How to Manage Networks: Managing Members

How to set up a network with initial members does seem like a chicken-or-egg challenge. You of course can’t have a network with one person. If it’s you with the initial idea, you must share that idea with other people who might be interested and start building that idea together. You have to engage other people at the outset and it has to be a group endeavor with shared ownership. That also means that there can’t be a hierarchy within the group. Just because you had the idea, doesn’t mean you own or direct the network; as soon as other people are involved, it is a group endeavor and you are one of the players. There must be a shared sense of buy-in to the network and, once you have a group of like-minded people, how to organize yourselves.

That's the big step: moving from an informal group of like-minded folks to organizing yourselves to actually set some shared goals and start working towards them, taking some action together. This step might be more difficult and complicated than finding your initial members with shared interests. Going from “we have a shared interest” to “we have shared goals and a plan to work towards them” -- that’s the defining marker between just being a set of like-minded colleagues and doing something together as a network. An example of this is a network of colleagues working in tech and concerned with increasing equity in the tech space. At first, they were just a collection of colleagues with a shared interest communicating via a Slack channel. At some point, it became clear that they wanted to -- and had in fact started -- to take collective actions to achieve their goal. Their shared interest had transitioned to a shared purpose around which to organize themselves.

Bringing new members into an existing network can be expansive, energizing, and rejuvenating, whether these new members are brought in consistently over time or through specific moments of expansion or change. They can expand or deepen the network’s shared purpose and bring creativity and innovation to activities.

Bringing new members into an existing network can also be tricky. New members will have new needs, interests, ideas, and ambitions for the network. You must be prepared for shifts within the dynamics of the network that may or may not resonate with existing members. Ultimately, you want to find ways to harness the strengths of new members and ensure they feel a sense of belonging and ownership without diminishing this amongst existing members.

Communication and messaging become key tools in this. Network expansion should be explicitly framed and consistently articulated as beneficial to the network and its work. Connections and relationships should be cultivated between new and current members to bridge gaps in knowledge and understanding while also building camaraderie. Joint participation in the design and implementation of tasks and activities should be fostered to build trust and collective ownership and buy-in. An effective member engagement strategy is one that engages both new and existing members and takes the shape of a Venn diagram, with overlapping circles of member engagement activities. The overlapping component of the Venn diagram should be the broadest – bringing all network members together regularly and consistently in meaningful ways – while also designing targeted efforts and spaces for the two main circles of the diagram, the new and existing members.

Every network is unique and there is a wide range of what it means to be a member within networks. Defining the roles and expectations for members requires, first of all, thinking about who is needed within your membership based on your Shared Purpose and the types of stakeholders you need to achieve that Shared Purpose. You have to determine first who would be interested and who you should bring in and involve based on how the Shared Purpose resonates with them and their potential contributions to achieving it.

The second step is then to determine what their roles and responsibilities are. Some networks work towards very specific, explicit membership models in which you define “this is what a member is, this is how a member becomes a member, this is what a member does, this is what a member contributes, this is what a member receives from the network,”. We’ve seen very formal, structured membership models wherein, for example, a global network of country-based members has only one organization per country that can be the network’s member. We’ve also seen very loose, informal networks wherein, for example, individuals become members simply by signing up for the network’s newsletter. There are no right or wrong ways to set membership -- it should simply be first and foremost defined by the Shared Purpose you seek to achieve together. It likewise may or may not be necessary for any given network to explicitly define all the details of its membership model. However, it's often helpful to at least think through some of those elements so as to have a better understanding of your network, your members, and how they work together, whether or not you're creating a formal document or process about it.

It’s important to note that these determinations -- of who your membership should include and how they can participate -- may evolve and change over time as your network evolves. In the early stages especially, these things can be very fluid; it isn’t always clear who the members are or who they should be, who is needed as part of the network. Over time, as the network’s goals, structures, and activities develop, members’ roles and responsibilities, and ways of engaging may become clearer. This might result in a more nuanced membership model with different tiers and levels to involve different types of stakeholders. It might be helpful or even necessary to review your membership model (formal or informal) at regular intervals to ensure it is fit for purpose for your network and what you want to achieve. Ultimately, your approach to membership should always focus on who joins the network to what ends and how they can be effectively engaged towards the Shared Purpose.

Networks are dynamic human systems: they can change gradually, or sometimes quite suddenly, as the context and circumstances of their members and broader ecosystems shift. Thus, it is inevitable for any network to gain and lose members over time. In fact, that can be a good thing! No changes in membership may be a sign of a stale, outdated, or inactive network.

That said, membership changes do impact how the network operates and therefore should be tackled with intention and process. Two such options include 1) designing an intentional ‘onboarding journey’ for new members, and 2) revisiting and re-validating the network’s purpose and operational model.

An onboarding journey is the process you design to welcome new members to your network. Many networks underestimate the importance of onboarding and treat it as a singular logistical action. By naming and treating it as a “journey,” it signifies an ongoing and rewarding process. It should also be a curated experience for any new member. Think of all the touchpoints they might have with the network from the time they learn about it through the first thirty days of being an official member, i.e. looking at the website, emails they receive, the first meeting they attend, etc., and design each with the intention of making the member feel welcome, appreciated, and like they already belong. You can also onboard new members in waves (anywhere from 5 - 15 people), essentially creating a cohort experience and simultaneously facilitating relationship building. Throughout all of these steps, adopt an agile approach - experiment, get feedback, generate new insights and ideas, and iterate.

It’s also important to actively recognize that when new members join a network, they come with different needs and expectations. They may be able to offer new perspectives or insights into the network’s purpose and goals. Similarly, when members leave, certain insights and viewpoints leave as well. Even if there’s no change in the membership, context shifts over time and the existing members may develop different habits, needs, preferences, and views. Thus, it’s essential to periodically review the network’s purpose and operating model with your membership to ensure it’s still relevant.

I would think about taking a hybrid approach based on what you’re trying to achieve, which is bringing members into the network. You can look at bringing members into the network from a couple of different perspectives based on the types of connections you want to foster with and between members. First is the connection that members have to the network -- they believe in the Shared Purpose and want to contribute as well as achieve value for themselves through their participation. You want to foster this connection so that members feel attached to the network and are motivated to participate. Second, you also want to connect members to each other. By weaving connections between members, they build relationships with one another and become further invested in the network.

To bring members in, you want to create connections between the members and the network and you also want to connect members to each other. Different approaches are more or less effective at achieving these two types of connections. You thereby want to both a) integrate multiple approaches into your kickoff event itself and b) complement that event with engagement outside of it.

The kickoff event itself might include a large group session to share information with everyone and inspire (potential) members. You can also integrate opportunities into your event for smaller groups or even pairs to talk about different topics and network so that they get to know each other. That's particularly true in this environment of being all online because we have to be much more intentional about how we make these connections given that we don't have the possibility of the serendipitous “meet somebody at the coffee break” connection-building.

You can also hold one-on-one calls in advance of or after the event. Especially if you are the network manager, you are the face of the network and can help foster connection to the network through you via one-on-one conversations. These conversations are also really helpful in helping you understand why the individual members come to the network and what they hope to achieve for themselves and together -- critical information for fostering their participation going forward.Item description

Tool and platform selection is a common topic within our community of network practitioners, and even within Collective Mind. We, like many others, always seek to balance the number of platforms we use with their ease of use and maintenance, alongside their potential cost and their short- and long-term value as we grow. But we often recommend the same starting point whether you’re looking for a tool for communication and member engagement, selecting a technology for event registration and attendance tracking, or selecting a suite of platforms for business growth - to intentionally reflect on your specific needs before deciding on a technology. First, what are your event goals and priorities and how do they fit within your functional network goals, both in the near and long term? If a main goal is to save time for you/the network’s staff and reduce the need for manual attendance tracking, then a priority should be to find an event platform with robust attendance tracking and reporting built into the core features of the platform. If your goal is to understand the value of your events to your network members, it's helpful to look for a platform that can enable you to create participant profiles, track and report on the frequency and consistency with which members attend your network events, paired with survey capability to assess their qualitative experiences.

Your goals may also be influenced by the type of events you plan to hold. Large events - like multi-day virtual trainings or network-wide general assemblies - may require a higher level of tracking needs and metrics versus smaller virtual gatherings. One event type may require automated, integrated and seamless tracking and reporting and the other may call for the attendance tracking to be more manual by design to maintain an informal, low-pressure environment.

If a complementary goal is for your event platform to seamlessly integrate with your network’s other platforms, you can narrow your search to only focus on those that readily provide those integrations. Or you can explore services like Zapier that link your technology platforms and automate the workflows between them. Workflow is key when one of your goals is to “string” your platforms together. Once you select your range of technologies, a well-defined and documented workflow, whether automated or manual, will help streamline your processes.

Answering these questions can help you narrow the field of options and guide you toward the right mix of technology to meet your goals. And as is always true with networks, you may need to modify or refresh your technology choices as your network evolves and your goals change alongside it.

First, it’s important to keep in mind that participation in a network is usually in a volunteer capacity and almost always self-directed. There’s no way to force participation. Additionally, there will always be an ebb and flow in participation that is normal and natural. It’s not necessarily a reflection on whether you're doing your job or not, or how valuable the network necessarily is to the members. It can result from any number of other things, personal or organizational, going on for your members.

That said, there are a couple of fundamental reasons why members might not participate: they don’t find value in the activities of the network and/or they don’t have meaningful ways to participate in those activities. We have to recall our network’s shared purpose and the reason that members are coming to the network in the first place -- because they want to achieve value for themselves and to create value together. Any member will need to feel that they’re achieving a return on the investment of their time, attention, energy, etc. If they don’t, they’ll opt out.

Members will do the same if they don’t feel they have ways to participate meaningfully. Meaningful participation is not just about the ends -- i.e. about the value they can create -- but also about the means: that the ways in which they participate feel good to them. As network leaders and managers, our job is to create the channels and mechanisms through which diverse members with differing interests and needs can participate. This can be as simple as practical considerations like rotating phone calls for people in different time zones so the timing is more equitable or providing people opportunities to share their views through one of a range of multiple channels that feel safe and appropriate to them. Our responsibility is to create multiple ways for people to participate in any given activity if they find value in it.

This is how we can understand member engagement. A network leader’s or manager's responsibility is not to force people to participate but to help them to find ways to engage that are meaningful to them based on the value that they can achieve for themselves separately and together.

We often hear from network managers and leaders who are searching for technology tools to help them communicate with and engage members. Some networks use familiar platforms like Microsoft Teams, Facebook groups, LinkedIn, Slack, and WhatsApp, as well as email and newsletters, for group communications, engagement, and information or knowledge sharing. Some utilize other tools to achieve specific tasks like Miro (for collaboration), MemberClicks (for member databases), Loomio (for decision-making), or ImpactMapper (for tracking and measuring outcomes and impacts).

While there seem to be lots of tools available with different capacities, from what we hear, no one tool seems to exist that really meets all the combined needs of networks. So, determining what tools or platforms are right for you and your network requires some deeper thinking about why you need the tool, what you want it to do for you, and what using it will mean for your members. There are a number of challenges to member uptake. We hear, for example, that networks struggle to bring in software that requires members to learn how to use new tools they’re not already familiar with or to login to another platform (in addition to the many they’re already using for their work and personal lives).

It’s clear that we need better tools that can do more for networks. But, ultimately, I’m not sure that any technology can exist that will do everything we want it to. No technology can ensure consistent, meaningful member engagement. No tool can create the serendipitous connections that face-to-face meetings do. And members won’t necessarily engage on an online platform any more than they will offline or in-person. Technology is a tool to help us but we still have to do the hard work to engage, facilitate, and coordinate members. Item description