Connecting to the environment
“[…] you learn that you are not alone in dealing with a technical problem and sometimes you just need a second technical opinion. Sometimes, it does…
Author: Reda Sadki
Against insularity
“We came to understand because we have very good global connections.” How do we connect with other people, with other member organizations in the network, and…
What is a connector?
Where some believe that the value of their network is based on its exclusivity, connectors are people in the organization who have developed large networks of people…
What does it mean to broker knowledge in a network?
Our network function requires that we interact with the network. We observe profound changes in the nature of knowledge, how it circulates, and this affects how…
How do we learn from the network?
When our organization’s hierarchy prohibits direct contact with the field, indirect and informal contact becomes more important than ever. Global and regional meetings, bilateral programmes, and…
Death of the knowledge bank
The complexity of the networks in which our organization operates is scaffolded by a corpus of mostly-unwritten, tacit knowledge and ‘ways of working’ that we learn mostly…
Decentralization done wrong
Leave the global functions to headquarters, and shift responsibility for the field to those who are actually there (or close by). It sounds perfectly sensible. And,…
The hub in a network
We sit at the hub of a distributed network. In the past, only some organizations sought to organize as networks – those that had to bring together, federate or…
Mind the gap
How do we establish a mentoring relationship? What do we do when we identify a knowledge or performance gap in a colleague? This is a sensitive issue.…
Being mentored
Mentor was the name of the adviser of the young Telemachus in Homer’s Odyssey. A mentor is an experienced and trusted advisor. In the workplace, mentoring…