Mapping the NLI Network

(from Neighborhood Leader, Summer 2006 issue)

Dear Neighbor,

In this issue Shelley White (Class 19) tells the wonderful story of her collaboration with fellow Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland graduate Richard Howell (Class 15). Though they were not from the same NLC class, they met through NLI's efforts to bring together grassroots leaders with similar interests.

As I have said many times, the true power of our leadership development programs lies not in what happens during the class but in what happens after the class. Do the graduates put their new skills to use in service of their communities? Do they continue to work with their classmates? Do they tap into NLI's network of more than 600 grassroots leaders?

We know that Shelley and Richard collaborated because Shelley took the time to write down their story and send it to the NLI office. Other graduates call in or stop by the office to tell us what they are doing. We know of many other stories that are every bit as inspiring as Shelley and Richard's.

But what about the people who don't call and the stories that we don't hear? If we want to understand the full value of our network, we have to develop a clearer picture of it. We ought to know—to the extent possible—who is connecting with whom and around what issues. And we should find out who is not currently connected, so that we can make it our business to help re-connect those grassroots leaders to a network of their peers.

With those aims in mind, we have begun the process of creating an actual map of our network of grassroots leaders. We are teaming with Valdis Krebs, a nationally recognized expert in social and organizational network analysis. Using specially designed computer software, we will be able to draw a visual map showing the links among the members of our network.

To gather the information needed to create the network map, we are surveying the graduates of our leadership programs about their interests and connections. By now you should have received a copy of the survey in the mail.

Please take some time to complete the survey. You can fill it out and mail it in; you can call our office and answer the questions over the phone; or you can visit us here at the NLI office and have someone interview you.

As we continue to build and strengthen our network, I am confident that we will hear many more stories involving collaborations such as Shelley and Richard's.

Warmest regards,

Don