SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS (SNA) CAN CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR INTERNAL TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS. RAYTHEON REPORTS HOW IT USES SNA AS PART OF A SIX-STEP PROCESS THAT’S HELPING IT MEET ITS STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES.

BY BILL RUSSELL

We’ve all gone through life believing that our intellectual capital is our greatest workplace asset. Now this assumption is being debunked. How well we are connected in our organizations matters as much, if not more, than what’s in our cranium.

What? Are we judging employee performance the way we would a popularity contest? In a way we are. Management teams are now aiming to develop the employees most named by others when the members of the workforce are asked to identify their best collaborators— the colleagues who provide insider smarts, a reality check on an innovative idea or support for carrying out a project.

These value creators aren’t identified as such in the organization chart. Until recently many businesses didn’t even recognize their contributions. But now management is identifying who they are, who they collaborate with near and far, what skills they bring to the collaboration and how big a contribution they make when they create value. In short, management is mapping the organization’s social capital — the informal network that exists independent of the organization chart.

THE VALUE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL
Social capital is a precious asset that most businesses don’t fully appreciate. Though these companies give much more attention to their physical, financial and human capital, their social capital may be their most powerful asset. Understanding the organization’s social capital is particularly important for a company that has chosen to grow through ongoing innovation, such as Raytheon, because collaboration between employees is essential for innovation. The company wants in particular to increase collaboration across its strategic business units.

The process used to map an organization’s social capital is called social network analysis (SNA). The analysis produces a map that uses connecting lines to illustrate the links between collaborating employees. Called a sociogram, it looks much like an airline hub-and-spokes route map. The employees who are best connected appear as key nodes on the sociogram. Now these employees can be singled out to participate in learning programs that leverage their productivity as value creators.

In many organizations, this is where the SNA initiative ends. At Raytheon Company, this is only the beginning. Once the learning program takes place, selected participants will be charged with leading significant projects. The projects have been chosen by the company’s senior management and are intended to meet strategic goals. As the leader carries out the project, the structured learning continues.

We call this full implementation of SNA the Catalyst Engagement. The process consists of six distinct steps that can be used by any organization.

BEFORE: Social network analysis increases the linkages between employees whose collaboration is needed for innovation and performance improvement. In many organizations, collaborations often require the participation of senior managers as intermediaries. This is shown in the Before diagram in the network of a strategic business unit. It can be seen that the members of Team D have relationships with the other teams through only one person.

1 SELECT STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
The Catalyst Engagement process begins with a business leader identifying strategic initiatives that can make the most significant contribution to the company’s strategic goals for growing the business. Among the stated goals are developing world-class people and technology; focusing on activities that add value and eliminating those that do not; transforming the culture; anticipating and meeting each customer’s needs; and becoming the customer’s supplier of choice. The leaders consider both growth opportunities and performance gaps to select the strategic initiatives. The Catalyst Engagement translates these initiatives into key improvement projects. Each of the selected projects is visibly endorsed by leaders who provide ongoing support as the projects are carried out. Without senior-level leadership, a process like this can’t be successful.

AFTER: The After diagram shows the same unit’s network after SNA was implemented. Now there are many linkages between employees across the units and much less reliance on senior managers as intermediaries.

2 CONDUCT THE SNA STUDY
Every Catalyst Engagement begins with a survey of employees, always custom designed and usuallyWeb-based. To underscore its importance to the organization, the survey is introduced by an organization’s leader. Themost productive studies identify not only the relationships between employees but also the strength of those relationships and how long they’ve existed. Raytheon studies ask participants to name the colleagues they work with as well as colleagues who aremost likely to name them. The studies also evaluate the frequency of their contacts, as well as the strength of the relationships. As part of the Catalyst Engagement, surveys ask participants to include in their response their best ideas for helping the company achieve its goals. This part of the survey often yields a treasure trove of information. Many participants use all 2000 characters that the answer field allows. Some of them give the names and titles of potential high-volume customers; some identify critical barriers to execution.

Surveys are followed up with interviews of selected study participants. Raytheon consultants use a wide range of discovery methods to better understand the dynamics of the relationships. They also ask the participants about their personal goals and their plans for achieving them. They might delve further into the ideas the participants suggested. Many times this conversation results in a group project that begins on the spot. Altogether, the study produces an analysis package that includes 40 to 50 slides carrying diagrams and metrics.

3 IDENTIFY WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS
The study’s analysis package provides valuable data about the company’s social network. Its most significant conclusion determines whether or not the network is helping the business achieve its goals. There isn’t an “ideal” network because different goals require different kinds of networks. At Raytheon, where collaboration between strategic business units is a strategic goal, studies put heavy emphasis on evaluating the quality of the linkages between the units.

An analysis also determines whether senior executives are serving as intermediaries between colleagues who should be working directly with each other instead. Are there members of the network who have so many relationships that they might be creating bottlenecks? Are there members at the outer edges of the constellation, like the dwarf planet Pluto, unconnected and underperforming as a result? The study provides the answers.

Raytheon’s studies compare each participant’s aggregate connections (the sum of a person’s direct and weighted two-step connections) with those of all others in the work team. Those having the strongest relationships are identified as Catalyst Fellows who will help lead the improvement projects identified by the sponsor.

Sponsors of studies often are surprised to learn how extensive one team’s relationships are and how minimal are another’s. This is true of employees, too. Contrary to expectations, a study might show that some entrylevel team members may be key brokers between groups and might have higherquality relationships than their non-techie bosses. The results also can be unsettling.

SNA studies have identified situations where leaders of units whose collaboration is essential have little contact with each other. Studies often reveal that an employee whose connections are invaluable is about to retire. The study can spotlight employees at the outer reaches of the network who can make significant contributions by working with others but whose work is self-contained. It can identify managers who may be highly thought of by their bosses but who contribute very little to their peers.

4 CONDUCT LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS, IDENTIFY CATALYST FELLOWS
The Sponsor, Catalyst Fellow and other key team members participate in two-day workshops led by Raytheon consultants. The workshop leaders present the study’s conclusions in full detail – but without the names of the study’s participants to maintain confidentiality.

Using case studies, discovery and dialogue, the leaders explain the significance of selected socio-grams and slides fromthe survey analysis package. Led through a series of exercises, the participants learn how to increase the productivity of their own networks.

This helps them determine whether their network connections may be weighted too heavily on people who are geographically close or in a particular functional area or on their own hierarchical level. They learn to evaluate what they derive from these relationships and whether they should expand or reduce them. Following the workshops, there are one-on-one coaching sessions that further develop SNA skills.

During the workshop, the participants refine and plan the improvement projects that tackle the strategic initiatives selected by the business’s leaders during the first phase of the process.

5 CONDUCT CATALYST ENGAGEMENT PROJECTS
These projects take 30, 60 or 90 days, at most. The consultants help the Catalyst Fellows build a business case for the project, create proposals, develop action plans, and design metrics that will demonstrate the project’s payoff.

Some of the projects are conducted with small workgroups while others are company- wide initiatives that engage the full value chain. Priority is always given to projects that involve more than one strategic business unit, in keeping with Raytheon’s strategy for building synergy across the units. The Catalyst Fellows are empowered to secure all the resources they need to carry out their projects. As resources from other strategic business units become involved, the network is further strengthened.

One recent project examined the possibilities for putting onto one platform a small plane that conducts missions as well as gathers intelligence. This would involve one company business that builds small planes and another that creates sensors. Another project looked into developing the skills of technology employees who are in short supply by creating a job rotation program for them. Still another looked into the kinds of mentoring programs that can gather the tacit knowledge of the boomers who are about to retire.

Some of the major projects are conducted on a blitz basis, using a cross-functional team. The planning takes place with management representatives present so they can approve plans on the spot. Raytheon has found that projects that ordinarily would take months to plan can be completed in days using a blitz.

6 COMPLETE THE PROCESS
Once again, Raytheon’s leaders play an active role in Catalyst Engagement. They conduct 30-, 60- and 90-day review sessions to evaluate process and assess results. Projects may be expanded or redefined. If changes in direction are needed, they are made. All accomplishments are celebrated.

Businesses using SNA are finding they can reach ambitious goals more quickly and effectively than was thought possible. The methodology can help organizations increase their productivity by huge margins.

SNA PROVIDES MANY OUTCOMES
Raytheon gains a wide range of benefits from SNA apart fromthemethodology’s contributions to the Catalyst Engagement process. For any company, once itmaps and understands its social network, the organization has a platformit can use to launchmany new initiatives for performance improvement.

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Bill Russell is a performance consultant of Raytheon Professional Services LLC, a business of Raytheon Co. that improves clients’ business performance. Its capabilities include learning strategy development, curriculum design and development in multiple formats, training delivery management, learning technology systems and performance consulting. For more information: www.rps-pc.com Write to the author at wrussell@raytheon.com.

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