• Venting
• Referrals
• Safe environment

Strategic
• Insight into
future priorities
• Gaining stakeholder
support
• Access to
opinion leaders

Ibarra, H., & Hunter, M. (2007). How leaders create and use networks. Harvard Business Review, 85, 40-47.

The Ever Present Manager
Operational
Personal
Strategic

The Task Master

The Politician
Operational
Personal
Strategic

The Schemer

The Surface Networker


Developing
Leaders IN Networks
• Building networks is a critical part of leader
development
• Leaders can be taught to build better networks

Burt, R., & Ronchi, D. (2007). Teaching executives to see social capital: Results from a field experiment. Social Science Research, 36(3),
1156–1183..

Leadership OF Networks
Management of organizational
networks by formal leaders through
seeing, understanding, and
leveraging the relationships
connecting individuals as well as
identifying and utilizing people in key
networks positions to improve
organizational outcomes.


What’s missing from an
organizational chart?
Formal Structure
Leader (1)

Chief Science
Officer

Leader (2)

POD A (1)

POD B (1)

Leader (3)

POD C (1)

POD D

POD E (1)

POD F (1)

Leader (4)

POD G (1)

POD H (1)

POD I (1)

POD J (1)

POD A (2)

POD B (2)

POD C (2)

POD E (2)

POD F (2)

POD G(2)

POD H (2)

POD I (2)

POD J (2)

POD A (3)

POD B (3)

POD C (3)

POD E (3)

POD F (3)

POD G(3)

POD H (3)

POD I (3)

POD J (3)

POD A (4)

POD B (4)

POD C (4)

POD E (4)

POD F (4)

POD A (5)

POD B(5)

POD C (5)

POD H (4)

POD H (5)

Informal Network
Org charts fail to provide insights regarding:
• Informal Leaders
• Internal Group Connections
• Between Group Connections
• Key Boundary Spanners

Organizing for Innovation
Medical

Modeling

•

Biology

Engineering

–
–

Manufacturing

Modeling

Manufacturing

Manufacturing
Medical

Leadership
Team

Modeling
Medical

Engineering

Team Based Organization

•

Biology

Biology
POD 1
POD 2

Networked organization
–
–
–

Engineering

•

Fully integrated, multi-disciplinary teams
Expertise based Peer Groups
~60 academic collaborations
~400 clinical sites
Early drug trial collaborator network

Culture rewards learning, innovation, teamwork

POD 3
POD 4
POD 5

“Are we truly a networked organization?”
“What barriers are getting in our way?

24

Removing Geographic
Barriers to Communication
Question: How frequently do you communicate with each of the following associates?
Response: Daily or More

February 2012

Feb 2012

87% within floor communication

Note: percentage based on floor location at Time 3; color
indicates floor at Time 2; except red squares, which indicate
new members

Removing Geographic
Barriers to Communication
Introduced idea of
Spanning Boundaries

February 2012

Feb 2012


Intensive Boundary Spanning Development Work
Moved All Employees
to the Same Floor

June 2012

June 2012


“It feels more like a company instead of
different floors.”
“The network data provided the support
we needed to make the move.”
Note: percentage based on floor location at Time 3;
color indicates floor at Time 2; except red
squares, which indicate new members

August 2013

August 2103


Building Community Networks
Portland, OR

The biggest issue facing nonprofits is a

leadership deficit*

Central New York
Cleveland, OH

Newark, NJ

CCL was awarded $4 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Kansas City

Rural North
Ladder to Leadership (LTL): Developing the Next Generation Carolina
of Community Healthcare Leaders
Albuquerque, NM

Birmingham, AL

Objective: Develop a well-connected cadre of leaders,
who will go on to collaborate and solve community
problems
*Bridgespan Group, www.bridgespan.org


LTL Development
In-depth, 16- month leadership
development process:
• Multiple face-to-face sessions
• Action learning projects with individual
and team coaching
A coach-supported process involving a
• Mentoring
small group of people solving real
problems … while at the same time
• Goal development and planning

Would this process improve
the connections between this
cadre of leaders?

focusing on what they are learning …
and how their learning can benefit each
group member … and the organization
or community as a whole. (Michael J.
Marqardt)


Collaboration with Other Fellows
Central NY

Baseline
Density = .03

16 months
Density = .15


27 months
Density = .10

Participant Reactions
91%
92%

reported an increased ability to identify healthrelated needs in the community;
reported an increase in ability to identify healthrelated resources in the community.

And, one year after the program:

71 %
72 %

leveraged networks to address community health
challenges;
reported an increase in leading collaborative
community projects.
“Time and resources are need to build networks”
“Sustaining networks within a community is not easy”

Improving the Decisions and Actions by
Leaders OF Networks
• Enhances leaders’ ability to look beyond designated
relationships and see the connections between people in
and beyond their organization
• Many actions can be taken to manage overloaded
individuals, leverage the periphery, and bridge
disconnected groups


Leadership AS Networks
Collective development through
understanding how leadership as a
social process connects group members
to each other and how these networks
structures create the direction,
alignment, and commitment needed for
shared success.


Leadership Development
Moving beyond developing individuals.
You can’t just put the individual
back in the organization and
expect CHANGE .

Network Structures

leader centered

distributed-fragmented

distributed

distributed coordinated

Mehra, A., Smith, B. R., Dixon, A. L., & Robertson, B. (2006). Distributed leadership in teams: The network of leadership perceptions
and team performance. The Leadership Quarterly,©2013 Center for Creative Leadership. All Rights Reserved.
17(3), 232–245.

Shared Leadership
• Leadership network density is a common
approach to measuring shared leadership
• Easier to scale than
structural classification
approaches shown
previously
• Leadership network
density is positively
related to performance
Carson et al. (2007). Shared Leadership in Teams: An Investigation of Antecedent Conditions and Performance. Academy of
Management Journal, 50(5), 1217–1234.

Leadership Roles
Setting
Direction

Does everyone know where we’re headed and what
we’re trying to accomplish?

Achieving
Alignment

Do we have everyone/everything working in the same
direction?

Maintaining
Commitment

Are we adequately earning and
re-earning everyone’s active commitment?

Spanning
Boundaries

Are we adequately reaching out to
our stakeholders and other critical groups?


Leadership Networks in a Nonprofit
• Organization dedicated to
building a society with equal access
to opportunities and the law and
governments that advances the
public interest
• Centers operate independently but
are coordinated HQ
• Board concerned that the efforts of
the network may be disjointed


Breakdowns in DAC
Facing same way, but
lacking momentum

Buy in, but uncoordinated
• Competing for resources
• Failure to agree to
deadlines and ways of
working

• Promises without delivery
• Only easy things get done
• Failure to progress

Leadership

Willing cooperation, but lacks purpose
• Inertia
• Running in circles
• Everyone headed in different directions

Leadership Networks
Helps establish direction so
that work is aligned with
values and strategy
Helps align roles and
responsibilities to meet goals

.181

.644
n = 10

n=9

Provides social support

Network within a between HQ
and the four largest centers
(executive level leaders)

1.00

n=4


.333
n=3

.833
n=3

Leadership Networks
.367

.750

083

.167

.500

.444

.875

.069

.330

.500


.511

.750

.000

.097

.833

Fostering Collective
Leadership AS Networks
• Mental shift from thinking about leadership as:
– residing in individuals
– the responsibility of a few

• Early research on shared leadership supports a
connection with performance
• Focus on building leadership connections within
and beyond your organization


CCL Approach
• Assessment for Development
• The three perspectives discussed on integrating
Societal Advancement
networks into leadership
Enable interdependent leadership
to address pressing social challenges
development important and
Organizational Transformation
different utility
Accelerate bold strategies
that drive sustainable results
• Networks are one
Team Performance
Build effective teams
(important lens) to
to maximize performance
view organizations Individual Development
Develop pipeline of
• Aim for impact at successful leadersaat all levels
multiple levels Expand Knowledge
Create Leadership
Resources and Tools

5 Takeaways
• Networks may be leveraged in both leader and leadership
development
• Leader development is a necessary, but insufficient part of
building the leadership capacity in an organization
• Leadership development happens in the process of real
work
• Approaches developing leaders IN and OF networks are
fairly well established
• Developing leadership AS networks represents the cutting
edge and offers promise for challenges that require
leadership that is “distributed, fluid, and constructed in
interaction”

Questions for me?
How are you using
networks to enhance
leadership?

What’s the next
innovative application?

Leveraging Networks in Leadership Development

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