Networks and Leadership Development

Social network analysis is the application of network science to groups of people (or other entities) linked together through some common purpose (e.g., shared work). Social networksSocial networks comprise links or ties among nodes (i.e., individuals or actors, broader collectives, or other entities) in a bounded but permeable space. Much as an organizational chart represents the formal organization in terms of reporting relationships, a social network is a way to understand the informal organizing structure among any group of people. It is argued that through interactions and appropriate interventions that a collective capacity for leadership emerges in a network of actors (i.e., individuals) involved in shared work. Network theory and social network analyses offer a useful lens and methodological/analytical approach to understand leadership capacity at a collective level of analysis. A related concept is that of social capital, or the value inherent in the relationships developed among people in a network. In this way, leadership resides between people in their links or ties rather than the leader-centric assumption that a leader is the sole cause of leadership in a system.