Relationships are vital, and it is natural to want to understand them.  We know some already – we understand who we work most closely with and who we would go to for assistance with something.  However, that perspective can’t tell us how your relationships, or those of your team fit into the broader relational landscape of the organization.  That is where our analytics are focused on giving insight.

Relational Auditing

Sometimes a deeper understanding of the fabric of a set of relationships is needed. For these cases we can employ our relational auditing measures. Including our in-house developed Relational Proximity Framework, we can shed light on where the qualities of strong relationships are so you are equipped to propagate good practice and profit from a well engaged, committed team.

Seeing the bigger picture: Network Mapping

We algorithmically draw out graphs of the relational networks for inspection.  On the right is a simple personal network, where the dots are people, and the lines are relationships:

Questions we might ask include “Why are there two groups?” “How does this compare to other people in my organisation?” and “Why do those two people join the two groups together?”

This person commissioned the research. Why are they the joining factor between two close subgroups?
Why does this person bridge the gap between two groups?
What has led to this person being nearly isolated from the group?

Scaling beyond the seen

Compare that individual network with this one for a team.

Now we can ask who the member holding the most of the group together is, who is most isolated from the rest of the group and we can ask how those central to the network maintain all their relationships so effectively.

Finding Insight

This person links between blue and their network, though they aren’t well connected internally.
This person is the lifeblood of the broader group of networks, serving as a meshing member for all the other networks to some extent.

Now we can see how some who are on the edges of a team may be bridging the gap between that team and another.  We can see whether or not there are third parties impacting on networks (the light green dots in this case) and which networks are most and least closely tied into the umbrella organization.

Context is Key

Our relational network mapping can answer ‘who’, but only an understanding of the context can inform ‘why’ questions.  That is why we collect information about people in the relational networks.  Then we can answer whether the gender of the team member shape how the team’s relational map is structured.  We can say if exam results are a good predictor of a robust friendship network and we can show how wellbeing varies depending on an individual’s centrality to their relational network.

Using our proprietary dashboards, we can present the information such that you can take control of your findings.  We are putting the power of exploration and consideration in your hands because we know that those who understand the context are best placed to think through the implications of our findings.  For instance: the gender of members of a primary school class has a significant impact on the relational landscape.  However, is this just to be expected for a group of children of this age living where they do, or is the effect outside that expected range and therefore needs addressing?   This way, you can equip yourself and your staff with a ‘drone’s eye view’ they have never before had the resource to explore.

With our tools, you can see beyond the organization chart, and explore the relational landscape as it really exists in a group of people.  It can tell you who those people go to when they need help, and who could be a good mentor for a new member of the group to integrate most effectively.  With this you can be informed about how you manage change, governance or innovation.  It lets you equip your members to play to their strengths, and whether this is in the classroom, the board room or across a worldwide distributed team, giving the right people the right agency is the catalyst for improvement that goes beyond what anyone can see alone.

If you think that you would benefit from this sort of analytical support, please drop us a line via the details below, we are always happy to chat.

Dr. James Griffin, Relationships Foundation