Glossary

Actors: network members that are distinct individuals (e.g. clients of a health service, and residents of a neighbourhood) or collective units (e.g. health organisations within a community) (Hawe, Webster, & Shiell, 2004)

Adaptive leadership: a practical leadership framework that helps individuals and organisations adapt and thrive in challenging environments. It was developed by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (http://www.cambridge-leadership.com/adaptive-leadership)

Advocacy network: advocating for a shared cause (Health Foundation, 2013)

Agency network: co-operation where one party delegates work to another for role advocacy, shared services, better resource use (Health Foundation, 2013)

Amplifying: taking little known or understood ideas to make them public, better understood, or more widely recognised (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Boundary spanner: a person who creates and cultivates an environment where people share knowledge across internal and external boundaries. A boundary spanner also gathers important information about the external environment and turns it into strategic information (Hustad & Bechina, 2012)

Clinical networks: bringing hybrid healthcare services to a geographically widespread population (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Cluster: a group of nodes of a certain type that is a subset of a full network and in which each node is connected by at least one path via nodes of the same type to every other node in the same group — for example, a cluster of happy people connected by at least one path via other happy people to all the other people in their cluster (Fowler & Christaki, 2008)

Communities of practice: learning through doing — shared learning and/or practice, developing new knowledge (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Component: a group of nodes that is a subset of a full network and in which each node is connected by at least one path to every other node in the same component (Fowler & Christaki, 2008)

Congruence: the quality or state of agreeing, coinciding, or being congruent (Merriam-Webster Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/congruence)

Convening: bringing diverse people/groups together for mutual support (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Convener: is an individual or group responsible for bringing people together to address an issue, problem or opportunity. In the context of collaborative leadership (Collaborative Leaders Network, Hawaii: http://collaborativeleadersnetwork.org/leaders/the-role-of-the-convenor/, Accessed 8 December 2014)

Degree of separation: the social distance of two individuals as measured by the smallest number of intermediary ties between one individual and the other within the network. For a given ego, alters are degree 1 as they are directly connected to the ego. Nodes that are connected to the alters but not the ego are degree 2 (alters’ alters). Nodes that are connected to the alters’ alters but not the ego are degree 3, and so on. This is also known as the ‘geodesic distance’ (Fowler & Christaki, 2008)

Density: describes the interconnectedness of ties in a developmental network, or the degree to which developers know one another (Higgins & Kram, 2001; Marsden, 1990)

Developmental network: combining inspirational leadership and motivation of healthcare professionals to co-ordinate networks (may be called a ‘hybrid’ network) (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Diffusion: the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels among the members of a social system (Rogers, 2003)

Distributed leadership: distributed leadership for learning and teaching is a leadership approach in which collaborative working is undertaken between individuals who trust and respect each other’s contribution. It occurs as a result of an open culture within and across an institution. It is an approach in which reflective practice is an integral part enabling actions to be critiqued, challenged and developed through cycles of planning, action, reflection and assessment and replanning. It happens most effectively when people at all levels engage in action, accepting leadership in their particular areas of expertise. It requires resources that support and enable collaborative environments together with a flexible approach to space, time and finance which occur as a result of diverse contextual settings in an institution. Through shared and active engagement, distributed leadership can result in the development of leadership capacity to sustain improvements in teaching and learning (Jones, Harvey, Lefoe, & Ryland, 2013, p. 21) (http://emedia.rmit.edu.au/distributedleadership/?q=node/10)

Diversity: network diversity refers to the amount of variety within the network (Burt, 2000)

Dormant network: a network that has been established at some point in the past, and may still have a remnant infrastructure or membership, but has ceased to fulfil the intended function (Health Foundation, 2013)

Emerging network: a network that is set up but is not clear about its strategy form and function (Health Foundation, 2013)

Enclave: unregulated structure, a good solution where a purpose is share, but no one person or organisation leads (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Established network: a network that has a clear strategy, form and function (Health Foundation, 2013)

Facilitating: a network may help members be more effective and efficient (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Filtering: a network organises and manages relevant information for members (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Form: the shape or configuration of something as distinguished from its material (Merriam-Webster Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/form)

Function: the action for which a person or thing is specially fitted or used or for which a thing exists (Merriam-Webster Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/function)

Governance: is the system for managing the joint and individual work of the collaboration (Shuman & Twombly, 2009)

Hierarchy: simple branching networks … work well when information flows mostly in one direction: down. Hierarchies are good for command and control. They are handy to get things done in small groups. Harold Jarche: http://jarche.com/2014/07/build-trust-embrace-networks-manage-complexity/

Homophily: the tendency for people to choose relationships with people who have similar attributes (Fowler & Christaki, 2008)

Hybrid network: a mixture of different network types

Impact: to have a strong and often bad effect on (something or someone) (Merriam-Webster Dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Impact)

Innovation: an idea, practice or object that is perceived as new by the individual or other unit (Rogers, 2003)

Leadership: ‘network leadership is facilitative, distributed, democratic and inclusive’ (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Learning network: (see enclave/support/coalition of interest) (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Links: the relationships between people in a network (also called pathways) (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Managed network: associated with service delivery, ‘hub-and-spoke’ governance — more hierarchical than most networks (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Market: ‘a meeting together of people for the purpose of trade by private purchase and sale and usually not by auction’ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/market)

Membership: ‘all the people or things that belong to or are part of an organization or a group’ (Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/membership)

Mode: ‘One mode networks involve relations among a single set of similar actors, such as information exchange among physicians within a hospital. Two mode networks involve relations among two different sets of actors. An example would be the analysis of a network consisting of private, for profit organisations and their links to non-profit agencies in a community. Two mode networks are also used to investigate the relationship between a set of actors and a series of events. For example, although people may not have direct ties to each other, they may attend similar events or activities in a community ….’ (Hawe, Webster, & Shiell, 2004)

Multiplexity: where actors have multiple ties with other actors (Hawe, Webster, & Shiell, 2004)

Mutuality: taking into account the viewpoints of all members in a network: ‘marked by mutual positive regard, trust, and active engagement on both sides’ (Dutton, 2003; cited in Dobrow, Chandler, Murphy, & Kram, 2012)

Networks: co-operative structures where an interconnected group coalesces around shared purpose, with peer membership based on reciprocal relationships of trust, respect and mutuality (Health Foundation, 2013)

Networks enable organizations to deal with complexity by empowering people to connect with whom they need to, without permission. (Jarche, 2014)

Nodes: people or organisations in social networks, connected by links or pathways (relationships) (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a); an object that may or may not be connected to other objects in a network (Fowler & Christaki, 2008)

Pathways: the relationships between people in a network (also called links) (Malby & Mervyn, 2012a)

Pre-emergent network: a network that is at the planning stage and not yet an independent entity (Health Foundation, 2013)

Reciprocity: ‘a situation or relationship in which two people or groups agree to do something similar for each other, to allow each other to have the same rights, etc.: a reciprocal arrangement or relationship’ (Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Reciprocity)

An alternative version: your knowledge broker found this on an interesting blog:

a ‘dictionary definition of reciprocity: is gaining mutual benefit from exchanging things with other people. In the case of social media, in which I include blogging, as done well it should be a two-way and mutual activity, this means building strands of connection which can, over time, turn into powerful networks that can help you start, grow or develop your business or other endeavour’. (http://libroediting.com/2013/07/31/reciprocity-and-social-media/)

Reciprocal: ‘used to describe a relationship in which two people or groups agree to do something similar for each other, to allow each other to have the same rights, etc.’ (Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reciprocal)

Relational ties: link actors within a network (Hawe, Webster, & Shiell, 2004)

Self-organising: ‘Something is self-organizing if, left to itself, it tends to become more organized’ (CR Shalizi, Center for Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan) (http://bactra.org/notebooks/self-organization.html; http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/∼crshalizi/notabene/self-organization.html)

Social capital: ‘describes the pattern and intensity of networks among people and the shared values which arise from those networks …. The definition used by ONS, taken from the Office for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is ‘networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups’’. (Office for National Statistics http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/; http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/social-capital-guide/the-social-capital-project/guide-to-social-capital.html)

Social network: individualised network of social relationships such as LinkedIn and Twitter

Stages: [of development for networks] — see pre-emergent, emerging, established, dormant (Health Foundation, 2013)

System leadership: there are three core capabilities that system leaders develop in order to foster collective leadership. The first is the ability to see the larger system. The second capability involves fostering reflection and more generative conversations. The third capability centres on shifting the collective focus from reactive problem solving to co-creating the future (see more in Senge, Hamilton, & Kania, 2015)

Tie: a connection between two nodes that can be either one way (directed) or two way (bilateral, or mutual); here [in the Framingham Heart Study], all family and spouse ties are bilateral (sibling, coworker, spouse), but friendship ties are directional as a person might name someone as a friend who does not name them in return (Fowler & Christaki, 2008)

Tie strength: stronger and more emotionally intense developmental relationships provide a variety of [career] benefits (Dobrow et al., 2012, p. 13; Granovetter, 1973)

Trust: belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective, etc. (Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trust)

Unifying purpose: the unifying purpose is why the collaborative network comes together. The purpose is what the network choreographer and members hope to accomplish by giving of their time, energy and currencies. The unifying purpose is the goal for the network choreographer. It is why the network is organised. For members of the network, achieving the goal may be a means to achieving their own individual objectives (Shuman & Twombly, 2009)

Value proposition: The value proposition describes the exchange of good, services, relationship currencies and other resources within a collaborative network. To be collaborative and function as a network, relationship currencies must be integral to the overall value proposition (Shuman & Twombly, 2009)