Session Type: Workshop Accepted by MIG(s): Development, Public Time Allotted: 75 Description: Innovations in communication technologies and advancements in network theory and practice open up new leadership possibilities. This interactive session will explore how social media enables the formation of large scale networks. Drawing on several network case studies, including Wikipedia, Kiva, and MomsRising.org, participants will learn how leadership emerges and connects across networks, and the implications this has for how leadership is conceptualized and practiced in the age of social media. Abstract: Innovations in communication technologies and advancements in network theory and practice open up new leadership possibilities. Social media, wikis and other forms of large group conversation (e.g., open space and world café) enable coordination and collaboration on a scale like never before. Small groups can self-organize around common interests. Large groups can have small group interactions. Both increase the power of networks to scale exponentially.
During this interactive session we will invite conversation about what we are learning about how to unleash the power of, and create the conditions for, networks to scale. The goal of the session is to explore how to leverage what we are learning about networks to increase the scale and impact of our leadership work.
The hosts (from the Leadership Learning Community, Blue Oxen Associates, and MomsRising.org) will open up the session with a frank conversation about leadership and networks. They will talk about some of the most popular network experiments, including the Obama campaign, Wikipedia, Kiva, MomsRising.org and others. As a consultant for the Wikimedia Foundation, Presenter 2 will share valuable insights about the strategy behind scaling the momentum and impact of Wikipedia without losing its essence, and addressing questions of bureaucratization. Presenter 1, co-author of an article on leadership networks for Leadership Quarterly, will discuss how leadership practices change as networks scale based on what she is learning with other research partners in a collaborative research initiative, Leadership for a New Era,. Presenter 3 who co-founded MomRising.org, a national network of more than a million members that are working to achieve economic security and well-being for all families in the U.S., will discuss how MomsRising.org distributes leadership and mobilizes thousands to influence policy with few staff and many partners.
After the initial conversation, participants will be invited to participate in small group discussion to dive deeper into how networks behave and the implications for leadership within networks:
• How are decisions made within networks?
• How do networks move to actions and foster accountability?
• How are trust relationships developed within networks?
• What conditions and processes support network self-organizing among leaders?
This is a perfect opportunity for participants to reflect collectively about how we can better leverage networks to scale our leadership efforts.
Claire Reinelt, Leadership Learning Community
Bio: Claire is a founding member of the Leadership Learning Community, and serves as convener of the Evaluation Learning Circle and the Boston Learning Circle. She joined the LLC staff as Research and Evaluation Director in 2005. Claire has conducted research and evaluations for numerous foundations and leadership programs. Her clients include The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The California Endowment, among many others. Her particular areas of expertise are designing and implementing evaluations for complex leadership development initiatives that seek to have transformative and sustainable impacts for communities that result in greater equity, justice, health and well-being. Recently, she has focused attention on how to catalyze and unleash the power of leadership networks. Claire is co-editor of the Handbook of Leadership Development Evaluation (Jossey Bass, 2007). She is co-author of a 2010 article in Leadership Quarterly on “Social Network Analysis and the Evaluation of Leadership Networks.” . Claire has over 20 years of experience working in the social sector as an evaluator, facilitator, and consultant.
Eugene Kim, Blue Oxen Associates
Bio: Eugene is the cofounder and principal of Blue Oxen Associates. He has developed collaborative strategies for a number of organizations, focusing especially on inter-organizational collaboration and collaborative learning. Past clients have included People for the American Way, NASA, Institute for International Education, Socialtext, and the Wikimedia Foundation. Eugene’s research centers around identifying patterns of high-performance collaboration across different domains and in catalyzing collaboration in large networks. He is also a thought leader in the collaborative tool space, focusing especially on Wikis, digital identity, and usability. Eugene has published numerous articles and is the author of one of the first books on web application development.
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, MomsRising.org
Bio: Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner is a co-founder and the Executive Director of MomsRising.org. MomsRising has a goal of bringing millions of people, who all share a common concern about the need to build a more family-friendly America, together as a deeply engaged and educated non-partisan force. This grassroots, online effort is mobilizing mothers, and all who have mothers, across America. Started in May 2006, MomsRising already has over one million citizen members, as well as more than ninety (and growing) aligned national organizations, which together have over 10 million members. With MomsRising co-founder and President, Joan Blades (who is also co-founder of MoveOn.org), Rowe-Finkbeiner is the co-author of The Motherhood Manifesto. Rowe-Finkbeiner writes frequently about public policy, motherhood, health, and new feminism. She was given an Excellence in Journalism award by the Society of Professional Journalists in 2006.Return to complete program |
