Impact Networks: Create Connection, Spark Collaboration, and Catalyze Systemic Change

Length: 216 pages
Edition: 1
Language: English
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication Date: 2021-10-12
ISBN-10: 1523091681
ISBN-13: 9781523091683
Sales Rank: #5789879 (See Top 100 Books)

This practical guide shows how to facilitate collaboration among diverse individuals and organizations to navigate complexity and create change in our interconnected world.

The social and environmental challenges we face today are not only complex, they are also systemic and structural and have no obvious solutions. They require diverse combinations of people, organizations, and sectors to coordinate actions and work together even when the way forward is unclear. Even so, collaborative efforts often fail because they attempt to navigate complexity with traditional strategic plans, created by hierarchies that ignore the way people naturally connect.

By embracing a living-systems approach to organizing, impact networks bring people together to build relationships across boundaries; leverage the existing work, skills, and motivations of the group; and make progress amid unpredictable and ever-changing conditions. As a powerful and flexible organizing system that can span regions, organizations, and silos of all kinds, impact networks underlie some of the most impressive and large-scale efforts to create change across the globe.

David Ehrlichman draws on his experience as a network builder; interviews with dozens of network leaders; and insights from the fields of network science, community building, and systems thinking to provide a clear process for creating and developing impact networks. Given the increasing complexity of our society and the issues we face, our ability to form, grow, and work through networks has never been more essential.

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Part One: Working through Networks
    Chapter 1: The Web of Change
        Networks for Impact
        Relationships: The Heart of Networks
    Chapter 2: The Network Mindset
        The Hierarchical Mindset
        Networks and Hierarchies, Together
        Making the Mindset Shift
    Chapter 3: Making Networks Work
        Primary Forms of Impact Networks
        Core Activities of Impact Networks
    Chapter 4: Network Leadership
        Network Leadership Roles
        Principles of Network Leadership
Part Two: Cultivating Impact Networks
    Chapter 5: Clarify Purpose and Principles
        Catalyzing a New Network
        Finding Common Purpose
        Defining Shared Principles
    Chapter 6: Convene the People
        Inviting Co-creation
        Designing Meaningful Gatherings
        Facilitating Emergent Outcomes
    Chapter 7: Cultivate Trust
        Weaving Connections
        Deepening Trust
        Holding Courageous Conversations
    Chapter 8: Coordinate Actions
        Accelerating Flows
        Practicing Reciprocity
        Responding to Crisis
    Chapter 9: Collaborate for Systems Change
        Making Sense of the System
        Creating Transformation
        Planting Sequoias
    Chapter 10: The Enabling Infrastructure
        Organizing into Teams
        Bounding Participation
        Making Collective Decisions
        Embedding Evaluation
        Resourcing Networks
Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
About Converge