SP/Network™

Enhancing Coordinated Action by Leveraging Team Member Synergies

Problem	Normal organizational structure - org charts - fail to typify the communication paths, flow of information and impact of individual advocacy within such organizational structure. The true network of individuals required to “get things done” in an organization crosses the organization chart horizontally, and is often far more complex and nebulous. Studies have shown how dramatic these impacts are when key personnel are incompletely communicated with, or transferred to other positions creating structural holes in the web of relationships.
Approach	While any organization has teams and processes which contribute to the value-add process, they fall short of fully capturing the high impact certain individuals have in effecting change and improvement. The individuals with the highest degree of impact have three attributes modeled from the science of Social Network Analysis. These three attributes are: Degree - The number of direct communication paths with others in the organization. Individuals which have high degree have the greatest direct impact on others, and referred to as hubs, can be influential in quickly disseminating information to a group of close contacts. Closeness - The centralization aspect within the network whereby a small group of individuals resides at the “center” of the network and have the shortest overall paths to all others. This group has the swiftest influence overall on communications of impact. Betweenness - The characteristic of certain individuals whereby they are on the greatest number of communication paths. These individuals may be bridges between major groups, and in such a position can filter or transfer information having a controlling effect on the communications. SchellingPoint uses a proprietary mechanism to translated hierarchical organization charts into networks, expanding them with process-related and team-related information, and supplementing the network with friendship and other informal relationships of a personal nature where appropriate. It is through this process that a set of relational network connections form into a notation appropriate for application of graph theory. The network analysis itself utilizes off-the-shelf standard tools Social Network Analysis (SNA) to provide the statistics and network maps which form the basis for the results. The set of high-influence individuals in the network is evaluated without regard to the positive or negative influence these individuals may have towards a particular idea or effort - the influence effect is present regardless.
Features	Low-effort utilization of known data - organization charts - Accelerates network capture Standard industry SNA tools Support for multiple platforms with range of analysis vehicles Network utilization for generation of SP/Team analysis directly
Outputs	This process provides for ... Graphical display of relational network Tabular analysis of degree, betweenness and closeness for key individual identification Stratification of the matrix of influencers
Benefits	Surfaces the true high-impact individuals key to supporting initiatives and influencing others Rapidly assess relational networks which underpin organizational structures Assess customer and vendor networks key to business interactions
ROI	Rapidly Support for initiatives improves start-up performance Focuses critical influence efforts on high-impact individuals Eliminates failures to understand the key individuals during re-organizations and change efforts
Applications	SP/Network™ will be beneficial to any company interested in understanding the non-hierarchical relationships of individuals and organizations that influence the communication and support for efforts - both internal and external.
Intended For:	Individuals interested in accelerating the pace of change and removing the barriers to success which are driven by individual influence and process <-> people interrelationships.