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What are learning weavers? Why does your network need them? I’ve often thought that we need to spend much more time and energy making sense of and learning from what we are doing. Along with that, think how much our networks could benefit if they could share the many great ideas and practices that are

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How does change happen? I saw a book in the airport about microtrends and how they give a glimpse of the possible future. Microtrends are new behaviors, actions or directions that are just starting to emerge but have the energy and excitement to expand into something significant. I’ve long thought that dramatic and rapid change happens when

Three Level Networks for Transformation Networks need to be part of three types of networks. 1. Local Networks Local networks are networks formed in a particular locale, usually a city, town or in rural areas or a multi-county region. Often local networks focus on a particular issue area, problem or alternative. Examples range from local food

People frequently ask “How do network approaches differ from Collective Impact? Actually, Collective Impact, with a few modifications, can be a system shifting network approach which can increase its long term impact by engaging many more people in change work. Adding a more networked approach can also enable the Collective Impact effort to tackle more

Innovation funds (also called seed funds or activation funds) are small regranting funds used to jump start innovation, collaboration and self-organizing in networks. They have proven to be one of the most effective strategies for high impact networks, giving people on the ground a chance to initiate action that they believe will make a difference, and often leveraging

This is an excerpt from the Network Weaver Handbook. I’ll be writing an update with my latest research and thinking on the topic in the coming weeks so stay tuned! — June Holley How does transformation of our systems happen? In the 1950s, researchers developed a model of the diffusion of innovation where, when influential

First, An Introduction: For a long time, we’ve trained our eyes to see things with edges and boundaries: organizations, countries, selves. Things with edges and boundaries feel manageable and solid. But the world is changing at an alarming rate, and the old ways of seeing are not quite up to the vertigo of a fast-paced

The most effective way for people to build their skills as Network Weavers is to set up a Community of Practice –a group of people who share an interest in developing skills in a particular area. A Community of Practice encourages people to identify their learning needs and organize training, coaching, and peer support to

Network leadership (or what I call network weaving) looks like a rhizome. If you have a patch of bamboo in your yard, you know how hard it is to get rid of. If you chop down a stalk, in a few days a new shoot sprouts up to fill the space. This is because underneath

Network governance is the idea that decision-making that is currently lodged in representative bodies such as congress or city councils can be shifted into self-organizing networks. This shift has the potential to massively increase participation and inclusion in policy making and, at the same time, ensure that policy making becomes more innovative, experimental, and capable of