How to scale a network

should we scale deep or scale wide?

There is a tension around growing/scaling a network that we have to address from the start.

If we pursue growth in the traditional sense, we risk replicating the same systems we are trying to shift. But if we eschew the idea of scale completely, we may not have enough collective power/momentum to make change.

^^^ ps please challenge me on this.

I got the following email from a network once:

“We never try to 'grow' our network as we follow where the energy is and try to support changemakers on the ground who would like to collaborate and need support.”

🙄

Not going to lie, I rolled my eyes a little at this but I get it.

We’re all programmed to seek growth at all costs. Capitalism teaches us that if something isn’t growing, it’s dying. Most of the networks that I work with are more interested in investing deeply in relationships rather than scaling like a tech unicorn.

adrienne maree brown cautions us that movements that start small and become wide too quickly lead to burn out, mission drift, stagnation and factions.

We need each other. I love the idea of shifting from “mile wide inch deep” movements to “inch wide mile deep” movements that schism the existing paradigm.”- p. 18 adrienne maree brown. “Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds”.

Essentially adrienne maree brown is arguing that 10 trust based relationships can be more impactful than 1M Instagram followers, especially when you are trying to organise for the long term and not a single campaign or protest.

So where does that leave us?

I personally think there is a middle ground here. I agree that growing a network as a vanity metric isn’t the answer (aka okay you have 10,000 members but do they ever engage?)

However, if I go to a potential partner and ask them to sponsor my work and say we have 5 members in our network but we have really really deep relationships and we get a lot of sh*t done… we likely won’t see any money. Unfortunately numbers and growth still matter.

I believe that we can scale deep (investing in relationships) and scale wide (spreading the movement to more people) at the same time.

You need to build up the center to create a constellation. Photo by Guillermo Ferla on Unsplash

How to Scale a Network in a Sustainable Way

1. Start Small

   • Focus on developing core group of engaged members, often this happens before anything is even formalised. I like think of this as your centre of gravity. If you don’t develop this first, it will be hard to add members without everything crumbling.

2. Have a Barrier to Entry

   • A lot of times, I see people assume that they should make joining as frictionless as possible but a little bit of friction is a good thing. Even if you don’t want network to be exclusive, an application or commitment agreement can be a good way to make sure members are in the right place.

3. Spend Time on Really Good Onboarding

   • I can’t tell you how often people skip this. It might sound kind of corporatey, but it is essentially the way you welcome people and help them make the best use of the network.

   • The way I think of it, we all learn and absorb information in different ways. I like to make sure that there are written and verbal onboarding opportunities.

4. Segment Your Network

   • They say that humans used to live in villages of 150 people, once we go over this number we get overwhelmed (one of the many reasons that social media is so bad for us). But anyway, once you go above that 150 number, its a good idea to create “mini villages.”

   • This means that a more specific local or interest level context can be brought to nodes of the network.

   • You can break it down by region or interest area but the key is to remember that you are basically recreating the network structure on a smaller scale, you will need to invest in the centre of gravity again and create clearly delineated roles.

5. Keep It Simple

   • This sounds obvious but so often my work is about helping people to do less work in a more impactful way.

   • For example, instead of trying to organise a monthly event, create a really simple event format and ask someone different to host it once a quarter.

Conclusion

We’ve established that there is a tension between growth and a relational appraoch. It’s a tension that I also navigate trying to build a business within capitalism.

The invitation is to hold that paradox but also to not be beholden to it. We live in a world that pushes us to be constantly bigger and better.

I think the garden metaphor is helpful here. A network has a lot more in common with a garden than a machine. We help our garden to grow. We provide can provide the right conditions. We hope that it will bear fruit. Ultimately, it’s made up of living organisms.

That’s how I think of scaling networks: they will grow, they will plateau, they will winter, and they will grow again.

Let me know, how do you navigate the growth paradox in your work?

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BUILD Learning Labs

Want to meet other network builders and systems change enthusiasts? On the 1st of April, we are holding a BUILD Learning Lab on how to map complex systems and relationships using Kumu. You can sign up here.