THE CONVOS BLOG

I just read a great piece by Carleen Hawn over at Found+Read about the value of informal networks. Informal networks are everywhere and, if you think about it, you're probably a part of 10.  Here's a quick blurb from the article about them in corporations.

Most large corporations have dozens if not hundreds of informal networks, which go by the name of peer groups, communities of practice, or functional councils—or have no title at all. These networks organize and reorganize themselves and extend their reach via cell phones, Blackberries, community Web sites….As [informal] networks widen and deepen, they can mobilize talent and knowledge across the enterprise.

Informal networks are focussed on a task or topic and people are often a part of several at once. They define more of what a person actually does in an organization as opposed to where their little box fits on an Org chart.  Take the concept out of the workplace and the number of informal networks that you touch can be huge.

The thing that makes these informal networks powerful is the same thing that causes problems - the lack of structure and formality.  Open exchanges of ideas are great for a single informal network but what about when you're in 5? 10? 20? Each one has it's own way of working and switching from one to another or trying to find the relevant information is extremely time consuming.

With Convos, we built Groups to support these types of informal networks and allow the leaders and the members to be productive in their participation. We've also made it extremely easy to start a Group so as an informal network starts to form, Convos will provide just enough structure to keep everyone informed and promote the creation of new Groups.

Stay tuned as we're planning our public release for this month...