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NODES model of conversational learning & social collaboration

John RogersGTN – Global Talent Network

www.gtnworld.net

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The NODES model of conversational learning

& social collaboration

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The NODES model of conversational learning & social collaboration

The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the NODES model of conversational learning and social collaboration

My interests are in the practice of learning, especially management learning; something that is embedded in everything we do both individually and with others, continuously

I write regularly about learning in my blog Learning in Practice http://johnrogers960.blogspot.co.uk/

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What is a node?

Nodes plural of node (Noun)

A point at which lines or pathways intersect or branch; a central or connecting

point.

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NODES An ethos and method for learning

• NODES is both an ethos and a method for learning• It’s for learners, coaches and leaders• It connects with a shift in management thinking that

is moving away from hierarchies towards networks

A note for coaches - the conversational element of the process is underpinned by the Solutions-Focused approach

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NODES NODES is about a shift towards an integrated view of learning and

working

As a leader, coach or learner:

• I cannot sit outside of any interpersonal communication process regardless of whether I am coaching , leading or doing something else

• I cannot separate myself in terms of time or space from it• I can only exist in relation to the other person and my experience

of the interaction in that moment• My task as a leader &/or as a coach &/or as a learner is to develop

the capacity for self-reflection and owning my part in what is happening, my skill in facilitating free-flowing conversation and the ability to articulate what is emerging in conversations

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NODES model of conversational learning & social collaboration

Ideas Action

Social

Individual

Opportunities

Reflections, thoughts, ideas,

concepts

Deepen

Free-flowing conversational

learning

Solutions

Action and learning

Enrich

Becoming a node in a network;

increasing innovation

Network

Making connections

John Rogers

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Network

• Network is the work of:– making connections between ideas and action.

To think, reflect and join the dots– collaborating with others through free-flowing

conversations and information sharing– generating energy from making connections to

people, ideas and information – using feedback from actions to drive individual

and social reflection and new ideas

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Opportunities

• Taking seriously one’s own experience

• Thoughts, ideas, reflections, interests, concepts, daydreams

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Deepen

Free flowing conversational learning; working ‘in the moment’ to articulate what is emerging

What are the skills and competences required? (Ralph Stacey, 2003)

• Capacity for self-reflection and owning one's part in what is happening

• Facilitating free-flowing conversation• Ability to articulate what is emerging in conversations• Sensitivity to group dynamics

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EnrichBecoming a node in a network

Sharing interests, contributing ideas

F2f, online, linking to and amplifying ideas of

others, blogging, micro-blogging…

…increasing innovation

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Solutions

Responsibility for action and

Capacity for self-reflection and learning

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What do you have to do? • NODES is about participation in ideas – yours and others – through the

process of Network • In simple terms it’s about learning by doing and sharing what you are

learning• Its premise is that as humans we can’t exist in isolation. We are

interconnected. These connections are both local and global, strong and weak, direct and indirect, inter and intra personal

• What’s common is that in taking action (Solutions) or sharing our ideas (Enrich) with others, both will be sources of individual and collective learning

• Participation will sometimes be conversational (Deepen), often f2f, with people with whom we have strong ties, like a friend or colleague, or with a coach or mentor or line manager

• At other times the ties will be weaker. Participation (Enrich) will be with people who we may not know or have any direct connection with and may be done using tools like Blogger, Wordpress, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yammer and so on.

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Influencing ideas

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Ubuntu ‘My humanity is your humanity’

Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in

isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all

by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as

just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well,

it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

From a quotation by Desmond Tutu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28philosophy%29

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Community-ship vs. leadership Isn’t it time to think of our organisations as communities of cooperation, and in so doing put leadership in its place: not gone, but alongside other important social processes.

What should be gone is this magic bullet of the individual as the solution to the world’s problems. We are the solution to the world’s problems, you and me, all of us, working in concert. This obsession with leadership is the cause of many of the world’s problems.

And with this, let us get rid of the cult of leadership, striking at least one blow at our increasing obsession with individuality. Not to create a new cult around distributed leadership, but to recognize that the very use of the word leadership tilts thinking toward the individual and away from the community. We don’t only need better leadership, we also need less leadership. Henry Mintzberg, 2006

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Action and learning

• "Without actions, the world would still be an idea.“

Georges Doriot, 1899 – 1987, Venture Capitalist and Founder of INSEAD

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It’s all about networks

It’s all about networks. Understanding networks that is.

This is the shift our organizations, institutions, and society must make in order to thrive in an

always-on, interconnected world.

Harold Jarche 2012

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Collaboration pyramid

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E-Flow ModelThe Learning Company

From The Learning Company: A Strategy for Sustainable Development, 1991

E= Energy

Feedback from action & operations is the source of individual & group learning

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Complex responsive processes...the main implication of the complex responsive processes perspective is the way in which it refocuses attention, not on what members of an organisation should be doing, but on what they are already, and always have been, doing.

If there is a prescription, it is that of paying more attention to the quality of your own experience of relating and managing in relationship with others. This is a reflexive activity requiring each one of us to pay more attention to our own part in what is happening around us.

This requires a reflective development of self-knowledge. It means taking one’s own experience seriously. The reward, in my experience, is to find oneself interacting more effectively, not only for the one’s own good, but also for the good of those with whom one is in relationship.'

Ralph Stacey, 2003

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Inspirations, references, resources and acknowledgments

• Berg, O. (2012) The Collaboration Pyramid (or iceberg), The Content Economy, Weblog (online) 14th Feb. Available from www.thecontenteconomy.com [accessed 2/5/13]

• Garfinkel, H. (2002) Ethnomethodology’s program: working out Durkheim’s aphorism edited by Anne Rawls. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.

• Jarche, H. (2012) It’s all about networks, Life in perpetual beta, Weblog (online) 23rd May. Available from http://www.jarche.com [accessed 25/4/13]

• Lima, M. (2012) ‘The Power of Networks’ RSA Animate, You Tube (online) 21st May. Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJmGrNdJ5Gw [accessed 2/7/13]

• Mintzberg, H. (2006) Community-ship is the answer. Business Education Supplement, Financial Times 23rd October 2006: 8

• Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J.G., Boydell, T. The Learning Company: A Strategy for Sustainable Development, McGraw-Hill, 1991 (E-Flow model)

• Stacey, R.D. (2003) Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics: The Challenge of Complexity. Harlow: Pearson

• Western, S. (2012) Coaching and Mentoring: A Critical Text. London: Sage• Picture credits – Deposit Photos http://depositphotos.com/home_buyer.php and

Photobucket http://photobucket.com/

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John Rogers – Learning in Practicejohn@gtnworld.net http://johnrogers960.blogspot.co.uk/

GTN provides bespoke programmes:

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http://www.gtnworld.netLearning in Practice by John Rogers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License