Network Leadership: Navigating and Shaping Our Interconnected World

Description

Across organisations and communities there are leaders who manage to get things done through their ability to understand how a network of individuals connect, who to talk to and how to bring people together in the right constellation of effort. These are network leaders. Network Leadership enables readers to identify and make the most of informal social and organisational networks in order to challenge the status quo effectively and facilitate greater engagement and productivity. Not only will the research in these chapters help you become a better leader and manager of your own team or department, it will also help make you a better network leader, effecting positive change across teams, and departmental and organisational boundaries. Leaders who facilitate action do so through four key practices: they understand the social systems in which they work; they have convening power, uncovering and connecting underlying movements and giving voice to something that is worth listening to; they lead beyond their formal authority; and they possess the power of restless persuasion and a capacity to thrive in complexity and crises. This book is invaluable reading for those who have mastered the basics of leadership but wish to take the next steps. It is particularly relevant to organisations and managers dealing with the geographic separation of business units, change, innovation, matrix management, project or portfolio management and other cross-departmental projects. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Illustrations About the Authors Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: The Leadership Stage 1 The World Is Changing 2 Work and Organisations Are Changing 3 Leadership Is Changing Summary Part II: Overview of Network Leadership 4 Public Sector Perspective 5 Third Sector Perspective 6 Corporate Sector Perspective 7 Our Perspective of Network Leadership Summary Part III: Understanding the Social System 8 Actor and Social Networks 9 Wicked Problems 10 Organisational Networks 11 Social Network Analysis 12 The Reflective Practitioner Summary Part IV: Convening Power 13 Power, Influence and Behaviour 14 Personal Manifesto 15 Politics, Ethics and Trust 16 Connective Power Summary Part V: Leading beyond Authority 17 Leading from a Different Place 18 Leading in a Different Way 19 Dealing with Wicked Problems Summary Part VI: Restless Persuasion 20 Resilience 21 Being Comfortable in Chaos 22 Leading in a Crisis 23 Being Unreasonable with a Smile Summary Conclusion Appendix 1: A Brief History of Social Network Analysis Appendix 2: Leader Biographies Index